Polish Studies at University of Florida

• The Institution
• Polish Study Courses
• Language Instruction
• Faculty
• Collaboration with Institutions in Poland

Polish Study Courses

PLW 4905 (8754) Society & Culture in Poland, 1905 - 2004 @ @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: an introduction to central issues in Polish culture and society of the last 100 years. Over the period in question, which stretches from the first socialist uprisings in Russian czarist-ruled Poland to the country's entry into the European Union, Poles lived under no less than seven different regimes. Our emphasis in the course will be on the dialectic of continuity and change that this political history has impressed on Polish culture and society. As parliamentary democracy, authoritarianism, totalitarianism, and war alternate variously on the political landscape, what sorts of cultural representations do Poles fashion to maintain national identity? How are the terms of debates on topics such as intellectuals and political radicalism, national minorities and nationalism, Catholicism and civil society, Polish-Jewish relations, gender and national identity, definitions of resistance to and collaboration with Nazism and communism, and mass culture inflected and reinterpreted over time? Finally, as Poland adopts its latest national and geopolitical guise as EU member state, how does its "carousel" history involve it on its path to integration in contradictions and clashes with Western Europe on issues such as minority groups, church and state relations, and terrorism? This course poses these and other questions via readings of original documents, social and cultural history, essays, literature, and viewing of films.  SYLLABUS
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: C. Caes

PLW 4905 (8755) The Absurd in 20th-century Polish Literature and Theater @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will explore the literature and theater of the absurd, one of the central and most imaginative currents in modern twentieth-century Polish writing. We will focus on the hallmark stylistic traits of the absurd, including surrealism and expressionism, black humor and irony, nonsense and the grotesque, as well as look at specific historical factors – from wartime catastrophe to communist censorship – that have led twentieth-century Poles to express their national culture in such extravagant and lopsided ways. Readings will include selections from the hallucinatory prose of St. I. Witkiewicz, the frenzied fiction of Witold Gombrowicz, the nonsense poetry of K. I. Galczynski, the science-fiction/fantasy fables of Stanislaw Lem, the absurdist theater of Slawomir Mrozek and Janusz Glowacki, the melancholic parables of Natasza Goerke, and others.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: C. Caes

PLW 4905 (5226) Cultural Transition in Contemporary Poland (1950 - Today) @ @ @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will study the changing role of writers and artists in communist and post-communist Poland by drawing on literature, film, music, pop-culture and visual arts. First, we will consider the artist's commitment to political resistance and the desire for individual artistic expression. Second, we will investigate cultural responses to the growth of capitalism, mass-media and globalization in post-1989 Poland.   SYLLABUS
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: E. Wampuszyc

PLW 4905 / FOW 2202 Polish National Cinema @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course introduces and examines the modern cinema of Poland. Its twin focus is on poetics and politics, and it looks at the visual and narrative techniques that distinguish Polish films from Hollywood and other national cinemas as well as considers the unique role of film in Polish culture as popular memory and public discourse. Screenings will included pictures by the auteurs of Polish cinema, Andrzej Wajda, Krzysztof Kieœlowski, and Agnieszka Holland, as well as films associated with important movements in Polish cinematography, such as the neoromantic Polish School of the late 50s and the socially engaged, realist films of the Cinema of Moral Concern of the late 70s. Taught in English.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: C. Caes

PLW 4905 The Culture and History of Partitioned Poland (1795-1918) @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: How did Polish identity survive though Poland as a state lacked geopolitical borders for over a century? This course examines the responses of poets, writers, journalists, painters and philosophers to their own unique political circumstances as they shaped Polish culture against the odds of censorship, exile, and "depolonization." We will take a special look at the debates surrounding the November Uprising of 1830, the January Uprising of 1863 and the 1905 Revolution and explore how these discussions are integral to modern Polish cultural identity. Readings include: Adam Mickiewicz, Maurycy Mochnacki, Bolesław Prus, and Aleksander Œwiętochowski. Taught in English.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: E. Wampuszyc

PLT 2500 Polish Literary Heritage @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: A survey of the development of Polish literature from the Middle Ages to present. Literary developments are presented in the context of the social and political currents. Readings and discussions in English.

Language Instruction

POL 1131 Introduction to Polish Language and Culture I @ @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: The first half of the Beginning Polish sequence. The goal of the class is to work toward active language usage through guided and improvisational conversation, oral drills, listening exercises, and reading and writing assignments. An introduction to the everyday culture and traditions of Poland is incorporated into the classroom through culture presentations, film, and music. Learning a new language can be lots of fun and I hope you will approach the course in this spirit. Polish XXXX is an intensive, introductory language course for beginning students. The goal of the class is to work toward active language usage through systematic conversational practice, oral drills, listening exercises, and reading and writing assignments. An introduction to the everyday culture and traditions of Poland is incorporated into the classroom through culture presentations, film, and music.   SYLLABUS
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: E. Wampuszyc

POL 1115 Elementary Polish: Review and Progress I @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Alternative to POL 1130, for students who have had some previous experience in Polish but are not yet ready for intermediate work in the language. This course reviews basic grammar and improves reading, writing, and listening skills.

POL 1116 Elementary Polish: Review and Progress II @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Second semester sequence for students who have had some previous experience in Polish but are not yet ready for intermediate work in the language. This course reviews basic grammar and improves reading, writing, and listening skills.

POL 2200 Intermediate Polish I @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Students will improve their speaking, reading, writing, and listening comprehension skills by reviewing and expanding the language principles introduced in POL 1130/1131 or POL 1115/1116.

POL 2201 Intermediate Polish II @

COURSE DESCRIPTION: Eastern Europe from late Antiquity to the fifteenth century. Examines the major problems of Medieval history, with special emphasis on the role of the region in the history of the continent.
COURSE INSTRUCTOR: Curta, F.

Faculty

Caes, Christopher , Assistant Professor of Polish Studies, Univeristy of Florida, Gainsville @

Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Phone: 352 392-8902 / Fax: . . . / E-Mail: caes@ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Polish literature and film: Stalinist, Post-Stalinist, and especially in the contemporary period
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
COURSES

• Society & Culture in Poland, 1905 - 2004
• The Absurd in 20th-century Polish Literature and Theater
• Polish National Cinema

Kreppel, Amie , Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Florida @

Ph.D., University of California/Los Angeles, 1998
Phone: (352) 392-0262 / Fax: (352) 392-8127 / E-Mail: kreppel@polisci.ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Development of Legislative Institutions with particular emphasis on the development of the Polish Sejm
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
PRESENTATIONS

• Old Dog New Tricks: The Internal Development of the Polish Sejm since Democratization Meeting of American Political Science Association, Boston, 2002.

Morrison, James F. , Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Florida @

Ph.D., Stanford University 1969
Phone: (352) 392-0262 ext. 290 / Fax: (352) 392-8127 / Email:jmorriso@polisci.ufl.edu; morrison@ufl.edu jmorriso@polisci.ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Poland, Social and Political change, Polish politics and society, and martial law in Poland
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
BOOKS

• The Polish People's Republic , Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, MD 1968

ACTIVITIES

• Organizer and faculty advisor for the University of Florida/Poland Exchange Program
• Visiting professor at Poznan University during 1975-76 and 81-82
• Two years of graduate work in political sociology at Warsaw University

Wampuszyc Ewa , Lecturer, Polish Studies, Univeristy of Florida, Gainsville @

Ph.D., Universi(734) 647-2132 / Fax: . . . / E-Mail: ewamp@ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Late 19th century Polish and Russian literature, particularly on questions of money and economy in the 1860s-80s.
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
THESIS

• Conflicting National Mythologies in the Narratives of the Warsaw Uprising of 1944, Master's thesis, Univ. of Michigan, 1996

COURSES

• Cultural Transition in Contemporary Poland (1950 - Today)
• The Culture and History of Partitioned Poland (1795-1918)
• Introduction to Polish Language and Culture

META-FACULTY - Faculty who have studied and/or taught at Polish institutions of higher education

Haman, Dorota Z. , Professor, Department of Agricultural & Biological Engineering, University of Florida @

Ph.D., Agricultural Engineering, Michigan State University, 1983
M.S., Mathematics, University of Warsaw, Poland, 1973
Phone: (352) 392-1864 ext 285 / Fax: (352) 392-4092 / E-Mail: DZHaman@ifas.ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Management of Irrigation Systems, Crop Water Requirement, Irrigation Scheduling, Sustainability of Irrigation Systems

Nowak, Jaroslaw , Assistant Professor, School of Forest Resources and Conservation, University of Florida @ @

M.S. Warsaw Agricultural University, 1986
Ph.D., Mississippi State University, 1996
Phone: 850 875-7142 / Fax: . . . / E-Mail: jnowak@mail.ifas.ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: Silviculture and mitigating air pollution effects on forest health

Pozor, Malgorzata , Lecturer, Large Animal Clinical Sciences @

Med. Vet, Academy of Agriculture in Wroclaw
Ph.D New Bolton Center, University of Pennsylvania
Phone: (352) 392-4700 x5600 / Fax: . . . . . . / E-Mail: . . . . .
MAJOR INTERESTS: Reproductive behavior and endocrinology, veterinary andrology and new modalities of imaging techniques in diagnosis of reproductive disorders
POLAND RELATED SCHOLARSHIP:
POSITIONS

• Adjunct Lecturer at University of Agriculture, Krakow

Skora Irena A. , Associate Professor of Anesthesiology, Univeristy of Florida@

M.D. Jagiellonian University, Krakow
Phone: 904 244-5431 / Fax: . . . / E-Mail: sylvia.gabbard@jax.ufl.edu
MAJOR INTERESTS: . . .

Collaboration with Institutions in Poland