Check out some of the Polish Studies Highlights by clicking here.

Thursday, April 18, 2013
Edward Horowitz, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, School of Communication,
and Director of the Polish Studies Initiative
Cleveland State University
“Running strong or running scared? How the worldwide economic crisis is affecting Polish young adults.”

The research examines how young adults think and feel about the Polish economy and the worldwide economic crisis, specifically focusing on how communication and mass media play a role in their knowledge and perceptions of these problems. The data do show some very specific differences in how they feel about their own economic (mis)fortunes depending on whether they get their news on TV compared to getting news on the Internet. While young adults in Poland are more cosmopolitan than ever, this research suggests that mass media plays a crucial role in how they understand the world around them.

Although a professor in the School of Communication who teaches journalism, media, and political communication classes, Horowitz conducted extensive research in Poland during his graduate studies at the University of Wisconsin, and he lived in Warsaw during the mid-1990s. He has been back to Poland several more times to conduct research and collaborate with other professors, the most recent trip being last year when he presented a paper at an international communication conference in Gdansk. While he was there he visited the historic Gdansk Shipyards, the site of the protests led by Lech Walesa that eventually led to the fall of Communism in Poland and elsewhere. "I hadn't been to Gdansk since the mid-1990s," Horowitz said. "It is still very emotional and inspiring for me to stand in the place where so many Poles took such a huge chance with their own lives by fighting against the Communist government for freedom."

ALL LECTURES BEGIN AT 4:00 PM in Student Center, Room 315.

 

Past events:

Thursday, February 28, 2013
Mikolaj Kunicki, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of History
University of Notre Dame
"How communist was Polish communism? Nationalism and communism in 20th-century Poland."

Thursday, November 29, 2012
Joanna Trzeciak, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies
Kent State University
"Reaching for Readers: Polish Poetry and the Moral Economy of Translation."

 

Please join us for a Special Event of the Polish Studies Initiative featuring the Chief Rabbi of Poland, Michael Schudrich Monday, April 8, 2013 from 3:00 – 4:00 pm CSU’s Fenn Tower, Panel Hall (3rd Floor), 1983 East 24th Street, CSU Campus The Improving State(s) of Catholic-Jewish Relations in Today’s Poland Since he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Poland in 2004, Michael Schudrich has served on behalf of Poland’s Jewish community as the official interlocutor with both the Polish government and the Catholic Church. Hear his insights and experiences of how he has worked to improve the complex relationship among Catholics and Jews in today’s Poland. The Polish Studies Initiative is a program of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences. No RSVP required. Seating is limited. Visitor parking information is available online at csuohio.edu/services/parking/visitor/.

 

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In the News: The Cauldron

Dec. 8, 2012

Translated poetry kicks off Polish lecture series
Kent State University's Trzeciak sheds insightful light on art of translating poetry
By Amy Szmagala

The politics of translating literature was at the heart of Joanna Trzeciak’s lecture this past Thursday on Nov. 30. The event kicked off a series of talks sponsored by the new Polish Studies Initiative at Cleveland State University.

 In Trzeciak’s lecture, “Reaching for Readers: Polish Poetry and the Moral Economy of Translation,” she spoke about her 2011 book “Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rozewicz,” in which she translated hundreds of the prolific Polish poet’s work into English.

 “I am fighting against defeatist language — betrayer, translator traitor,” Trzeciak said when asked about ethics of translation.

 Trzeciak likened the process of translation to the intrinsic subjectivity of reading literature.

“What I’m arguing for is a new translation that is trusting the readers,” Trzeciak said. “It is up to us to give meaning to some of these words.”

The Kent State University professor and winner of the 2012 Found in Translation Award said the task of translating Rozewicz’s work took more than eight years to complete.

“I think in translation, you have to see what’s working in another lens,” Trzeciak said.

She often left poems in a drawer for long periods of time, then came back to them.

Translated poems were shown on a screen, including several side by side with the original Polish version. The spacing, form and structure remained consistent in translation. Rozewicz’s layered and complex work covers topics such as the Holocaust, remembrances and the subject of human relationships.

Trzeciak credits him with evolving Polish poetry and treading the fine line between tenderness and sentimentality.

While there may always be different cultural and language-specific meanings to words, Trzeciak reminds us that some things are universal.

“The mother–child relationship is a great example of something that always translates,” Trzeciak said.

Trzeciak serves as associate professor of Russian and Polish Translation in the Institute for Applied Linguistics and the Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies at KSU.

This is the first of three scheduled lectures in a series. The initiative seeks to bring visiting Polish scholars to campus and to develop a Polish Studies program.

For more information, email PolishStudies@csuohio.edu.

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In the News: The Cleveland Stater

Dec. 6, 2012

Polish Studies Initiative kicks off lecture series with poetry
By Brandon Blackwell; Follow Reporter Brandon Blackwell on Twitter @blackwelltweets

Cleveland State’s Polish Studies Initiative kicked off its 2012-13 lecture series Nov. 29 with a shot of poetry.

About 20 people gathered in the Student Center to listen to Joanna Trzeciak, assistant professor with Kent State University’s Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies, recite poems by one of Poland’s most lionized artists — Tadeusz Rozewicz.

“He is a man of enormous courage,” Trzeciak said of the 91-year-old poet. “At 24, he came into the Polish scene and changed Polish poetics.”

Trzeciak, a self-professed poetry nut, became an expert on Rozewicz when she compiled and translated a selection of his works for her book “Sobbing Superpower: Selected Poems of Tadeusz Rozewicz.”

Rozewicz’s large body of work includes poems on the Holocaust, consumerism, sexuality and more.

“One of the things that makes Rozewicz so distinct, is that he isn’t afraid of anything,” Trzeciak said.

Trzeciak’s love for poetry began when she was a young girl. Her father made her memorize poems as a form of punishment.

“You can imagine how naughty I was as a child as I had memorized about 600 poems,” she said.

Rozewicz became a seminal figure in Trzeciak’s life, she said.

Trzeciak spoke of “a new economy of translation” after reciting poems.

She described it as a way of trusting the reader to find meaning in poems translated into a non-native language.

“In translation, you have to see what’s lurking in another language,” Trzeciak said, adding that as a translator, she is a reader first and foremost.

It took her about eight years to translate the poems included in “Sobbing Superpower.”
The next Polish Studies lecture is Feb. 28, during which University of Notre Dame

Professor Mikolaj Kunicki will speak on Polish communism.

On April 18, Cleveland State Professor Edward Horowitz, who is also the director of the Polish Studies Initiative, will lecture on the Polish economic crisis.

“The lecture series is a way for us to show different perspectives of Polish society through the humanities and social sciences,” Horowitz said. “It’s also a nice way to engage with the Polish community in Cleveland.”

All lectures are held at 4 p.m. in SC Room 315.

 

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Polish Studies Highlights

• In 2010, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Warsaw that created a new and promising partnership between Cleveland State University and the University of Warsaw, the premier educational institution in Poland.  Specifically, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences is committed to developing student and faculty exchanges as well as to exploring joint research initiatives.  The creation of this partnership was facilitated by the Kosciuszko Foundation, Inc.
• Initial fundraising efforts in 2011 raised $27,400 from the Polish American community of Northeast Ohio, including major gifts from the Charles M. & Helen M. Brown Memorial Foundation, Parker Hannifin Foundation, Third Federal Foundation and Mr. Donald E. Washkewicz.
• In 2012, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences hosted visiting scholar Dr. Piotr Wilczek, from the University of Warsaw.  He taught two classes, “Polish Culture through Film” and “The Canon of Polish Culture.”  The classes were offered for credit and in a continuing education format. 
• Dr. Wilzcek delivered three community lectures while in Cleveland giving presentations at the John Paul II Polish-American Cultural Center in Cleveland’s Slavic Village, Cleveland State University, and at Sokolowski’s University Inn restaurant. 
• In 2012, Dr. Edward Horowitz was named the Director of the Polish Studies Initiative. Dr. Horowitz is an Associate Professor of Communication and he has traveled to Poland on three different research trips, and lived in Warsaw for 10 months in 1994. 
• The College’s Polish Studies Community Advisory Committee looks to build upon the foundation of excellent academic efforts and community outreach begun by Dr. Piotr Wilczek; the Committee will continue to work toward building an endowment to sustain this program.
• Under the leadership of Dr. Horowitz, a three-part Polish Studies Lecture Series is finalized for the 2012-2013 academic year.  The series offers lectures about Polish poetry, nationalism and communism in 20th century Poland, and how the worldwide economic crisis is affecting Polish young adults.
• As we look to the future, we plan on bringing another visiting scholar from Poland in 2014 to build upon the foundation of excellent academic efforts and community outreach begun by Dr. Piotr Wilczek, our 2012 scholar.