Department of Slavic and East European Languages and Cultures

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, Europe—for over four decades divided by the “iron curtain” between the Eastern Bloc controlled by the Soviet Union and the so-called “West”—unified. Together with this unification came the violent breakdown of previously homogenized communist societies. The suppressed minorities—ethnic, gender, sexual, religious, etc.—began to claim their voice and place in the new realities of postcommunist countries. One of these countries was Poland, ethnically the most heterogenous European country before WWII and presumably the most homogenous one by the time communism collapsed.  

In this course, we will investigate the emergence of minorities in postcommunist Poland. We will discuss the social and political construction of “otherness” and its cultural representations in the new capitalist order. We will reflect not only on the historically conditioned minorities but also on the imaginary minorities and imaginary otherness that nevertheless became a real force in reshaping Polish culture. We will talk about the Jewish revival on the territories where the Holocaust wiped out almost the entire Jewish population, the emergence of German and Roma minorities, the intense struggle for visibility and civic rights by the LGBTQ communities, vibrant feminist movements, and so on.  We will analyze various materials: films, novels, political debates, artistic performances, graffiti, music, and civic dissent to see how minorities forge new postcommunist identities. 

All works in English. No prerequisites. 

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