Professor Urszula Chowaniec, PhD. Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University, Poland
She also cooperates as the Senior Teaching Fellow at University College London (online and distance learning). She is an author of a monograph Melancholic Migrating Bodies in Contemporary Women’s Writing (2015) and W poszukiwaniu Kobiety: O wczesnych powieściach Ireny Krzywickiej (In Search for a Woman: Early Novels of Irena Krzywicka, Kraków 2007). She also edited and contributed to Women’s Voices and Feminism in Polish Cultural Memory (2012), Mapping Experience on Polish and Russian Women’s Writing (2010), Masquerade and Femininity. Essays on Polish and Russian Women Writers (2008). Her current research concentrate on women emancipation movement from the non-heterosexual perspectives, mainly concentrating on the movement in Eastern Europe, but also generally on the dialogues between women’s movement and lesbian emancipation as well as the connection between the development of the feminist language and the language of non-heteronormative sexualities.
Teaching: Rhetoric, Contemporary Literature, Literature in Film Adaptation, Popular Culture.
Education:
• MA in Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University, 2000 (with special distinction);
• MA in Political Science with a specialization in journalism at the Jagiellonian University, 2002;
• PhD in Polish Studies at the Jagiellonian University, 2004 (PhD thesis title: In Search of a Woman: the Early Fiction of Irena Krzywicka).
• Habilitacja (a diploma of associate professorship), Jagiellonian University, 2017 (based on the monograph: Melancholic Migrating Bodies: Contemporary Polish Women’s Writing, 2015), attached translation
Work experience:
• Since 2017: Associated Professor at the Faculty of Management and Social Communication of the Andrzej Frycz – Modrzewski Krakow University (contemporary literature, literature and cinematic adaptation, rhetoric, and the world literature in film), Poland.
• 2007-2017: Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Cultural Studies of the Andrzej Frycz – Modrzewski Krakow University.
• 2011-2017: Visiting Senior Teaching Fellow, the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London (part-time cooperation, examining, online courses), UK.
• 2005-2007: Lecturer at the Department of Slavic Studies, University of Tampere. Finland.
• 2004-2009 Lecturer at the Department of School of Gender Studies at the Jagiellonian University. Poland.
• 2004-2003: Teacher Fellow in Contemporary Polish Literature at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK.
Organised conferences and seminars (2017-2006):
• June 5-11, 2017: Art/Gender/LGBT in the Other Europe: LGBT art and the debate on gender. Series of seminars at the Festival of Cultures in London (UCL).
• February 2, 2017: Women’s Writing, Translation and Rethinking Nostalgia. Discussion seminar (altogether with Portobello Publisher). London.
• October 27, 2016: The Body Politics, LGBT and Abortion Rights in Poland. Discussion seminar. UCL SSEES and qUCL. London.
• November 4, 2014: Coming Out. Polish Style. Seminar at UCL: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ol155ab7FuY
• March 2013-May 2014: 11 seminars on Polish Migration, Literature and Culture: http://emigratinglandscapes.org/organisers/:
1. Notion of the Borders and The Artistic Creativity (Prof. Irit Rogoff in discussion with Urszula Chowaniec), March 2013;
2. Joanna Plebanek and JM Bakalar – notion of emigration in contemporary prose, March 2013;
3. Emigrating poetry: Wioletta Grzegorzewska and Genowefa Jakubowska Fijałkowska, May 2013;
4. Emigration: Between Poetry and Prose: Maria Jastrzebska and Marek Kazmierski, June 2013.
5. Jewish poetry and emigration: Irit Amiel, November 2013;
6. Representing emigration in cinema: Urszula Chowaniec in discussion with dr. hab. Małgorzata Radkiewicz, November 2013;
7. Art and migration: In Search of Public Space, January 2014;
8. Migrating Poetry: Grzegorz Wróblewski and friends (discussing the contemporary migration in art), February 2014.
9. Meeting with Ewa Lipska (Francois Gausnett, Katarzyna Zechenter, Tony Howard, Barbara Bogoczek) May 2014;
10. Duscussion with Agata Pyzik on book Poor but Sexy East West Cultural Clash (2014).
• April 2011: The Family and Gender in Media and Language, One day conference in Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Cracow University (co-operation)
• February 2011: Between the Borders: Izabela Filipiak and Grazyna Plebanek. Seminar at the London School of Economics.
• January 2011: Gra na Wielu Historiach. One-day seminar with Olga Tokarczuk (literature and translation). Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Krakow University.
• May 2010, International Symposium on Generation and Transpormation: Between Post-Comunist and Post-Colonial Women´s Writing, Andrzej Frycz Modrzewski Cracow University, Pedagogical University in Krakow and Jagiellonian University;
• March 2009: Feminism, Language and Religion. One-day seminar on Polish literature, feminism and religion. Sociological Studies, Jagiellonian University;
• November 2008: Poland Under Feminist Eyes, One-day Seminar on Feminist Theory and Polish Literature, School of Slavonic and East-European Studies, University College London (co-operation with Ursula Phillips);
• March 2008: Mapping Experience: Polish and Russian Women’s Writing. International conference (Tampere University, Finland);
• November 2007: Language in Women’s Writing and Feminist Theory, cooperation between University of Tampere and University of Turku
• May 2006: Femininity and Masquerade. International Conference at University of Tampere, Finland.
Publications:
Monographs:
2015
Melancholic Migrating Bodies in Contemporary Polish Women’s Writing, 2015. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 229.
2007
W poszukiwaniu kobiety. O wczesnych powieściach Ireny Krzywickiej/ In Search for a Woman. Early Fiction by Irena Krzywicka 2007. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, pp. 182.
Selected Peer-reviewed articles:
2012
Feminism Today, or Re-visiting Polish Feminist Literary Scholarship Since 1990s. In: “Przegląd Kulturoznawczy”, no 4 (14), p. 391-404.
(Also on-line) Urszula Chowaniec & Marzenna Jakubczak (ed.). 2012. Philosophy and Literature: Generation and Transformation in Gender and Postdependency Discourse, In: “Argument: Biannual Philosophical Journal”, Kraków, vol 2, no 1, p. 5-16 (online: http://www.argument-journal.eu/back-issues/vol-2-no-1?lang=en).
2011
Ciało jako sytuacja. Kultura i płeć w kontekście socjologii Pierre’a Bourdieu/ Body as a Situation. Culture and Gender in sociology of Pierre Bourdieu. 2011. In: “Kultura i Historia”, http://www.kulturaihistoria.umcs.lublin.pl/archives/2693.
2010
Ghost Writer. Film Romana Polańskiego jako pretekst do rozważań o kobiecie w polityce i zanikaniu autora (czytanie feministyczne)/ Ghost Writer. A woman and disappearance of the author in Roman Polański’s film (feminist reading). 2010 „Pogranicza.” no. 5 (88), p. 33-38.
2009
Melancholia i depresja w literaturze pisanej przez kobiety po 1989 roku/ Melancholia and Depression in Literature by Women After 1989. In: „Annales Universitatis Paedagogicae Cracoviensis. Studia Historicolitteraria IV” (2009), p. 129-143.
2008
Odzyskiwanie ciała. Problem kobiecej tożsamości na przykładzie literatury polskiej i rosyjskiej/ Re-claiming the Body. Problem of Women’s Identity in Polish and Russian Contemporary Prose. 2008. „Ruch Literacki” z. 4/5, p. 501-516.
2005
Femina Post-Sovietica. Literature, Gender and Politics in Poland of 1990s. 2005. „Perspectives”, volume III, no. 1, pp. 1-16.
Edited volumes:
2012
Women’s Voices and Feminism in Polish Cultural History. Ed. Urszula Chowaniec, Ursula Phillips. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2010
Mapping Experience in Polish and Russian Women’s Writing. Ed. Urszula Chowaniec, Kirsi Kurkijarvi, Ursula Phillips, Marja Rytkonen, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle.
2008
Irena Krzywicka, Pierwsza Krew/ First Blood. Edited and Annotations by Urszula Chowaniec, Warszawa: Wydawnictwo Krytyki Politycznej.
Femininity and Masquerade: Essays on Polish and Russian Women Writers. 2008. Ed. Urszula Chowaniec et.al. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
2014
Piętnaście twarzy polskiego feminizmu: literatura, kultura i dyskurs genderowy na polskich uniwersytetach/ Feefteen Faces of Polish Feminism in Academia 2014. ed. Monika Świerkosz & Urszula Chowaniec, „Women Online Writing”, no. 3, London. ISSN 2056-4791.
online: http://www.womenonlinewriting.org/issue-no-3-history-of-polish-feminism-in-academia-in-polish.html
Book chapters:
2017
(in print) The quest for the “normal” family Gender, Sex Education and Body Politics in Polish Contemporary Public Debates, Poland’s Illiberal Revolutions: Essays, ed. Jo Harper: CEUPress.
2016
O całym życiu Sabiny Heleny Boguszewskiej/ The Whole Life of Sabina by Helana Boguszewska, p. 303-327. Warszawa: Katedra.
2013
(E)Migration and Displacement: Melancholy as a Subversive Gesture in Prose Women. In: Literature in Transformation, ed. Ursula Phillips, Berlin: LIT Verlag. p. 93-11.
2012
Introduction: Feminism Today: Reflections on Politics and Literature. 2012. In: Women’s Voices and Feminism in Polish Cultural History. ed. Urszula Chowaniec, Ursula Phillips. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 1-25.
Listening to Women’s Voices: Historical Overview of Women’s Right to Write in Poland. In: Women’s Voices and Feminism in Polish Cultural History. ed. Urszula Chowaniec, Ursula Phillips. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, p. 26-46.
2011
Femme mélancolique, czyli o pesymizmie najnowszej literatury kobiecej/ Femme mélancolique, on pessimism in contemporary women’s prose. In: Ćwiczenia z rozpaczy. Pesymizm w prozie polskiej po 1985 roku, ed. Jerzy Jarzębski: Universitas. p. 371-408.
Displacement, Emigration, and Travel: Contemporary Polish Literature and the Notion of Émigré Literature. IN: Contemporary Polish Migrant Culture and Literature in Germany. Ireland, and the UK, ed. Joanna Rostek oraz Dirk Uffelmann. Berlin: Peter Land, p. 131-151.
W poszukiwaniu utraconej więzi. Melancholia we wczesnych powieściach Ireny Krzywickiej. In: Dwudziestolecie mniej znane. O kobietach piszących w latach 1918-1939. Red. Ewa Graczyk et.al. Gdańsk: Wyd. Libron, p. 175-184.
2010
Towards a Fast Food Reality: The 1990s and the Transformation in Polish Literature. In: Perestroika: Process and Consequences, ed. Markku Kangaspuro, Jouko Nikula, Ivor Stodolsky, Helsinki: Finnish Literature Society. p. 312-330.
O widzialnych i niewidzialnych podróżniczkach w literaturze polskiej dekady 1997-2007. In: Od polityki do poetyki. ed. Cezary Zalewski, Kraków: Universitas. p. 269-295.
„Wywrotowa” Krytyka feministyczna: między dyskursem politycznym a literaturoznawstwem. In: Pogranicza teorii, ed. Marian Bielecki, Wałbrzych: Wydawnictwo PWSZ im. Angelusa Silesiusa, p. 117-133.
“Intimately social”: The Experience of Menstruation in Polish Women’s Writing. 2010. In: Mapping Experience in Polish and Russian Women’s Writing, ed. Urszula Chowaniec et al. Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Newcastle, p. 150-170.
Introduction to Mapping Concepts: „Experience” and Women’s Writing in Russia and Poland, 2010. In: Mapping Experience in Polish and Russian Women’s Writing, ed. Urszula Chowaniec et al. Cambridge Scholar Publishing, Newcastle, p. 1-33.
2008
Against Masquerade. Irena Krzywicka in Search of Woman, w: Femininity and Masquerade in Polish and Russian Women Writers. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholar Publishing, p. 157-171.
The Role of Natural Scenery in Olga Tokarczuk’s Storytelling. In: Tożsamość i rozdwojenie w perspektywie mitów, ed. Lidia Wiśniewska, Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego, p. 241-254.
2007
Ciało i maskarada w literaturze na przykładzie polskiej literatury lat 90-tych. In: Literatura, kultura i język polski w kontekstach i kontaktach światowych, Poznań: Wydawnictwo Naukowe UAM, 2007, p. 453-464.
Narodziny i śmierć. Cielesne poszukiwania kontynuacji z perspektywy bohaterki-matki (“Prawiek i inne czasy” Olgi Tokarczuk w kilku odsłonach). In: Mity słowa, mity ciała, ed. Lidii Wiśniewskiej, Bydgoszcz: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Kazimierza Wielkiego, p. 217-230.
2005
Initiation into Womanhood. Early novels of Irena Krzywicka. In: Gender and Sexuality in Ethical Context: Ten essays on Polish Prose, ed. Knut Andreas Grimstad, Slavica Bergensia, Volume 5, p. 178-201.
2003
Inicjacja w kobiecość. O prozie Ireny Krzywickiej. In: Powieść inicjacyjna, ed. E. Owczarz, W. Gutowski, Toruń: Dom Wydawniczy Duet, p. 615-629.
2002
Proza kobieca lat 90-tych. In: Literatura polska 1990-2000. 2002. Ed. T. Cieślak, , Łódź: Zielona Sowa, p 351-371.
2001
W poszukiwaniu “kobiecego świata”. Proza Izabeli Filipiak i Olgi Tokarczuk. In: Światy nowej prozy, red. Stanisław Jaworski, Kraków: Universitas, p. 117-148.
Selected recent reviews
2017
The Stranger and Her Escapes: A Review of Swallowing Mercury by Wioletta Greg, “World Literature Today”, March 2017, online.
(in print) A review of Complicating the Female Subject: Gender, National Myths and Genre in Polish Women’s Inter-War Drama by Joanna Kot, The Polish Review, autumn 2017.
Encyclopaedia entries:
2014:
Melancholia. In: Encyklopedia Gender, Warszawa: Czarna Owca, p. 300-303.
Histeria. In: Encyklopedia Gender, Warszawa: Czarna Owca, p. 182-187.
Electronic Journals:
• Since 2009: Women Online Writing (ISSN 2056-4791, czasopismo zarejestrowane przez British Library) (funkcja głównego redaktora): http://www.womenonlinewriting.org
