2000 Conference: Revisiting the American Century

“Revisiting the American Century” was the third in the series of workshop-conferences for young scholars from former Eastern Block countries. Organized by the Department of American Literature and Culture at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University and supported by the American Embassy, the event, as usual, took place in Pulawy, in the Sybilla conference center. The conference has hopefully become a fixture, and so (hopefully, too) have Prof. Heinz Ickstadt (J.F. Kennedy Institute, Berlin) and Prof. Rob Kroes (University of Amsterdam), two former executive officers of European Association for American Studies, who have been coming to Pulawy ever since the series was initiated. Other guest lecturers included Prof. Mick Gidley (University of Leeds), Dr. Agnieszka Graff (American Studies Center, Warsaw) and Prof. Jerzy Kutnik (Maria Curie Sklodowska University). The conference participants represented universities and colleges from Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Moldova, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, and Poland. Apart from lecture and panel discussions, the participants could relax during an afternoon trip to the nearby Kazimierz Dolny and a bonfire party in the woods near Pulawy.