M.A. seminars 2025–2027 in the extramural programme in English Philology

What is this list?

This is a list of M.A. seminars we intend to launch in our extramural programme in English Philology (Filologia angielska) whose first year of study is 2025; that is, the seminars are planned to start in 2025 and end in 2027, at the end of the two-year M.A. programme.

What about these seminars?

Part of the admissions procedure for the M.A. programme is an interview. The interview you take part in is with a small committee of our teachers headed by your prospective M.A. thesis supervisor, the teacher whose seminar you intend to join upon becoming a student in the programme. At some point between your registration for the given programme—see the easy step-by-step instruction linked to here—and the day of the interview we may contact you to ask about your preferred M.A. seminar. Your task is easy: browse this list for seminars on offer and let us know, when asked, which seminar is your favourite. We will take note of it and ensure your interview is with the right committee.

Please note: We do not guarantee that upon admission to the programme you will be able to join the preferred seminar. Enrolment into a particular seminar is subject to conditions such as the total number of candidates, the overall result of your enrolment process, and others.

How to navigate the list?

As you scroll the page down, you will note headers with names of the seminars planned for the 2025–2027 study cycle, with the name of the teacher and the description of the seminar below.

Law, Lawlessness, and (In)Justice in Contemporary (Non)Fiction

prof. UAM dr hab. Ryszard Bartnik

Description

This MA seminar explores the themes of law, lawlessness, and (in)justice in contemporary fiction and non-fiction. It takes as its point of departure a reflection on how legal institutions, systemic violence, the presence and absence of justice, and the moral dilemmas surrounding (non)compliance with human rights are represented in novels, short stories, essays, and literary journalism.

Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this course combines literary, socio-cultural, and legal perspectives. Its aim is not only to interpret selected texts but also to consider the role of literature in shaping socio-political sensitivity and awareness of the fundamental nature of our rights.

Cognitive Linguistics: Modelling language as an index of society and culture

dr hab. Dylan Glynn

Description

It is through thought that we understand the world, yet one cannot think without language. Language, in turn, is structured by grammar. Therefore, grammar is the structure of the mind and the world it creates.

Contemporary theories of language hold that this grammar is motivated by meaning and structured by use. The success of this approach to language is evidenced by advances in applied linguistics, such as machine translation and artificial intelligence. However, just as the probability-based patterns derived from language use can be employed to produce “authentic” generated language like in automated translation (like DeepL) and Large language Models (like ChatGpt), using electronic corpora, the same approach can be used to model human behaviour, society and culture.

This course emphasises the practical skills needed in linguistic research (especially corpus linguistics), applied or theoretical. It focuses on current trends in language technology and social and cognitive science, especially with respect to socio-cultural variation. No prior experience in computing is expected, but an interest in how different people see and understand the world is essential.

The MA project examines a topic of the student’s choosing and includes data collection and analysis. The research is performed on English, often in comparison with other languages such as Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Russian or Ukrainian etc. Examples of previous studies include:

  • Multimodal (images) Boasting Strategies on Instagram
  • Multimodal (video) Expression of Irony in Stand-up Comedy and TikTok
  • Multimodal (images) Indication of Sarcasm in visual novels (manga)
  • Conceptualisation of the Body in 19C and 20C literature
  • Conceptualisation of Beauty on Internet forums
  • Conceptualisation of Shame
  • Metaphors of Anxiety
  • Metaphors of Happiness
  • Metaphors of Anger
  • Representation of Femininity in 20C fashion magazines
  • Representation of Women in Wikipedia
  • Representation of Immigrants in News Press
  • Future Grammatical Constructions
  • Benefactive Grammatical Constructions
  • Resultative Grammatical Constructions

Media, culture and society

prof. UAM dr hab. Janusz Kaźmierczak

Description

The seminar will focus on the representations carried and the role played by the media in modern society, and in so doing it will introduce the students to media theory and research. The conceptual and methodological apparatus thus built will enable the students to complete their MA thesis projects that will involve studying the representations carried or the role played by the media in British or American culture, or investigating links between British, American and Polish culture as observed in the media. Of special interest will be all forms of connection between media and literature. Accordingly, in addition to the theoretical input, the seminar will offer guidance in developing and applying research skills, including making library searches, assessing sources, as well as planning and writing MA theses.

Candidates for the seminar should have a keen interest in the modern media and in media and cultural theory, as well as a good background knowledge of British and American culture. For the interview, they are also encouraged to acquaint themselves at least with parts of the books listed in the “Select bibliography” section.

Select bibliography

  • Fiske, John. 1990. Introduction to communication studies. London: Routledge.
  • Lindgren, Simon. 2022. Digital media and society: Theories, topics and tools. (2nd edition.) London: Sage Publications.
  • Thwaites, Tony, Lloyd Davis and Warwick Mules. 1994. Tools for cultural studies: An introduction. Melbourne: Macmillan.
  • Turow, Joseph. 2017. Media today: Mass communication in a converging world. (6th edition.) New York: Routledge.

Society and language change

prof. UAM dr hab. Hanna Rutkowska

Description

Natural languages change constantly and since language is a social phenomenon, the changes which it undergoes are largely motivated by social, cultural, technological and political circumstances. Recent developments in digital technology (for example the Internet and social media) as well as earlier phenomena and events, such as the Renaissance, the Industrial Revolution, the Second World War, to name just a few, have all had their linguistic consequences in the history of English. In this seminar we will take a closer look at different aspects of extralinguistic influence on variation in language and on language change at its different levels, including changes in the vocabulary and semantics (such as the appearance of new words as well as new meanings), grammar, pronunciation and orthography. Apart from considering the linguistic effects of important socio-historical and cultural events and phenomena, we will also discuss the importance of text corpora for linguistic investigations. Depending on individual interests, the participants will have an opportunity to write their MA theses on topics within the area of (historical) sociolinguistics or sociopragmatics and examine linguistic variation and language change in either distant or quite recent times in the history of English, including also changes in progress at present.

Selected bibliography

  • Crystal, D. 2011. Internet linguistics: A student guide. London & New York: Routledge.
  • Hernández-Campoy, J. M. & J. C. Conde-Silvestre (eds.) 2012. The handbook of historical sociolinguistics. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell.
  • Miller, G. 2012. External influences on English: From its beginnings to the Renaissance. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • Russi, C. (ed.) 2016. Current trends in historical sociolinguistics. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Open.
  • Squires, L. 2016. English in computer-mediated communication: Variation, representation, and change. Berlin & Boston: De Gruyter Mouton.