We are pleased to announce an online lecture by
Carsten Junker
(TU Dresden)

Field Notes toward American Studies as Relational Diversity Studies

This lecture is going to be the a part
of the 2021/2022 Spring Edition of the
American Studies Colloquium Series.

Thursday, March 3, 2022
at 5:15 p.m.

You can get 2 OZN points for participating in this event.
Check how to collect OZN points online here.

poster by Joanna Bębenek

Where?

This lecture will be streamed online. To attend, click the button below or enter https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89291350296 into your browser, and join the meeting.

What?

The lecture provides reflections on the study of demographic diversity in scenarios of inequality in the broader field of American Studies. Questions to be addressed include: how can “Diversity Studies” be approached? What are the historical conditions for its institutionalization? What are its archives and theoretical frameworks? What role do ethical questions play in this endeavor? The lecture seeks to address from the ground up, as it were, the premises and repercussion of an academic project, of which the object of study—diversity—does not exist per se.

Who?

Prof. Carsten Junker is University Professor of American Studies with a focus on Diversity Studies at TU Dresden, Germany. He is teaching at the ASC during the spring semester 2022, in the framework of the University of Warsaw’s Integrated Development Program (ZIP). His research interests include North American literatures and cultures including Canada and the Caribbean from the seventeenth century to the present, with a special emphasis on the connections between formalizations of cultural patterns and social differentiations, including discursive struggles.

Prof. Junker is staying at the ASC as ZIP Visiting Professor  for two months, from February to April 2022. He is teaching the lecture “Writing against Slavery: Early American Abolitionist Discourses and their Repercussions” as a part of the MA studies program, giving a talk within the American Studies Colloquium Series, and is available for individual consultations, especially for students interested in African American literature and culture.

The Visiting Professorship is offered within the framework of the University’s Integrated Development Programme (ZIP). The University’s Integrated Development Programme (ZIP) is a comprehensive project focused on improving the quality and effectiveness of education in Bachelor, Master and Doctoral programmes, as well as supporting adaptation of the University’s offer to the needs of the economy, labour market and the society. The programme ZIP is co-financed by the European Union within the European Social Fund; its budget is PLN 39 393 989.40. More information available at: https://www.zip.uw.edu.pl/node/192

American Studies Colloquium Series

December 19: Between The Mundane and the Heroic: Vietnamese Presence in State Socialist Poland

December 16, 2024

We are delighted to invite you to the fifth lecture of the American Studies Colloquium Series in the 2024/2025 Fall semester! This talk will examine the depictions of the (North) Vietnamese as freedom fighters within the context of the state socialist public sphere and the everyday life of Vietnamese students in Poland across generations. From idealized wartime reportages to mixed-race couples, the Vietnamese presence was marked by a multifaceted experience of adaptation, challenges, opportunities, and dynamic, interactive bonds with Polish society. This history continues to exert a profound influence on the contemporary Vietnamese diaspora and Polish-Vietnamese relationships.

Year 2024/2025

December 18: The Trump Transition – What is New and What is Not

December 14, 2024

Leadership Research Groupis inviting all those who would like to put the Trump transition to a presidential scholarship context and better understand the Trump transition decisions, the prospects for the future in domestic and foreign policy areas they bring, and the impact that Trump leadership may have on the political scene in Washington to a talk followed by a Q&A session by Professor Stephen Farnsworth.

Year 2024/2025

December 17: We Want Change NOW! The Feminist Manifesto in Theory and Practice

December 13, 2024

During the workshop “We Want Change NOW! The Feminist Manifesto in Theory and Practice”, Aleksandra Julia Malinowska, a doctoral candidate at the University of Warsaw,will delve into the history of feminist manifestos and their pivotal role in the women’s movement in the United States. We’ll explore how activists of the second wave of feminism used grassroots publications to raise awareness, voice the demands of emerging women’s groups, and build communication networks between organizations spread across the country. Together, we’ll analyze the literary techniques that make the manifesto genre a powerful tool for inspiring activist mobilization beyond the pages of the text.

American Studies Colloquium Series

December 12: Technological Imaginaries and the Universal Ambitions of Silicon Valley

December 12, 2024

Drawing on her new book, Appropriate, Negotiate, Challenge: Activist imaginaries and the politics of digital technologies (University of California Press), in this talk Ferrari shows how these discourses, which she calls “technological imaginaries”, shape how we experience digital technologies. She discusses how, for the past 30 years, Silicon Valley tech actors have produced and popularized a specific way of thinking about digital technologies, which has become mainstream. This dominant technological imaginary brings together technocratic aspirations and populist justifications. While arising out of the peculiarities of Silicon Valley and of the American 1990s, this dominant imaginary has posited its universality by presenting its tenets as if they were global, unbiased, and equally suitable for everyone, everywhere. She argues that to really curb the socio-political influence of Big Tech companies we also need to understand, critique, and resist the power of their technological imaginary.

News

ASC Library has received funding from the Social Responsibility of Science

December 12, 2024

ASC Library has received funding from the Social Responsibility of Science (SON) program — “Support for Scientific Libraries,” implemented by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.