NATIONHOOD AND CITIZENSHIP
Organizing September workshop-conferences for young scholars from former Eastern
Block countries becomes a bit of a tradition in the Department of American
Literature and Culture at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University. Titled “Nationhood
and Citizenship,” this year’s meeting
masterminded by Prof. Jerzy Durczak, the Department chair, and invaluably
supported by American Embassy’s USIS again took place in Pulawy between 22
and 25 September.
The conference organizers were again honored to host Prof. Heinz Ickstadt
(J.F. Kennedy Institute, Berlin) and Prof. Rob Kroes (University of Amsterdam),
the current and former executive officers of European Association for American
Studies, whose lectures were so much liked last year. This time both speakers
discussed various concepts of national identity in contemporary American literature
and culture. The guest lecturers from the United States, Prof. Eric Sandeen
(University of Wyoming) and Prof. Roy Rosenzweig (George Mason University),
pondered over the perceptions of space and history in American culture. Prof.
Piotr Skurowski (University of Warsaw), the only Polish lecturer, analyzed
the national identity of Afro-Americans in Europe. The conference participants
represented universities and colleges from Belarus, Ukraine, Estonia, Russia,
Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and Hungary. Additionally, we
hosted a few young scholars from Germany and Poland. It was really good to
see some of those who participated in the 1998 conference return, which may
only be taken as a good sign. Traditionally, apart from lecture and panel
discussions, we also had an opportunity to exchange views and impressions
in a more informal environment of a hunting lodge near Pulawy.
The Photo Gallery
