Symbols of Contemporary Culture

Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Institute of Intercultural Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She specializes in cultural studies with particular focus on migration and integration processes, political culture, intercultural relations, Nordic societies and Nordic cultures. In her latest research Monika undertakes issues connected with political activism of ethnic minorities in multiethnic societies. Main publications include inter alia single author books: Ethnicity for Sale (Etniczność na sprzedaż, published in Polish); Swedish integration policy towards immigrants (Szwedzka polityka integracyjna wobec imigrantów, published in Polish); book editing of Contemporary Transformations. Culture, Politics, Economy (published in English); and articles: Nordic Federation as a state – a challenge for European integration? [in:] European economic integration and convergence, (ed.) B. Jóźwik, T. Stępniewski, Rocznik Instytutu Europy Środkowo-Wschodniej, 2012/6; Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Actions, and Policies in Europe. The Case of Three Scandinavian Countries [in:] Anti-Immigrant Sentiment, Actions, and Policies, ed. M. Verea, UNAM, CISAN, Mexico, 2012

Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the Institute of Intercultural Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She specializes in cultural studies. Her interests cover inter alia topics like: cultural semiotics, audio-visual communication, art history, postmodernism, gender studies, Middle East cinema. Ela’s recent research projects are dedicated to Deaf Culture (iconographic analysis of Deaf Art), Iranian cinema in 1960s and 1970s (historical study), Galicia as a sign for sale and tourist attraction, culture of the Polish mountain region – the construction and functioning of the myth of Podhale, branding regional identity of Małopolska (semiotic analysis).

Ph.D., Eng. Architect, is Assistant Professor at the Institute of Architectural Design, University of Technology in Cracow. He is also a lecturer at the Faculty of Painting and Faculty of Sculpture, Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow. He specializes in theory of architecture, modern and postmodern architecture, relation between architecture and other spatial/visual arts. Author of books: Modernizm przebudowany. Inspiracje techniką w architekturze u progu XXI wieku, Kraków 2000; Uwarunkowania kulturowe architektury wobec przemian cywilizacyjnych końca XX wieku, co-author and ed., Kraków-Warszawa 2001; Miasto. Między przestrzenią a koncepcją przestrzeni, co-author, and coed., Kraków 2011; recent papers: Pełzająca (kontr)rewolucja. U progu postmodernizmu w architekturze polskiej [in:] Postmodernizm polski. Architektura i urbanistyka, L. Klein (ed.), Warszawa 2013; The Body, Senses and Architecture [in:] 19th International Congress of Aesthetics, „Aesthetics in Action”, Kraków 2013; Mit klarowności architektury nowoczesnej [in:] Mity modernizmu, „Autoportret” no. 3 (50) 2015.

Professor at the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce, Poland, member of Social Working Group of International Arctic Science Committee, the Presidium member of Polar Research Committee – Polish Academy of Science, the member of Political Sciences Committee – Polish Academy of Science, expert of Polar Task Force at MFA. His interests focus on international relations and public diplomacy. Ryszard specializes in political and economic conditions of the High North and cooperation of the Northern European States. Author of many publications, including major works on the Scandinavian countries (inter alia: Regionalizm w stosunkach międzynarodowych po II wojnie światowej; Die Neutralitätspolitik als Sicherheitsproblem des Königreiches Schweden; Szwecja w Unii Europejskiej. Studium polityczno-prawne; Sweden – Poland – The European Union; W nowej Europie. Słownik terminologiczny; Energy Dilemmas of the Nordic Region Countries; Wymiar Północny Uni Europejskiej. Studium rozwoju (wraz z M. Tomalą); The Imperative High North: Opportunities and Challenges; Featuring Norden in Ten Episodes; The High North. Between Geography and Politics) and numerous articles and essays on contemporary international relations.

Is a Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Intercultural Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She specializes in cultural studies. Her research interests are vast and focus on the situation of minorities in Turkey, freedom of media and speech, influence of religion on daily life of the Turks, Turkish prospects of membership in EU as well as how Muslims are perceived in European societies and what stereotypes are attributed to them. Filiz’ latest research is dedicated to Polish women who moved to Turkey – their perception of the country, living conditions, culture, native citizens and religion.

Is a full-time lecturer at Universitat Internacional de Catalunya in Barcelona, Spain. She is also vice director of research of IESF, Institute of Advanced Family Studies, in Barcelona. Rita earned her Ph.D. in Humanities from Universitat Internacional de Catalunya. She also holds a degree in political science from Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy, and a master in marriage and family from Universidad de Navarra, Spain. Her recent research focuses on intergenerational family solidarity according to relational sociology.

Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Institute of the Middle and Far East (Chair for East and South Asia), Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She specializes in Cultural Studies, with special focus on India and South Asia. Her research interests include cultural heritage of India and South Asia; contemporary Indian literature; modern history of the Indian Subcontinent; contemporary socio-political problems of South Asia; theory and practice of translation from and into South Asian languages; intercultural communication; cultural contacts between South Asia and Europe; reception of European culture in South Asia. Her recent publications include a monograph dedicated to the enriching phenomenon of mutual transfer of intrinsic values in symbolic cultures. Currently she is preparing a study on Indian motifs in Korean culture.

Ph.D., Associate Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She specialises in modern South Asian Studies. Her main field of interest are the Islamicate traditions and culture in South Asia, history and contemporaneity of Muslims in the Indian subcontinent, sociolinguistics and intercultural communication. She also translates from Hindi and Urdu into Polish (she translated, among other things, M. H. Rusvā’s Umrā’o Jān Ādā into Polish). She has published vastly on various topics related to South Asia. Her main publications contain: Perso-Arabic Hybrids in Hindi. The Socio-linguistic and Structural Analysis; Perso-Arabic Loanwords in Hindustani. Part I: Dictionary, Part II: Linguistic Study; Islamicate Traditions in South Asia. Themes from Culture and History; Defining the Indefinable. Delimiting Hindi, etc. At present she is preparing a comprehensive study of Indo-Muslim courtesans (tawa’if) and the socio-cultural role they played in the Islamicate society of North India.

Ph.D., works at the Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridsky”, Bulgaria. She specializes in Chinese philosophy and culture. Her interests focus on topics like: intercultural dialogue, cross-cultural studies, Eastern philosophy, Catholicism. Desislava in her recent research undertakes following issues: the concept of time – models of its conceptualization in the East and the West; symbols of protest culture in Eastern Europe; parallels of the concept of yin and yang in modern Western science.

Ph.D., works at the Univeristy of Mateja Bela in Banska Bystrica, in Slovakia. She specializes in European Cultural Studies, with particular focus on language and identity. Her interests cover topics like: cultural identity, national identity, language revitalization, status of contemporary Irish language. Anna’s resent research is dedicated to Irish language revitalization in the 21^th century.

Ph.D., specializes in Foreign Languages and Cultures at the Univeristy of Mateja Bela in Banska Bystrica, in Slovakia. Her interests cover inter alia: cultural history, European contemporary culture, intercultural communication. Jana’s recent research has been dedicated to topics connected with culture and political activism. Her doctoral thesis Cultural concept of European active citizenship focused on connections between culture and politics on the local and regional level in Slovakia.

Independent interior architect, based and working in France. In her professional work she focuses on the processes and factors that influence transformations of private and public spaces due to their cultural context. Monika’s recent projects are dedicated to: 1) adaptation of individuals to the existing physical space, in which they reside – how they adapt it and form it according to particular needs; 2) alternative design methods, including participatory design and the Design Thinking method as modes of creating innovative products and services, based on an in-depth understanding of consumer needs.

Ph.D. candidate at the Institute of Political Sciences and International Relations, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. She specializes in political sciences. Marta’s main area of interest include theories of international relations, especially constructivism which combines sphere of international politics with a sphere of language, norms, values and symbols. In her recent project she analyses political discourse of the main Irish political parties in respect to the same-sex marriages referendum held in Ireland in 2015.