Assistant professor at the flagship project Critical Heritage Studies Hub at Jagiellonian University. Her current research areas include the difficult heritage of the transatlantic slave trade, Afrofuturism, and queer West African literature.
She teaches Black Atlantic literature at the Institute of Intercultural Studies at Jagiellonian University.
Graduate in comparative literature and religious studies (MA and BA in both disciplines), she received a doctoral degree in literary studies with a specialization in comparative literature.
Toni Morrison, "Songs of Solomon"
This article examines the myth of the white man, drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Ernst Cassirer and Hans Blumenberg. The myth of the white man is primarily rooted in the belief in the distinctive "civilizing mission" attributed to white Europeans, which is further reinforced by racist narratives, often intertwined with theological underpinnings. The focus of this analysis is to explore the origins and dissemination of this narrative , which emerged concurrently with the colonial expansion of European empires beyond their continental borders. Furthermore, the article aims to highlight the association between the myth of white hegemony and Christian religions, acknowledging that the narrative took shape differently within Catholic and Protestant contexts.
Type of the publication: Article
Published in: Transformacje #4/23
Language of the publication: English
Link to the publication: The Myth of the White Man: Deconstructing Colonial Narratives of Power
Subject to analysis in this article will be two related texts: the novel Song of Solo-mon by Toni Morrison, published in 1977, and Ewa Łuczak’s article devoted the reto, entitled Homecoming in „Song of Solomon”: Nostalgia and the Construction of Identity. I would like to partially focus on examining Łuczak’s text, for whom political and social contexts depicted in the novel are the point of departure. Łuczak analyses the Song of Solomon in view of the ‘discourse of home’ present in Morrison’s work, and through the category of nostalgia. In my article, I would like to draw attention to other possible interpretations of the Nobel Prize winner’s text, thus complementing the interpretation offered by Ewa Łuczak by introducing new contexts.
I propose to replace the category of nostalgia by interpreting the Song of Solomon in the light of one of the most important myths of the African diaspora, around which the entire novel is structured – the myth of the Flying Africans. Łuczak notes this myth in just one sentence. Although this article contains some grounds for a polemic, I would like it to be, above all, an interesting starting point for a broader discussion of the cultural hegemony of Western readings of postcolonial literary texts
Type of the publication: Article
Published in: Czytanie Literatury Łódzkie Studia Literaturoznawcze #12/23
Language of the publication: Polish
Link to the publication: O jednym odczytaniu Song of Solomon
For a long time, the experience of the Middle Passage was referred to as “resistant to storytelling” – too traumatic to write about it, unsuited for the narrative form and easier to express in poetry (Harding 2005). Over the last thirty years, a shift in this attitude can be observed, particularly among black writers, who have consciously tried to supplement those gaps in history. The chapter proposes a study of one of the most powerful fictionalised Middle Passage narratives – presented in Alex Haley’s novel “Roots” (1976) – which will serve as a departure point to speak about the difficult heritage of slavery and the forced migration of Africans. The analysis is conducted from the perspective of literary studies, recognising that heritage is also a form of discourse constituting part of culture (Smith 2006, 4) and is mediated in various forms; thus, examining literature that represents heritage is both meaningful and justified. The literary text analysed in this chapter has profoundly influenced American perceptions of the transatlantic slave trade. The chapter seeks to comprehensively analyse the depiction of the Middle Passage within these seminal works through a multisensory mobility lens. Emphasising the sensory disorientation and adaptation that the enslaved endured, the chapter aims to elucidate the visual, auditory, olfactory and tactile elements embedded in this literary narrative. The ensuing discussion will offer a nuanced understanding of the sociocultural and psychological ramifications of slavery and its enduring legacy. Central to this examination is a concept of multisensory mobility, exploring the intricate interplay of multiple senses and their relationship with the movement depicted within that narrative.
Type of the publication: Chapter
Published in: In preparations, will be published in 2024.
Language of the publication: Polish
Link to the publication: Cultural Heritage and Mobility from a Multisensory Perspective
EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE ISSUE WITH JUSTYNA TUSZYŃSKA, Ph.D.
The increasing prominence of queer narratives in global popular culture, including Poland, warrants academic attention. Alice Oseman's "Heartstopper," a graphic novel depicting a teenage love story, has become a bestseller in Poland, surpassing works by authors like Olga Tokarczuk, with its Netflix adaptation achieving similar success. Poland's "Dancing with the Stars" featured its first same-sex male couple, and an episode from "The Last of Us" series, titled "Long, Long Time," focusing on a male romance, quickly gained iconic status.
Academic inquiry in Poland has explored queer themes in 'high culture,' but lacks focus on popular literary and cinematic forms beyond canonical works. In the upcoming issue of "Przegląd Kulturoznawczy" (Cultural Studies Review), we aim to examine the intersection of queer narratives and popular culture, exploring terms like 'queer-pop' and 'pop-queer,' and investigating the reciprocal influence between queerness and popular culture using theoretical frameworks from scholars like Foucault, Bourdieu, Hall, Wark, and Halberstam.
Type of the publication: Issue of a magazine
Published in: In preparations, will be published in 2024.
Language of the publication: Polish
Link to the publication: Przegląd Kulturoznawczy
EDITORIAL BOARD OF THE ISSUE WITH JAKUB KOŚCIÓŁEK, PhD; DARIUSZ BRZOSTEK, PROF.
This issue will attempt to trace the historical trajectory of the concept and its designates: from the concrete (the historical fact and its subsequent interpretations) to the metaphorical (discursive conceptualization and rhetorical device in the languages of politics and social criticism). Bearing in mind the socio-cultural area from which slavery emerges as a shameful specter haunting the world of nascent civic freedoms, we aim to unveil the ideological, artistic, and affective filters through which the modern West has sought to describe human trafficking. We also plan to examine how contemporary societies of former dependent territories manage the memory of slavery in narratives and practices, building their present identity through, as Stuart Hall wrote years ago, "retelling history anew." We are also interested in the latest reinterpretations of this concept in political, artistic, and scientific discourses - its work as a mechanism producing phantasms, often detached from the historical sources of slavery itself. Important here will be possible (over)uses of the concept itself in social and political debates, where the "slavery" metaphor is often an example and argument purely rhetorical.
Type of the publication: Issue of a magazine
Published in: In preparations, will be published in 2024.
Language of the publication: Polish
Link to the publication: Kultura Współczesna
An international on-line seminar titled "Difficult Heritage of Slavery and the Transatlantic Slave Trade", concluding the research project "Memory of Slavery in Gullah and Geechee Communities". The seminar provided an opportunity for networking with academics from outside Europe who specialize in the topics of memory and heritage related to the transatlantic slave trade. One of the attendees, along researchers and scholars, was South African writer Manu Herbstin, the author of "Ama, a Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade," which won the 2002 Commonwealth Writers' Prize for Best First Book. A Brazilian edition translated into Portuguese is currently being prepared under the initiative of seminar participant Professor Gustavo Brito.
The event was funded by the Excellence Initiative grant at the Faculty of International and Political studies at Jagiellonian University. Organized by Dr. Elżbieta Binczycka-Gacek, Dr. Jakub Kościółek, Mgr. Monika Kwiatkowska, and Professor Dariusz Brzostek from the Institute of Cultural Studies at Nicolaus Copernicus University, in collaboration with the Polish Cultural Studies Association, Toruń branch,
Activity - Co-organizing the Seminar
When: May 31th, 2024
Where: Online Seminar
Filiations and Affiliations - Bonds, Entanglements, and Social Networks in African Literatures and Cultures. Drawing its inspiration from Edward Said’s discussion of the ways in which texts become ‘worldly’ through a series of filiations and affiliations, the ALA invites papers and panels that address such relations in all their forms.
Activity - Hosting a panel:
When: May 23-25th, 2024
Where: University of Louisville, KY, USA
Website of the 49th annual meeting of the African Literature Association
