Across the Atlantic : why American studies in Poland?

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Across the Atlantic

WhyAmerican Studies inPoland?

SignificantPolish-Americanencounters (apart from colonial times) began during theAmerican Revolution. Two heroes of the fight for independ­ ence: Casimir Pulaski and Thaddeus Kościuszko were praised on both sides of the Atlantic.The latter in particular has his place in the history of both theUnitedStates (as the officer that set groundsfor the West Point academy) and Poland (as the leaderof theso-calledKościuszko Insurgency of 1795) (Burczak; Pula; Fried). The role ofThaddeus Kościuszko was marked by theletters he exchanged with some ofthe Founding Fathers, including Thomas Jefferson and JamesMadison. The letters that can still beaccessed in theCzartoryskiLibrary of thePolishNational Museum in Krakow (Storozynski).

The ties between Poland and the United States, orrather between Polesand America, became evencloserdue to themass migration of the

19th andearly2O'h century. Hundreds of thousands of people from then partitioned Poland moved to theUnited States looking for political free­

dom and/or economic prosperity (Walaszek).Thismass migration could not remain without some impact on the growing interest among Poles in American culture, society,history, literature, etc. One of the prominent examples ofsucha shift was the collection of short stories written by Henryk Sienkiewicz (thefuture Nobel laureate in literature),describing the not-so-bright life on theotherside of the Atlantic,in e.g. Sachem or A Memory of Mariposa(Sienkiewicz 1973).

Radosław Rybkowski

Butit was the beginning of the20th centurythatsawthefirstPolish- American intellectualencounter. Poland, regaining its independence, with more than one million Poles living in the United States, had to make an effort to understand the people and thecountry that achieved such powerand whichhad long advocated for Polish full sovereignty. One of the first persons to provide a deeper insightinto American culture was Roman Dyboski, for many yearsChair of English Literature of the Jagiel- lonian University in Krakow (Prezydent R.P. 1921; 1936). He went to theUnited Statesto popularize knowledge about Polandand its cultural achievements, but during his stay healso explored American literature, resultingnot only in thefirstPolishacademic book inthis field, butalso inmany otherpublications on theUnitedStates (Dyboski 1930a; 1930b;

1930c; 1932a; 1932b).

The economic expansion of theUSA and its growing culturalpromi­ nence was also reflected in popular culture. Jazz music and Hollywood film productions became familiar not onlyto Polishcultural elites. The advancements of technology (film, radio, andgramophone) made Ameri­

canculture widely accessibleandconsumedby Polish society.Both high­

brow and lowbrowUS art became admired by some andatthesametime criticized by others, as an example of thedecline of Western civilization.

Thetragic events ofWorld War II brutallycut off our growingmutual interest.Thepost-war communist takeover andthe Iron Curtain brought cultural relations and academic research on the United States to asudden stop. Eventhe Fulbright educationprogram in Polandinitiated in 1959 emphasized researchcooperationrather than mutual cultural understand­

ing (Polish-American Fulbright Commission).

The times ofthe Cold War called forprofound knowledgeof the opponent, whichwas the reason ofthe emergence of Sovietology as a newfieldof studies in the United States. The Polish governmentin the 1970s wasalsolooking for the opportunity to promoteresearch on theUnited States. Thanksto the activity of Professor Andrzej Bartnicki, with the support of both the Polish government and the United States InformationAgency, aformal agreement between University of Warsaw and University of Indiana, Bloomingtonwas signed. Thus, in 1976,the American Studies Center (ASC) of the University ofWarsaw opened its

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Across the Atlantic.

doors. At first, the ASC wasan institution focusing only onresearch and offering no formal programof studies (Michalek).

A little earlier, in 1972, another research-oriented institution was establishedin Krakow: the Instituteofthe Polish Diaspora of the Jagiel- lonian University. Although focused on theproblems of Polish migration toothercountriesandthePolish diaspora, rightfromthe very startithad verycloseconnections with American scholarship and American Stud­ ies. The reasonwasfairlyobvious: on theone hand, the most advanced research on migration was conducted in the United States; and on the other, thelargestand most important Polish diaspora lived in the United States (Miodunka). Therefore, researchers workingatthe Institute of the Polish Diaspora also investigated such issues asraceand color in theUSA;

history of the US press or history ofamateur theatre in the US.

Political transformation inCentral andEastern Europechanged the situation of AmericanStudiesinPolandcompletely. Firstly, researchinterest in the United States wasno longer acause for suspicion, but ratherthe opposite: itwas praised as a way of investigating effective solutionsfor political and economic challenges. Secondly,wider availability of higher education in Poland resulted in a radical increaseof studentenrollment fromjust400,000 in 1990 to almost2,000,000 in 2004, thusmaking thespace for new programsof studies,and thereby leading to the third important change: in 1996 theAmerican Studies Centerlaunched their structured academic program of studies. In 2001, the Chair ofAmerican Studiesof the newly established Faculty of Internationaland Political Studies oftheJagiellonian Universitywas the second to start its own M.A. program in American Studies (Faculty of International and Politi­ calStudies).

Thebeginningsof these two institutions,namelythe AmericanStudies Center of the UniversityofWarsaw and the ChairofAmerican Studies (now expanded into the Instituteof American Studiesand Polish Dias­

pora) of the JagiellonianUniversity reflect specific features of American Studies as afield of study in Poland. Unlike in many other European countries, thePolish approach toAmerican Studiesis not deeply rooted in studyingAmerican literature. The founding father of the ASC, Professor AndrzejBartnicki, wasa historian focusing in his research on therole of

Radosław Rybkowski

the UnitedStates on the global stage. The man whowasresponsible for theestablishmentof the Chair of American Studies in Kraków, Professor Andrzej Mania, isalso a historian, mostly interested in US foreign policy and thehistory of politicalinstitutions (Michałek).

The InstituteofAmericanStudiesandPolish Diaspora of the Jagiel- lonianUniversity features one key characteristics: it combines not only

“classic” American Studies, understood as the research on the United States of America. Equally important is studyingLatin Americanhistory, politics,and culture, organizedaroundtheChair of Latin America. Thus, thestudentsandthe scholars gain much broader perspective that helps to understanddynamics of modern NorthandLatinAmerica.

American Studiescenterseverywhereareproudof theirinterdisciplinary approach.This seems to beanindispensable characteristic of this continu­

ously evolvingfield ofacademic inquiry (Campbell andKean). However, unlikeinmany European countries, the early development of American Studies inPoland is more closelyconnectedwith historyor political sci­ ence than withliteraturestudies.This has enabled Polish Americanists to makeinterdisciplinarity ourcommon method. Eventhespecializationsin American Studies offeredatthe institutes of English literature/philology provide a deeper insight into the politicalhistory of the United States, the US legal system,the US mass media or the US economy.

The threePolish academicjournals in thefield of AmericanStudies:

Polish Journal ofAmericanStudies (published by the Polish Association of American Studies);AdAmericam. Journal ofAmerican Studies (published by theInstitute of AmericanStudiesandPolish Diaspora), and The Ameri­ canist. Warsaw Journalfor the StudyoftheUnited States (published bythe American Studies Center) are theperfect proof that afterso many years of academic activityit is still impossible to delineateclear borders of the field. Scholars of American Studies in Poland areconstantly seeking new inspiringconceptsandtopics to beinvestigated. We, the Americanists,are of course still eager to interact with colleagues from Europe andtheUnited States, lookingfor moresophisticatedand efficient methods of inquiry.

The socialand political changes and challengesin the United Statesstill attractnew generationsof students and scholars readyto look for new questionsabout Americaand toquestion theoldanswers.

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