2-Week Intensive Language Course
This course is an intensive two-week Polish language immersion program. Class meets daily (Monday – Friday) – five hours a day, for first two weeks of the program. The course is taught at all levels of language proficiency from absolute beginners to native speakers. All students are required to take this course
Language of Instruction: Polish
Recommended US semester credits: 3
Semester-Long Language Course
This course is a continuation of Polish language immersion program. Class meets two or three times a week (in the evening) – for 1,5 – 2 hours a day (60 contact hours). The course is taught at all levels of language proficiency from absolute beginners to native speakers.
Proficiency Levels
BEGINNING LEVEL A1 – Introduction to Polish – Breakthrough – Conducted in Polish
This course is designed for students who have no previous experience with the Polish language (or at least, a limited or very basic understanding). After completing this course student can understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. They will be able to introduce themselves and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where they live, people they know and things they have. They will be able to interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.
BEGINNING LEVEL A2 – Waystage – Conducted in Polish
Students are taught to read texts with proper intonation and accent, learn basic grammar, and use Polish in its communicative function in a set of life situations. Using about 1,000 words, they can speak about themselves and the world around them. They can understand sentences and frequently used expressions related to areas of most immediate relevance (e.g. very basic personal and family information, shopping, local geography, employment). Students can communicate in simple and routine tasks requiring a simple and direct exchange of information on familiar and routine matters. Students can describe in simple terms aspects of his/ her background, immediate environment, and matters in areas of immediate need.
BEGINNING/INTERMEDIATE LEVEL B1 – The Threshold (3-4) – Conducted in Polish
After the course, students should attain a basic knowledge of Polish grammar and possess basic communication competence. They should know about 2,000 words of the Polish lexicon. After completing this course the student should be able to understand the main points of clear standard input on familiar matters regularly encountered in work, school, leisure, etc. Students will be able to deal with most situations likely to arise whilst traveling in an area where the language is spoken. Students will be able to produce simple connected text on topics which are familiar or of personal interest. They can describe experiences and events, dreams, hopes, and ambitions and briefly give reasons and explanations for opinions and plans.
INTERMEDIATE LEVEL B2 – Vantage (3-4) – Conducted in Polish
Students are taught the structure of the Polish language and how to use it appropriately. This course prepares students to function in most everyday situations and to actively participate in conversations in Polish. After completing this course students should be able to understand the main ideas of complex text on both concrete and abstract topics, including technical discussions in his/her field of specialization. Students will interact with a degree of fluency and spontaneity that makes regular interaction with native speakers quite possible without strain for either party. Students will be able to produce clear, detailed text on a wide range of subjects and explain a viewpoint on a topical issue giving the advantages and disadvantages of various options.
ADVANCED LEVEL C1 – Effective Proficiency (3-4) – Conducted in Polish
Students are taught to function adequately in everyday situations and to participate in Polish conversations. At this level, specialized Polish is introduced. The students are prepared to speak and write on specialized topics, and to understand specialized Polish (e.g. lecture note taking). It is assumed that students on this level should use about 6000 general Polish and 500-1000 specialized Polish words. After completing this course students will be able to understand a wide range of demanding, longer texts, and recognize implicit meaning. Students will be able to express themselves fluently and spontaneously without much obvious searching for expressions. They will use language flexibly and effectively for social, academic and professional purposes. Students will produce clear, well-structured, detailed text on complex subjects, showing a controlled use of organizational patterns, connectors, and cohesive devices.
ADVANCED/SUPERIOR LEVEL C2 – Proficiency (3-4) – Conducted in Polish
This course aims to teach students individualized linguistic behavior in all communicative situations and a full range of Polish language structures. Students are also taught to write longer essays and compositions. Achieving a full understanding of written and spoken Polish texts is an important aim of this curriculum. After completing this course, the students should be able to understand with ease virtually everything heard and read. Students will be able to summarize information from different spoken and written sources, reconstructing arguments and accounts in a coherent presentation. They will also be able to express themselves spontaneously, fluently and precisely, differentiating finer shades of meaning even in more complex situations.
Language of Instruction: Polish
Recommended US semester credits: 4
Film and Religion
Analysis of selected works of contemporary Western cinema in a post-secular manner, i.e. emphasizing their religious dimensions. The course is focused on Christianity, denominations within Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, and Atheism. The final film selection will be announced on the first lecture, but it will certainly include Michael Haneke, Coen brothers, Ulrich Seidl, Ricky Gervais, and Chayim Tabakman works.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Gender and Democracy in Poland
This course provides an overview of some key issues in the debate on gender equality in Poland. It assesses the impact of the socialist regime, democratic transformation and accession to the European Union on gender relations and gender equality in Poland as well as anti-gender mobilization and backlash towards gender equality. In particular, the course covers the following topics:
- Gender order under state socialism. “Solidarity according to Women”.
- Who won the Polish transformation? Democratic transformation through the lens of gender equality.
- Europeanization of gender equality policy.
- Gendering politics and women’s representation in politics: does it matter?
- Gender issues in labor market: women’s and men’s economic opportunities.
- Gender identity construction in media discourse.
- “Underground Women’s State” – reproductive rights in Poland.
- Transnationality and discourses on gender.
- Multiple inequalities: use of the intersectional approach.
- “Gender wars” in Poland.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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History and Sociology of Food and Drink in Poland
The aim of this course is to introduce international undergraduate students to food and drink in Poland from an academic point of view. This academic reflection will parallel and complement their discovery of Polish cuisine outside of the classroom. In addition to traditional teaching methods involving lectures and classroom discussion, students will be asked to select a recipe described in a local cookbook (Zasmakuj w tradycji) which they will translate, cook for themselves, and then describe the food, its social context, history, place in the calendar, etc to the rest of the class. The class will also be supplemented by short study trips to local food-related events. The class will end with a written exam.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 4
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The Holocaust and Its Cultural Meaning II
There is no question that the Holocaust is the definitive event of the twentieth century for the West. Yet only after over half a century do we find that all the world can finally and freely speak of the Holocaust and the effect it has had on European and Western culture. The Shoah needs to be understood as something more than a historical or political event.The introductory classes will build a foundation based on analysis of the changing terminology and definitions, as well as situate the Holocaust against the historical backdrop and social context of modern Europe. Presented and analyzed next will be the fundamental questions provoked by the Holocaust (e.g., how did it happen, what did political leaders do or not do, how did ordinary people react,, etc.). The perpetrator, victim, and bystander roles will be discussed in detail; means of resistance and rescue will also be examined. As the course is being taught in Central Europe, attention will be paid to pre- and post-communist memory of the Holocaust. Each meeting will center on a specific theme and questions. The primary aim is to enable the student to examine the many facets of Holocaust history and memory. Another goal is to arrive at a more critical, analytical, and nuanced understanding of the Shoah. Students will be able to demythologize the Holocaust and critique the presentations and representations (or lack thereof), in private and public discourse, in their own and other nation-states, under totalitarian and democratic systems.
Having completed the class, a student should be able to:
- summarize the main currents of Modern Polish culture
- clarify similarities and differences between Polish and Jewish Messianism
- explain the notion of post-secular philosophy
- compare and contrast Judaism and Christianity
- distinguish between Polish patriotism and Polish nationalism
- conceptualize the clash between the nominalist thinking and the Counter-Reformation
- elucidate the notion of “pre-secular Poland”
- analyze literature and movies in a philosophical manner
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Media Art in Poland
The course covers Polish media art in the context of contemporary art in general. The most important movements will be presented including the Workshop of Film Form, conceptual art, minimal art, Polish school of video art, computer-based art etc. The course will also feature the presentations of the works by Józef Robakowski, Zbigniew Rybczyński, Natalia LL, Mirosław Rogala, Krzysztof Wodiczko, Artur Żmijewski, Katarzyna Kozyra and many others.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Modern Philosophy II
This course surveys the major issues of modern philosophical thought in the areas of metaphysics (the debate between post-Nietzscheans and the defenders of classical metaphysics), ethics (modern views on what it means to be moral and how morality can be justified), and political philosophy (philosophical foundations of liberal democracy). The following authors’ works will be discussed: Richard Rorty, Juergen Habermas, Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Rawls, Karl Popper, Ortega y Gasset and Friedrich Hayek.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Nationalism and Identity
Central Europe is an exciting historic territory. In the early modern period, (i.e. 16th through 18th centuries) various states and nations experienced upheavals and changes to their sovereignty; starting with periods of pride and glory, all the way to the disappearance from the map of Europe. Such was the fate of Hungary at the beginning of the discussed period; such was the fate of Poland-Lithuania towards the end. This will be a typical survey course intended to share with students the basic political and social changes in the Central European history in the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Poland as a Work of Art
A country can be an aesthetic experience – it’s possible to get inspired in Poland, you just need to know where to look. Students in this class will browse through recent Polish cinema, design, literature, theater, and fashion to get a “Kraków vibe” unheard of in museums and pubs. Students will try to savor the place in a subtle way, “armed” with art theory and aesthetic sensitivity. Not only will students talk about art: they will also perceive it – glamor, nostalgia and just plain outrageousness.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Poland and the European Union
The lecture will present the main problems connected with the Polish road to and membership in the European Union. The course consists of the two interrelated parts: Polish Road to the European Union- during the fall semester and Poland in the European Union – in the spring semester. In the first part, it aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the development of the Polish foreign policy and the overview of the main political and social problems of Poland before joining the EU. The subject adopts a chronological and problem-oriented approach to the study of the Polish foreign relations from the 1989 Autumn of Nations to the first years of the 21st century. The aim of the second part is to give students the general overview of the consequences of Poland’s membership in the European Union. Poland became a member in 2004 and since then the participation in this regional grouping of states had a significant impact on Polish society, economy, legal system and politics (including foreign policy).
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Democracy Promotion
The course will theoretically analyze and critically evaluate several case studies of democracy promotion as an instrument of foreign policy. It will examine the extent to which democracy promotion has been a significant element in the foreign policy of the United States since the end of the Cold War, and examine some of the differences when it comes to European and American perspectives on democracy promotion.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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Energy Security
Topics covered in this course include:
- Definition and concept of energy security
- Energy balance of the word in the 21 st century
- The balance of material resources of the world
- Maritime piracy as a threat to global energy security system
- Energy policy of the United States of America and Canada
- Problem of control of energy resources in the Middle East
- Energy potential and the politics of OPEC / OAPEC
- Iran’s Energy Policy
- EU energy security
- Russia’s energy strategy
- Energy security and politics of China and India
- Japan’s Energy Policy
- Resources of the Caspian Sea Countries
- Role of Australia and Oceania in global energy system
- African countries: new actors on global oil market
- Energy security issues of Poland
- The Scandinavian countries and the Arctic region
- Latin America: the forgotten energy granary
- Alternative energy sources
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Europe and the United States since 1945
The course will examine how the approach of the United States to democracy promotion has changed during the Cold War, and into the post-Cold War period, and will focus on the War on Terror in particular. Students will gain a detailed understanding of American foreign policy and democracy promotion in various parts of the world.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Global Discourse
Course description currently unavailable.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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Globalization and Global Governance
Only a few years ago, the term globalization was used widely and wildly. There was no day passing by without an academic, politician, journalist or business person referring to globalization in one way or another. Globalization was equated with free trade; it was said to be a road to the global community; a path to global modernization and democracy; and a vehicle to worldwide prosperity. Although most of the promises made by those who promoted globalization did not materialize, they had at least one good point: the elimination of the East-West division has shrunk the world. Coupled with a rapidly accelerated technological development and an equally rapid growth of international trade, the world has been shrinking unceasingly ever since. Never have people and peoples been so interconnected and interdependent as they are now!
The shrinking world needs some kind of new rules and institutions to manage the interconnectedness and interdependence, however. The course will explore the changing nature of international relations and the redefined role of the state.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3.5
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Human Security
Today, the concept of security extends beyond the traditional analysis of international relations and policies of nation-states. Security has increasingly focused on humanitarian issues assuming that in the contemporary world individuals, social groups and societies are subject to growing risks, escalating threats and imminent dangers. Responsibility to protect human beings has underpinned international law, diplomacy, military technologies, and economic systems. Nevertheless, deficiencies and shortcomings of an international humanitarian regime and national policies did not significantly reduce vulnerability among people and nations. Survival, well-being, and dignity of individuals have too often been a contentious issue.
In this course, the concept of human security will be elaborated on in different theoretical and empirical contexts. It will be seen in the global universal dimension of relations among different nations, ethnic groups, faith communities and digital commons. Also, regional dimensions will be analyzed in a comprehensive and in-depth manner so as to focus on the diversity of human security determinants and meanings. The concept of human security is often identified with deficits of security and presented as the dehumanization of security. Various aspects of dehumanization will be discussed, ranging from alienation, humiliation, and degradation to the most extreme forms, such as human trafficking, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. Finally, during the course students will be encouraged to reflect upon the real meaning of humanity in the changing security environment. They will not only develop a comprehensive understanding of human security but also acquire practical skills to handle the humanitarian problems faced by individuals and communities worldwide.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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International Economic Relations
By the end of this course, students will have met the following learning objectives:
- Students will have knowledge of mechanisms that constitute equilibrium and value-added in the
- economy as a whole, as well as in understanding the concepts and methods behind analyzing the international political economy.
- Students will have knowledge of the main economic actors, institutions and political cultures within the global economy.
- Students will have knowledge of the approaches and concepts used to study long and short-term economic effects and consequences.
- Students will have knowledge of the characteristics and determinants of national and international
- economic policy making.
- Students will be able to evaluate the theory and practice of international economic relations and
- foreign economic policy.
- Students will be able to analyze the process of economic diplomacy in national and global economies.
- Students will be able to examine and express their views logically and consistently.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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International Security 2: Application and Analysis
We live in dangerous times. Indeed, we do but one of the most surprising trends in the post-Cold War period has been the decline in the number of international or inter-state wars. This obviously does not mean that the world is necessarily more peaceful or more secure. The plain fact is that international security has changed. Although security once resided in states and their military might, today security studies, as a subfield within International Relations, encompasses a wide-range of issues and many different actors. The lectures of this course will look at the historical evolution of security studies (starting in about 1990) and will discuss important issues and actors in global security studies, ending with the concept and application of human security (which started around 2005).
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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Key Issues in Contemporary International Politics
Course description currently unavailable.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Liberalism, Multiculturalism, and Citizenship
The aim of this course is to provide a good understanding and critical discussion of the main theories of multiculturalism and citizenship and the main types of politics of multiculturalism. The discussion will start with the dominant liberal perspective including such concepts as the liberal-democratic paradigm, the idea of a free society, tolerance, individual and minority rights, and global justice. This perspective provides various ways of theorizing multiculturalism and citizenship that have been recently criticized by proponents of communitarianism leading to an interesting liberal-communitarian debate. This debate will be of crucial importance for our discussion of politics of difference and multicultural citizenship. We will examine several case studies of citizenship and politics multiculturalism such as Britain, France, Germany, Sweden, USA, and Canada. Although considered separately, these issues can be linked in many different ways to provide a thought-provoking discussion of the questions and challenges that individuals and societies in the West face at the beginning of the new millennium.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 1.5
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Political and Economic Geography
Topics covered in this course include:
- Political geography and the economic one – a methodology and a place among other sciences. Geopolitics – a new science or paradigm? The main concepts of geopolitics and its development in the XXI centuryChanges on the world map – code of geopolitics
- Country and State: state sovereignty, dependent territories; constitutional, social and economic forms of state
- The geographical and political features of countries: a border, a borderland, a state capital
- International organizations – the political, economic and social dimension.
- Ideologies and political movements of the modern world
- Key issues of the Present: globalization and regional divisions
- The nation issue: a nation and an ethnic group, the concepts of the nation, national and ethnic minorities
- The phenomenon of multiculturalism – the social and religious context
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Theories of International Relations
Course description currently unavailable.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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War and Conflict
By the end of this course, students will have met the following learning objectives:
- Students will have general knowledge of theoretical aspects of strategic analysis encompassing the phenomena of war, conflict and international violence.
- Students will have knowledge of actors, institutions, structures and normative systems shaping contemporary international relations in the context of war and conflict.
- Students will be able to recognize the substance of basic processes of war and conflict in international.
- Students will have a practical ability to diagnose events and processes in international relations involving elements of violence, war, and conflict.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Cultural History of Love Discourse: Classical Sources of a Serenade
Paraclausithyron (a song behind beloved’s door) – this very old literary and musical form originating from an archaic genre of komos and a feature of a Greek comedy, permeated to Roman literature, in order to become one of the leading motifs of love elegy in the Augustan era. In Latin, the figure of exclusus amator (a lover before a closed door) is applied first in a comedy, then lyrical poetry and, first of all, in an elegy, to become the basic motif for the last one. An image of keeping vigil at the shut door of the beloved became an integral constituent of the elegiac declaration of love referring to the characteristic topoi and keywords which, with time, began to substitute the entire motif and the declaration of love as such.
At the beginning of the modern times, together with an adaptation of a Roman elegy, paraclausithyron gained a role resembling its ancient one. Paraclausithyron, widely represented in the
Renaissance Latin elegy and epigram, permeated also to other forms of modern lyric love poetry in national languages together with the leading form of serenade – similarly as the elegiac feeling of love gave rise to the “sentimental” trend in European poetry.
A program of the lecture should present the ancient forms of paraclausithyron (including the influence of the Greek motif on the biblical Song of Songs) and show the early modern adaptations of it in Latin love elegy of Italian Quattrocento, and then the influence of both traditions on Jan Kochanowski. This poet wrote classicist Latin paraclausithyra as well as Polish songs still based on the ancient examples, but already displaying characteristics of a serenade. The Polish serenades of the 17th century often follow a similar path – they are based on Italian lyrical poetry, whilst they still follow the patterns, symbols or keywords of the ancient paraclausithyron. The later history of serenade will be shown on the English and American romantic poetry, but the closing point will be the presence of serenade, and even paraclausithyron, in the cabaret and pop songs of the second half of 20th century.
The literary analyses on the 16th and 17th-century genre will also be accompanied by the reflexion upon the musical serenade, developing simultaneously and whose origin (still not enough documented by musicologists) probably were connected with the development of the Renaissance Latin elegy.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Fake Pasts… Moc-documentary in Literature, Film, and Performing Arts
Topics covered in this course include:
- “Other” histories
- Horror in the age of intelligent machines
- Deconstructing documentary narratives
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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A Survey of the Polish Art History (from Romanesque Art to Art Nouveau)
The aim of the course is to instruct the students about the specimens of old Polish arts and crafts, their development throughout the centuries, their intellectual, social, and historical background, and the multitude of foreign influences (both from the West and East). Finally, the special emphasis will be put on the artistic phenomena that took place only in Poland (e.g. 17th-century coffin portraits, national Polish Sarmatian outfits, etc.).
The course will focus both on theory (workshops, analyses of the iconographic materials – the lectures will be illustrated with a vast selection of visual material) and practical analysis (outings to the museums – e.g. The Bishop Erazm Ciołek palace, sightseeing).
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Analyzing Polish Cinema
In this course students should be able to: think aesthetically; provide an overview of Polish audiovisual culture in the 20th and 21st century; see the phenomenon of Polish cinema in its historical and ideological development; explain the concept of camp; elucidate the connections and differences between theater acting and film acting; appreciate art for its own sake; # express themselves clearly in speech and in writing.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Anatomy and Dynamics of Prejudices
Course description currently unavailable.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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The Cold War
When the Second World War was coming to an end most people touched by the atrocities of the ending conflict did not envision a new conflict. Yet the war Allies: USA, Great Britain, and USSR were driven by diverse interests, expectations, power desire, and fear. Barely a few months after one conflict has ended, differences between East and West started to grow and became more and more visible. Yet some respect for the other side and most probably fear of a new, nuclear conflict, prevented a major conflict from breaking out. The two political and military blocks closed within themselves and entered several decades of rivalry, peaceful rivalry in Europe and America, although at times brutal and very close to real confrontation. This peaceful rivalry is referred to as span ‘Cold War’ as if to oppose it to real, hot warfare. The fact that no fighting broke out in Europe did not mean there was no military confrontation elsewhere.
Language of Instruction: English
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History of Polish Culture
Starting form the very beginning of Polish history in the Roman period, until the present time, the course explores the whole range of aspects of the history and culture of the nation. Special emphasis is given to the national art, literature, music, therefore the course is illustrated by pieces of literature, as well as the presentation of art, architecture and music. The course will concentrate on culture of particular periods of the Polish history.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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The Holocaust and Its Cultural Meanings
There is no question that the Holocaust is the definitive event of the twentieth century for the West. Yet only after over half a century do we find that all the world can finally and freely speak of the Holocaust and the effect it has had on European and Western culture. The Shoah needs to be understood as something more than a historical or political event.The introductory classes will build a foundation based on analysis of the changing terminology and definitions, as well as situate the Holocaust against the historical backdrop and social context of modern Europe. Presented and analyzed next will be the fundamental questions provoked by the Holocaust (e.g., how did it happen, what did political leaders do or not do, how did ordinary people react, etc.). The perpetrator, victim, and bystander roles will be discussed in detail; means of resistance and rescue will also be examined. As the course is being taught in Central Europe, attention will be paid to pre- and post-communist memory of the Holocaust. Each meeting will center on a specific theme and questions. The primary aim is to enable the student to examine the many facets of Holocaust history and memory. Another goal is to arrive at a more critical, analytical, and nuanced understanding of the Shoah. Students will be able to demythologize the Holocaust and critique the presentations and representations (or lack thereof), in private and public discourse, in their own and other nation-states, under totalitarian and democratic systems.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Memory of the Holocaust in Europe in Comparative Perspective: Trauma in Political Culture, Education, and Art
Topics covered in this course include:
- Collective Memory
- History and Memory
- War, Violence, Silence, and Denial in History
- Politics of Memory
- Coming to Terms with Disturbing Past? Israel, Germany, France, USA, CEE (Poland, Hungary), Baltic countries, Scandinavian countries, South America
- Contested Pasts – Transformed Memories
- Strategies of Remembrance
- Holocaust in Philosophy, Literature, Education, and Art
- Overview of institutions throughout the world that deal with the history of the Holocaust
- Holocaust Remembrance: Intergovernmental Organizations, States, and Civil Society
- Education. Research and Good Practices
- Education about the Holocaust and Human Rights
- Preparing Holocaust Memorial Days
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Modern Philosophy I
This course surveys the major issues of modern philosophical thought in the areas of metaphysics (the debate between post-Nietzscheans and the defenders of classical metaphysics), ethics (modern views on what it means to be moral and how morality can be justified), and political philosophy (philosophical foundations of liberal democracy). The following authors’ works will be discussed: Richard Rorty, Juergen Habermas, Edmund Husserl, Max Scheler, Alasdair MacIntyre, John Rawls, Karl Popper, Ortega y Gasset and Friedrich Hayek.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Poland and Europe in the 20th Century
The aim of the course is to present the main events and social processes of the 20th-century history of Poland. Subjects to discuss are listed below:
- Polish lands in Europe at the turn of the 19th to 20th centuries
- Polish lands and Poles in the First World War: the Eastern versus the Western front
- Peace settlements after the First World War – the Versailles system. Poland in the Paris Peace talks.
- Poland in Europe in the years 1918-1939: analysis of statistical data
- The forming of Polish state after World War I. Europe’s approval of Poland’s position
- Domestic economic and political developments in 1918-1939
- Poland In the European international politics in the Years 1918-1939
- Poland and the coming of the Second World War
- The Second World War – Poland. The occupied territories
- The Second World War – Poland. Between London and Warsaw
- The Second World War – Poland. Between London, Moscow and Washington DC
- The international dimension of Poland’s war – meetings in Teheran, Yalta, Potsdam and their impact on Poland
- The establishment of Communist regime in Poland 1944-1948
- The outbreak of the Cold War. The Marshall Plan; the two camp policy, the Berlin Blockade, NATO, Warsaw Pact, the forming of FRG and GDR.
- Western Europe and reconstruction. Stalinism and the age of terror 1948-1956.
- The “Thaw” of 1956. XX Congress of the CPSU. Polish October. Europe and the Word In 1956
- Gomułka’s Poland
- Gierek’s Poland. The emergence of the democratic opposition. Role of the Catholic Church.
- The Solidarity Revolution of 1980/81. Solidarity Poland in Europe
- The Martial Law in Poland. Crisis of the Communist system
- Poland in the 1980s. Europe In the 1980s
- The ‘Velvet’ Revolution of 1989/1990
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
Contact Hours: 6
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Polish Gay Literature and Social Change
This course offers a view of Polish literature and culture through the un-normative lens combined with introductory elements from gender and queer theories and a sociological look on LGBT issues in contemporary Poland. The course also covers the acquisition of a broader Polish cultural context of non-normative sexualities: theatre, film, music (classical and popular). The understanding of basic gender studies and queer studies procedures, as well as psychoanalytical analysis, is taken into account, as is the ability to trace and understand the clues of non-normative sexualities.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Psychology of Culture – Culture Shock
The course objective is to make us aware of facts and theories that provide understanding and explanation of cultural systems and communication practices between and within societies in general and in professional activities in particular. The students will develop a better understanding of the relationship between communication strategies and interaction dynamics and the processes of socialization and acculturation. In consequence, they will develop a higher awareness of the cultural differences that will provide them with tools for better interaction practices. The role of language, non-verbal, verbal and contextual communication will be studied in the context of cultural dimensions and business environment.
The course explores problems which are occurring during cultural encounters and communication with strangers. This issue has become more and more important during the last decade because of the growing amount of international contacts between previously separated parts of Europe and within these parts. Improving our communication requires that we become aware of how we communicate. Throughout the course, the participants will learn how to become consciously competent. While the course is based on structural theory of cultural differences and on communication theory it does not present these theories in detail. It focuses on practical application of these theories to the issues of acculturation, culture shock, conflict’s management, conducting negotiations and developing relations with strangers across cultural boundaries.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Religion and Identity in Poland
The aim of this course is to introduce international undergraduate students to religion in Poland, including a range of religious groups, beliefs, and practices, across more than a thousand years of history. Against that broad background, several key issues will be looked at in depth. The most fundamental of these is how religion in general, and Roman Catholicism in particular, has related to Polish national identity. Other topics of special interest will be the history of religious tolerance in Poland, the role of the Roman Catholic Church in opposing communist rule and the question of the relevance of religion in modern social life in Poland.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Conflict Resolution and Peace Building
The aim of the course is to describe and explain the mechanisms, methods and legal instruments used in international relations to resolve conflicts and to bring peace and security to conflict-experienced countries and regions through a broadly understood process of peace-building, applied by states and international organizations.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Human Rights
This course covers the following topics:
- Theories of human rights
- Human rights and constitutional law
- United Nations system of human rights protection
- European system of human rights protection
- Human rights in South America, Africa, and Arabic states
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2
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International Law
This course consists of two parts: Introduction to the law and International law. The aim of the course is to present the most important theoretical and practical aspects of legal systems in the world with a special focus on the system of international public law.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3.5
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International Political Economy
Topics covered in this course include:
- International relations, econmics, and political economy. Theories, approaches, and concepts. One economics – many recipies.
- The impact of globalization on the state; current economic dilemmas; new actors and structures; changing balance of power
- Methodology: economic policy making in theory and practice; comparative, rational choice and constructivist approaches; Realism, Liberalism, Marxism, Regime theory, Hegemonic Stability; Institutions
- Grand theories continued: the debates: Case studies and group presentation
- Theory – levels of analysis; interests, institutions and ideas; international and domestic approaches, two and multi-level games
- State versus market; the role of government in the economy and market failure; market structures, imperfect competition, accountability; regulation
- Foreign economic policy making
- Economic diplomacy
- Introduction to Economic Nationalism and International Trade; Regionalism
- Applied trade policy making
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3.5
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International Relations in the 20th Century
This course aims at providing students with basic knowledge of the international history of the 20th century, including short introduction into the mechanisms leading to the WWI and WWII, inter-war period, Cold War problems, European issues, including both Western and Eastern Europe, certain issues of the IR in the Asia-Pacific and the Middle East.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3.5
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International Security I: Concepts and Approaches
Topics covered in this course include:
- Security as a phenomenon in international relations
- War and peace
- Domestic politics and interstate war
- Political dimension of international security
- Determinants of international security
- Economic development and interstate conflicts (ethnic and civil wars, terrorism)
- Contemporary challenges to international security
- Technology and modern security
- Insurgency/counterinsurgency
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Introduction to International Development
This course is an introduction to International Development (ID). Multidisciplinary and not necessarily fully formed yet, ID is a field of knowledge and an emerging social science discipline. ID studies the reasons for the inequality of life for human beings. Most humans live in poverty and political instability. Collectively referred to as the developing world, it is the part of the world that is of primary interest to ID. However, both by seeking a theoretical explanation of the inequality and by looking for practical solutions to it, International Development is becoming critically important to all humans, no matter where they live.
First, the course will examine the basic concepts of the discipline and the main theoretical approaches to understanding the nature and processes of International Development. Second, the course will introduce its main actors. Third, the course will take a look at selected issues examined by ID, such as colonialism and its legacy of poverty and international aid and its politics. Finally, the course will scrutinize the role of the state in relation to market forces.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Introduction to Politics and Political Science
Topics covered in this course include:
- Politics as the most serious realm of a human life and a foundation of all other human activities (economic, artistic at al.)
- Anthropological visions as a background of politics
- Tensions between politics and pedagogy
- Aims of domestic and international politics
- Relations between politics and war
- Relations between politics and ethics
- What is political science?
- The concept of power
- Political systems: democratic, authoritarian and totalitarian regimes
- Social determinants of politics: geopolitics and political culture
- Political participation and voting behavior
- Group politics
- Trust in politics
- Migration and politics of multiculturalism
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Military Operations and Technology
This course will examine conventional military operations from the period of World War I to the present. The course format will consist of a mixture of roughly 50 percent military and 50 percent description of how modern military forces are organized, equipped and trained for conventional combat operations. Students will develop an understanding of how military forces have evolved during this period as well as how military technology has changed in the past century and how those changes gave influenced the way operations are conducted. While the majority of the course will focus on conventional combat, there will be some reference to so-called “low-intensity” operations such as counterinsurgency, in so far as those types of operations have had a bearing on how conventional forces prepare for and conduct operations.
The course will start with a brief overview of the state of military art and science at the turn of the 20th Century. This will be followed by an overview of 20th Century military campaigns that will continue into the early 21st Century.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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New Terrorism and Counterterrorism
This course offers the following learning objectives:
- To present a general knowledge of theoretical aspects of contemporary terrorism.
- To present a knowledge of methods, concepts, tools, and actions undertaken for the purposes of prevention and combating of terrorism.
- To identify basic features and modes of terrorist activities.
- To develop a practical ability to work out a plausible practical response to different forms of terrorism.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Political Philosophy and International Relations
The aim of the course is to present and discuss main theories and schools of thought of Western political philosophy in a chronological order.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 3
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Introduction to Translation Studies
The course is designed as a presentation of the main schools of Western Translation Studies since the 1940s till today. We are going to look at the main tenets of particular branches of contemporary TS as well as tracing the changes of theoretical paradigms and research areas. The main stress will be laid on studies concentrating around the notions developed within the equivalence paradigm, the broadly defined area of Descriptive Translation Studies and the Cultural Turn in TS. The idea of TS as an interdisciplinary field and the status of translation and translation studies in today’s humanities will also be discussed. Some attention is also going to be given to historical statements on translation.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Language Learning Strategies
This seminar will examine language learning styles and strategies. The main goal of the seminar is to determine language learning styles and profiles of the participants and to assist them to effectively manage their learning of languages.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Milosz and Gombrowicz – The Dialectic of Belief and Unbelief
Miłosz and Gombrowicz are the key Polish writers who – more or less openly – debated the problem of religion. One of the biggest issues for Miłosz was so-called ”the erosion of the religious imagination” related to the sense of loss of “the second space”, e.g. beliefs of Christian eschatology. Gombrowicz was obsessed with the fact of human and animal pain which contrasted with Christian image of the benevolent God. At a glance they just seem to stand on the opposite sides; Miłosz claimed to be Catholic, while Gombrowicz defined himself as an atheist. After consideration, however, it occurs more complex – Miłosz’s religious assent is very fragile („I was judged for my despair because I was unable to understand this [Christian eschatological vision]” – From the Rising of the Sun), Gombrowicz’s atheism, on the other hand, is accompanied by a sense of mystery of life and his criticism against “shallow laicism”, e.g. militant and vulgar versions of atheism. The elusive nature of Miłosz’s and Gombrowicz’s positions towards religion is summed up in the phrase “the dialectic of belief and unbelief”. The essential aim of the course is to reconstruct dynamics of religious/agnostic/atheistic insights shared by the two great personalities.
The starting point will be a comparative reading of The World: Naive Poems (1943) and The Marriage (1947), both written in a particular context of the implosion of a traditional metaphysical frame. Further reading of the two writers include several chapters from Diary of Gombrowicz, some essays (e.g excerpts from Ulro Land) and poems by Miłosz. The course will also introduce some basic ideas referring to an unprecedented condition of religious belief in the 20th century. The main guide through the ideas that mark out the horizon of contemporary religious and secular beliefs is Charles Taylor, the author of fundamental A Secular Age.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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Symbols Embodied – Modern Polish Drama and Theater
Unlike most of western theater, which is usually realistic, the Polish way of playwriting and Polish performing art are mostly poetic and allegorical. Polish drama of the 20th century has achieved worldwide acclaim and counts among the acknowledged masterpieces of the European canon. The most famous names: Witkiewicz, Gombrowicz, and Mrozek, among others, come to mind. Modern theater of our time counts the names of Grotowski or Kantor to their founders.
The intention of the course is to familiarize students with the major trends in modern Polish drama from Romanticism to the end of 20th Century, with elements of the previous periods. Texts and video-recorded performances of selected plays will be presented and discussed; they will be treated both as a unique phenomenon and as a typical example of some great European aesthetic movements. The course will try to maintain a balance between “performance studies” and literary “close reading”. For the first three lectures we start from the general cultural context of medieval religious performances, then we pass to the humanistic and baroque court stage; the remaining several weeks will be dedicated to reading metaphysical “plays in verses” of Polish Romanticism and the majority of the time we will spend on analyzing modern avant-garde plays. The theoretical subject of the course is focused on the relationship between literary and theatrical forms of drama.
Language of Instruction: English
Recommended US semester credits: 2.5
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