Second-year of study B.A. proseminars (2BA PROSEM) for winter term 2024–2025 (Full-time programmes)

What is this list?

This is a list of proseminars we intend to launch in the winter term (October–February) in some of our full-time B.A. programmes whose second year of study is the academic year 2024–2025. This list is intended for:

  1. Students at the Faculty of English who are about to enter the second year of their full-time B.A. programme: this is your reference point before your enrolment into proseminars;
  2. Candidates for our full-time programmes: this list gives you a snapshot of what proseminars were on offer for the study cycle that started a year earlier, that is in 2023.

Which proseminar is for whom?

The programmes in the list and their abbrieviations are:

  • English Philology (Filologia angielska) — FA
  • English-Celtic Philology (Filologia angielsko-celtycka) — FAC
  • English Studies: Literature and Culture — ESLC

The programmes in English and Chinese Studies (Filologia angielsko-chińska) and Dutch Studies (Studia niderlandystyczne) are not covered by this list. ESCL students are offered the choice of three proseminars from a list of six—these are provided in pairs: the choice of one proseminar in each pair precludes the selection of the other at the same time.

Note: the programme in English Linguistics: Theories, Interfaces, Technologies (ELTIT) will only have 2BA proseminars in the summer term—there are no 2BA proseminars for ELTIT in the winter term.

How to navigate the list?

The list is sorted first by the target programmes (FA and FAC precede ESCL), then by name of the teacher (for FA and FAC) or by seminar pairs (for ESLC). The format of each entry is the following: title of the proseminar, the name of the teacher, information on which programme(s) the proseminar is for, and the description of the proseminar.

Multicultural Canada

prof. UAM dr hab. Dagmara Drewniak

Target programmes: FA, FAC + AMU-PIE

This seminar will be devoted to the study and discussion of the most important issues from Canadian politics, history, culture, and literature as well as a few literary texts by Canadian authors in order to give students interested in the widely understood field of literary and cultural studies (as well as others) a possibility to supplement and broaden their knowledge of the English-speaking world. As a North American country, Canada, with its history, legacy, languages and culture(s) on many levels also responds to British and French roots. As a result, the overall aim of the seminar is to familiarize students with the historical, cultural and literary tradition as well as its contemporary multicultural model. The concept of multicultural Canada is going to be rendered through a selection of (mostly) modern works which vary in style, subject-matter and origin of their authors, thus, allowing students to appreciate the diversity of Canada.

Critical reading of all assigned texts is obligatory and credits will be given on the basis of students’ active participation, presentations and final test’s results.

English dictionaries

prof. UAM dr hab. Anna Dziemianko

Target programmes: FA, FAC

The aim of the seminar is to lend some insight into user-oriented solutions adopted in dictionaries of English for foreign learners. The rationale behind selected modifications introduced into dictionary design will be presented and the usefulness of the changes will be examined. Findings from recent empirical studies will be discussed in class and students will be encouraged look at the available learners’ dictionaries to see whether their design meets learners’ needs. Thus, the reading of the materials assigned will be regularly supplemented with a critical examination of learners’ dictionaries. Although monolingual learners’ dictionaries will be of primary interest, other dictionary types will also be considered. The seminar will encourage participants to look at the dictionaries from a new, critical perspective. Constructive suggestions for further improvements in dictionaries to make them better serve users’ needs will be highly appreciated. There are no special course prerequisites; everybody who wants to be able to look at dictionaries from a new angle is welcome.

Shakespeare

prof. UAM dr hab. Jacek Fabiszak

Target programmes: FA, FAC + AMU-PIE

The aim of the course is discuss the significance of Shakespeare (his works, his ‘brand’, his persona) in modern culture. Consequently, we will look briefly look, first, at his life, works and times, and then at the variety of ways in which his works (and life) have been adapted in various media, mainly the stage and screen. The final part of the course will be dedicated to a reading and discussion of specific plays (see the list below), representative of the different (sub)genres that Shakespeare tried his hand in as well as specific adaptations.

The students are required to bring enthusiasm into the classroom discussions and as many questions as they can think of concerning Shakespeare and his role in modern culture. I will ask you the question what Shakespeare means to you and why.

  1. Week 1: Shakespeare: Introduction (life, works, theatre; artistic afterlife: adaptations)
  2. Week 2: Adapting Shakespeare
  3. Week 3: Shakespeare on stage 1.
  4. Week 4: Shakespeare on stage 2.
  5. Week 5: Shakespeare on screen 1.
  6. Week 6: Shakespeare on screen 2.
  7. Week 7: Early Shakespeare: The Comedy of Errors
  8. Week 8: Shakespeare’s histories: Henry IV
  9. Week 9: Shakespeare’s mature Romantic comedy: As You Like It
  10. Week 10: Problem plays: Measure for Measure
  11. Week 11: Tragedies: Macbeth
  12. Week 12: Tragicomedies: The Tempest
  13. Week 13: Roman plays: Julius Caesar
  14. Week 14: Stage adaptation: Grzegorz Jarzyna’s 2007: Macbeth
  15. Week 15: Film adaptation: Joseph Mankiewicz’s Julius Caesar
  16. Week 15: Film adaptation: Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books
Reading list
  • Bloom, Harold. 1999. Shakespeare. The Invention of the Human. London: Fourth Estate.
  • De Grazia, Margreta and Stanley Wells (eds). 2009. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Hutcheon, Linda. 2006. A Theory of Adaptation. London – New York: Routledge.
  • Jackson, Russell (ed.) 2007. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Shaugnessy, Robert (ed.) 2007. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wells, Stanley (ed.)1994. The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Wells, Stanley and Sarah Stanton (eds.) The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Stage. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

I can read it in your eyes – introduction to eye-tracking research in psycholinguistics

dr Agnieszka Lijewska

Target programmes: FA, FAC

Eye tracking is growing in popularity in many research fields e.g. cognitive psychology, medicine, ergonomics, engineering and many more. The main aim of this seminar is to introduce students to eye-tracking as a method of studying language processing. During this course students will learn the basics of human vision and eye tracking research. We will discuss the intricacies of the bilingual mind as revealed by the study of eye movements. Special emphasis will be placed on the use of eye-tracking to study speech recognition and reading. The only prerequisite for this seminar is a keen interest in the topic. The final assessment will be based on regular attendance, reading of assigned texts, active participation in classroom discussions, oral presentations, and an end-of-term test.

Selected reading
  • Conklin, Kathy, Ana Pellicer-Sánchez & Gareth Carrol. 2018. Eye-Tracking: A Guide for Applied Linguistics Research. Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Dussias, P. E. 2010. Uses of eye-tracking data in second language sentence processing research. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 30(1). 149–166.
  • Godfroid, Aline. 2019. Eye Tracking in Second Language Acquisition and Bilingualism: A Research Synthesis and Methodological Guide. 1st edn. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315775616.
  • Rayner, Keith, Elizabeth R. Schotter, Michael E. J. Masson, Mary C. Potter & Rebecca Treiman. 2016. So Much to Read, So Little Time: How Do We Read, and Can Speed Reading Help? Psychological Science in the Public Interest. SAGE Publications Inc 17(1). 4–34. https://doi.org/10.1177/1529100615623267.
  • Schmidtke, Jens. 2018. Pupillometry in linguistic research - an introduction and review for second language researchers. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 40(3). 529–549. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0272263117000195.

Affective Psychophysiology of Language

dr Marcin Naranowicz

Target programmes: FA, FAC

In this psycholinguistics-based proseminar, we will explore the intricate relationship between language and affect (emotion and mood) from a psychophysiological perspective. The course will focus on recent advancements in research on emotion and mood effects on language comprehension. We will pay special attention to the phenomena of language disembodiment in bilingual speakers and the foreign language effect. Students will learn to critically read and analyze psycholinguistic research articles employing physiological and electrophysiological methods, such as skin conductance, electromyography, and electroencephalography (EEG). To gain practical experience, students will have the opportunity to visit the Psychophysiology of Language and Affect Laboratory (Faculty of English, AMU) to observe EEG-based psycholinguistic research in a laboratory setting. Additionally, the course will cover topics related to emotion regulation, emotion-driven communicative interactions, and the role of intuition in emotional processing. By the end of the course, students will have a comprehensive understanding of how language and affect interact and influence each other, supported by cutting-edge research and hands-on experience.

The Nobel Prize Winners and their Work

prof. dr hab. Liliana Sikorska

Target programmes: FA, FAC

England and Ireland boast of a number of winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature. The works of William Butler Yeats, Samuel Beckett, Seamus Heaney, William Golding, Harold Pinter, Doris Lessing, Kazuo Ishiguro and Abdulraznah Gurnah rank among best authors in English. The writings of South Africans such as Nadine Gordimer and John Maxwell Coetzee, as well as a Caribbean writer V.S. Naipaul show the importance of the English language as the lingua franca of contemporary global world; the fact, frequently stressed by Orhan Pamuk, whose novels and essay have all been translated into English. The above-mentioned writers present diverse opinions on history, politics and contemporary culture; their literary output touches upon an array of themes and forms. This seminar is devoted to the study of their works; the analyses should help us discover common ideas over and above the points of divergence. During the seminar we will look at shorter texts, adaptations, and fragments of novels and will conduct discussions concerning not only the selected texts themselves but also sociology of literature, that is why and what receives the highest literary recognition.

Select Bibliography

  • Currie, Mark. 2011 [1998]. Postmodern Narrative Theory. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
  • Green Martin. 1991. Seven Types of Adventure Tale. An Etiology of a Major Genre. University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Sutherland, John. 2007. Bestsellers. A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Historical news discourse as source of fake news and representations

prof. UAM dr hab. Matylda Włodarczyk

Target programmes: FA, FAC

The proseminar aims to develop an understanding of discourse structures and language devices used in the processes of opinion making (e.g. presentation of fake news) that characterise both historical and contemporary media. This involves issues of reliability of contents and representations created by periodical press from the 18th century onwards. The course introduces (socio)pragmatic approaches to historical news discourse, focusing on social identities, gender, culture, distribution of power, marginalised groups, etc. Specific genres of news to be covered include, among others, ballads, pamphlets, crime reports, letters to the editor, advertising. A transnational perspective on news circulation is adopted allowing for comparisons across English and Polish historical news.

Students will be responsible for the reading assigned for a given class and will be evaluated on the basis of oral and written assignments. Following the introductory part of the course, the students will be asked to prepare individual (or group) presentations on a selected topic.

Gender-related phenomena in (the history of) English

dr Paulina Zagórska

Areas of interest: gender studies, (historical) linguistics, (historical) sociolinguistics, history of English, critical discourse analysis
Target programmes: FA, FAC

This strongly academically-oriented proseminar offers an introduction to working with academic papers, and a broad perspective on various gender-related issues in the history of English.

The course is divided into three modules:

  1. Grammatical gender – a theoretical introduction familiarizing students with basic notions regarding grammatical gender in English and other selected languages, its history in English (no worries, though – no prior knowledge of the history of English is required!), and a review of related linguistic processes.
  2. Gender stereotypes in language – in this module we are going to read, analyze, and discuss texts on stereotypes connected to gender in English and other languages.
  3. Critical Discourse Analysis – in the final, practical module we are going to investigate historical source materials – newspaper articles discussing famous Victorian sex-scandals, conduct literature, as well as historical erotic and pornographic texts – from a gender perspective, in order to deconstruct notions of femininity and masculinity, their linguistic expressions, and manifestations.

The aim of the course is to provide you with a solid foundation for future gender-oriented research, especially (but not exclusively) into historical linguistics, as well as to develop your critical thinking, communication, and analytical skills, and to introduce you to academic texts and historical sources.

Trigger warning: due to the nature of the analyzed materials, the second module will contain graphic language, and the final module will address topics such as sex, rape, incest, misogyny, and sexual violence.

Assessment

We will figure it out together.

Contents:

  1. Module 1
    1. Grammatical gender in English and other languages
    2. Semantic pejoration and amelioration in the history of English – a gender perspective
    3. Gender-related issues in present-day English and Polish
  2. Module 2
    1. Introduction to cognitive metaphor
    2. Gender stereotypes in lexicon
    3. Insults, slurs, and swearwords – a historical-cultural perspective
    4. Introduction to the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis. Grammatical gender and perception of inanimate objects
    5. Gender stereotypes in language use
  3. Module 3
    1. The Victorian era: an overview, gender essentialism
    2. The Cult of True Womanhood – benign vs. hostile sexism
    3. Bad women: whores, murderesses, suffragettes
    4. Victorian masculinity
    5. Victorian queerness
    6. Victorian pornography

For further information, feel free to contact me via e-mail.

Selected literature
  • Corbin, Alain (ed.). 2020. Historia męskości. T. 2: XIX wiek. Tryumf męskości.
  • Johnson, Allan G. 1997. The Gender Knot: Unraveling Our Patriarchal Legacy.
  • Jule, Allyson. 2017. A Beginner’s Guide to Language and Gender.
  • Kochman-Haładyj, Bożena, and Grzegorz A. Kleparski. 2011. On pejoration of women terms in the history of English.
  • Litosetti, Lia and Jane Sunderland (eds). 2002. Gender identity and discourse analysis.
  • Mohammed, Jowan and Frank Jacob. 2021. Marriage Discourses: Historical and Literary Perspectives on Gender Inequality and Patriarchic Exploitation.
  • Montell, Amanda. 2019. Wordslut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language.
  • Speer, Susan A. 2007. Gender talk : feminism, discourse, and conversation analysis.
  • Urbanik-Kopeć, Alicja. 2022. Matrymonium. O małżeństwie nieromantycznym.
  • Walsh, Clare. 2001. Gender discourse: language and power in politics, the church and organisations.
  • Wodak, Ruth. 1997. Gender and discourse.

ESCL proseminar pair 1 — ESLC students may only choose one of the two

Introduction to Modern Anglo-Irish Poetry and Drama

dr Jeremy Pomeroy

The proseminarium provides a survey of selected works by 20th-century Irish poets and playwrights. Beginning with the Irish Literary Revival, the class consists of a chronologically structured survey course. Poets treated range from W. B. Yeats to such later writers as Patrick Kavanaugh, Eavan Boland and Seamus Heaney; featured playwrights range from those associated with the nascent Abbey Theatre to Samuel Beckett. Recurring themes include the role played by literature in both forming and critiquing Irish nationality and identity, as well as how various authors reacted to and sublimated such traumatic events as the Troubles.

Classes typically consist in a discussion of the assigned work(s), subsequent to a brief introductory lecture providing relevant biographical, historical and cultural context. When discussing plays, video clips from performances are occasionally featured. The weekly reading load consists of either a play or a selection of poems. Grades are awarded on the basis of preparedness for and participation in weekly discussions, a composition treating a work from the course, and a semester test.

“Literature that provides shelter”: A brief introduction to post-millennial Indian fiction in English

dr Beniamin Kłaniecki

“We need to remind ourselves that individuals don’t matter; it is the cause that makes sense and needs support. The new Indian quest has begun. It is to be rich, and also to be good” (2012: 10).1 It is with these words that, India’s bestselling author Chetan Bhagat concludes an essay from the collection What Young India Wants. In this proseminar, we will put that claim to the question by looking at both international and domestic examples of post-millennial Indian fiction in English which spotlight the individual and invidual lifestories. Those stories often belong, among others, to women, queer people, representative of lower classes and castes, and (accidental) political dissidents; they speak of injustice but also of the power of vulnerability and literature as a drive for social change. As part of the course, the students will be introduced to the cultural context of post-liberalisation India. Assessment will be based on active participation and submission of a short review of a selected work from the reading list.

1 Bhagat, Chetan. 2012. What Young India Wants. New Delhi: Rupa.

ESCL proseminar pair 2 — ESLC students may only choose one of the two

Reading and writing fear: British and Irish literature on embodied and non-corporeal evil

dr Katarzyna Bronk-Bacon

In his Time Machine, H. G. Wells’ time traveller claims: “I came out of this age of ours, this ripe prime of the human race, when Fear does not paralyse and mystery has lost its terrors” (1998: 32). The traveller represented Victorian England and imagined that science had indeed explained and conquered everything that could threaten the Empire. Wells himself does not share such comforting convictions as his fiction indicates. A critical look at literature and culture of the nineteenth century indeed proves that fear was one of the most prevalent emotions felt by the British society, but it was not always verbalised or conscious. In her No go the bogeyman Marina Warner states that, historically, humanity has been dealing with fear by naming its sources, as well as embodying and representing it by means of artistic means of expression (2000: 17). All of these methods help not only with managing fear itself but with controlling and policing, and often explaining the reason for annihilating the source of dread for good. Literature and various paraliterary texts of culture investigate the diachronic definitions, representations and embodiments of what societies have considered evil, fearful or monstrous, and so this seminar will explore the phenomenon of cultural, political and religious fear, seeing it both as embodied and ephemeral.

This proseminar is for students with an inquisitive mind and for those who enjoy reading for something more than escapism. We will “travel” across literary periods, mostly through Great Britain and Ireland to identify what people were most afraid of; what they secretly desired; and how they embodied these notions in canonical and popular literature and other texts of culture.

Bibliography
  • Cohen, Jeffrey Jerome, ed. 1996. Monster Theory: Reading Culture. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press
  • Creed, Barbara. 1986. “Horror and the Monstrous-Feminine: An Imaginary Abjection”, Screen 27, 1: 44–71, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/27.1.44.
  • Kristeva, Julia. 1982. Powers of Horror: An Essay on Abjection. Translated by Leon Roudiez. New York: Columbia University Press, 1982.
  • Shildrick, Margaret. 2002. Embodying the Monster: Encounters with the Vulnerable Self. SAGE Publications Ltd.
  • Warner, Marina. 2000. No go the bogeyman. London: Vintage.
  • Wells, G. H. 1998. Time machine.  (external link; date of access: 7th June 2023)

History of American Art and Culture

dr hab. Dominika Buchowska-Greaves

This survey course examines the history of multiple forms of visual arts in the United States from the colonial era to contemporary times. We will discuss artworks produced in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, architecture, photography, and installations, studying different artistic styles, techniques and approaches. The course will be divided chronologically and thematically. We will explore the meaning of nature in American art, urban growth, industrialization, the importance of national identity, foreign influences, depictions of race, ethnicity, class and gender as well as America’s leading role in paving the way for modern art in the twentieth century. Some of the artists and movements covered in the course include: Hudson River School, Ashcan School of Painting, American Impressionism, Abstract Expressionism, American Realism, Pop Art.

References
  • Burns, Sarah. American Art to 1900. University of California Press, 2023.
  • Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture, Mc Graw-Hill Education, 2003.
  • The Grove Encyclopedia of American Art, Marter Joan (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2011.
  • Miller, Angela L. American Encounters: Art, History, and Cultural Identity, Pearson Education, 2008.

ESCL proseminar pair 3 — ESLC students may only choose one of the two

Without Beads And Feathers: Native Americans in The United States Culture, History, and Contemporary Issues

dr Elżbieta Wilczyńska

The purpose of this course is to examine the unique history and current situation of Native Americans in the United States. The course will explore three interconnected themes, which will ultimately come together to highlight the contemporary circumstances of the indigenous population. The first theme will focus on the diverse cultures of Native Americans, including their varied customs, belief systems, and territorial distinctions. The second theme will delve into the tumultuous history of interactions between Indian tribes and various colonial, state, and federal governments, providing insight into the roots of the present challenges faced by Native Americans. The third theme will address contemporary social issues and achievements, covering topics such as social ills and challenges (MMIWG), Pretendians, and cultural contributions to the American environmental movement, sports and culture (film, visual arts), as well as economic enterprises (casinos).

Throughout the course, these themes will be examined through the lens of significant literature and films about Native Americans. In order to complete the course, students will have to read the assigned reading materials, watch selected movies, be active during the class and pass two tests.

Selected books
  • Champagne, Duane (ed.). 1999. Contemporary Native American Issues. Walnut Creek, CA: Altamira Press.
  • Gibson, Arrell Morgan. 1980. The American Indian. Prehistory to the Present. Lexington, MA: D.C. Heath.
  • Hertzberg, Hazel W. 1971. The search for an American Indian identity: Modern pan-Indian movements. USA: Syracuse University Press.
  • Suzak, Cheryl, Shari M. Hunddorf, Jeanne Perreault, and Jean Barman. 2010. Indigenous Women and Feminism: Politics, Activism, Culture. Vancouver, Toronto: UBC Press.
  • Smith Paul, Chaat and Allen Robert Warrior. 1996. Like a hurricane: The Indian movement from Alcatraz to Wounded Knee. New York: The New York Press.
In Polish
  • McDiarmid, Jessica. 2022. Autostrada łez. Grupa Wydawnicza Relacja.
  • Good, Michelle. 2020. Pięcioro Małych Indian. (Tłumaczenie Elżbieta Janota.) Katowice: Sonia Draga.
  • Kimmerer, Robin Wall. 2020. Pieśń Ziemi. Rdzenna mądrośc, wiedza naukowa i lekcje płynące z natury. (Tłumaczenie Monika Bukowska.) Kraków; Znak.
  • Lear, Jonathan. 2013. Nadzieja Radykalna. Etyka w obliczu spustoszenia kulturowego. (Tłumaczenie Marcin Richter.) Warszawa: Kronos.
  • Lipiński, Filip. 2022. “Koloniajna fantazja”, in: Ameryka: Rewizje wizualnej mitologii Stanów Zjednoczonych. Poznań: WN UAM.
Selected films
  • Smoke Signals, 1998, dir. Chris Eyrie
  • Wind River, 2018, dir. Taylor Sheridan.
  • Selected scenes from Yellowstone (2018-2023, dir. Taylor Sheridan) and Reservation Dogs 2021 (S. Harjo and T. Waititi)

Journalism and its image in British and American films

prof. UAM dr hab. Janusz Kaźmierczak

As media have become central to the modern world, the profession of journalism and the figure of the journalist have caught the attention of filmmakers. Journalism and journalists feature prominently in British and American film and television. In its first part this seminar introduces the profession of journalism, stressing journalism’s ethics. Then, in its main part, it discusses the varied and changing face of journalism, as it has been presented in selected British and American films. The films discussed will include classics such as All the president’s men, as well as less well-known productions. Towards the end of the seminar, students will present their own interpretations of the image of journalism in films. For this purpose they will work on films not discussed earlier in class and will use the theoretical knowledge and conceptual frameworks acquired during the course. Assessment will be based on continuous evaluation, student presentations, and a final test.