Books by Jędrzej Burszta
This short collection of essays engages with queer lives and activism in 1970s Poland, illustrati... more This short collection of essays engages with queer lives and activism in 1970s Poland, illustrating discourses about queerness and a trajectory of the struggle for rights which clearly sets itself apart, and differs from a Westernbased narrative of liberation. Contributors to this volume paint an uneven landscape of queer life in state-socialist Poland in the 1970s and early 1980s. They turn to oral history interviews and archival sources which include police files, personal letters, literature and criticism, writings by sexuality experts, and documentation of artistic practice. Unlike most of Europe, Poland did not penalize samesex acts, although queer people were commonly treated with suspicion and vilified. But while many homosexual men and most lesbian women felt invisible and alone, some had the sense of belonging to a fledgling community. As they looked to the West, hoping for a sexual revolution that never quite arrived, they also preserved informal queer institutions dating back to the prewar years and used them to their advantage. Medical experts conversed with peers across the Iron Curtain but developed their own "socialist" methods and successfully prompted the state to recognize transgender rights, even as that state remained determined to watch and intimidate homosexual men. Literary critics, translators, and art historians began debating-and they debate still-how to read gestures defying gender and sexual norms: as an aspect of some global "gay" formation or as stemming from locally grounded queer traditions. Emphasizing the differences of Poland's LGBT history from that of the "global" West while underscoring the existing lines of communication between queer subjects on either side of the Iron Curtain, this book will be of key interest to scholars and students in gender and sexuality studies, social history, and politics.
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Jędrzej Burszta i Zuzanna Grębecka, "Mówiono Druga Moskwa. Wspomnienia legniczan o stacjonowaniu ... more Jędrzej Burszta i Zuzanna Grębecka, "Mówiono Druga Moskwa. Wspomnienia legniczan o stacjonowaniu wojsk radzieckich w latach 1944-1993. Źródła etnograficzne", Wydawnictwo Libron, Kraków 2015.
The main idea for this book was to present a wide selection of memories from the time of Soviet Legnica. The presentation of the material begins with general issues: opinions about the citizens of the Soviet Union, how they were perceived as Others, stereotypes and reflections connected with the city’s specific status. The second chapter is dedicated to the different types of trade relations, stretching from providing the army with supplies to selling smuggled gold. Trade was a sphere of life that proved to be especially prominent in the gathered material, influencing the characteristic ambivalence of our speakers in terms of their relationship with the Soviet Legnica, a city that was under occupation, but at the same time had prospered quite well. The next chapter presents ethnographic material connected with women and intimacy: images of Soviet women, their fascinations, friendships and romances. The following chapter deals with children. For a large number of our informants „Little Moscow” was connected with childhood memories. The chapter collects narratives about the sympathies and conflicts between Polish and Soviet children, encounters with soldiers, sneaking to the Soviet districts, the taste of Soviet sweets. Chapter five is a collection of topics from which each one could form a separate book: the Soviet medical care, social life, the world of bars and restaurants, criminal activities and other. It was our aim to construct a rich and cross-sectional chapter that offers a wide spectrum of different interactions between both sides. The book closes with a chapter examining the last years of the Soviet presence in Legnica and the consequences of their departure – reflections on the city without the Soviets.
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Papers (ENG) by Jędrzej Burszta
Przegląd Kulturoznawczy, 2024
The paper seeks to examine the connections between "queer reading" and "science fiction reading" ... more The paper seeks to examine the connections between "queer reading" and "science fiction reading" from the perspective of readers' recollections of their juvenile experiences of "looking for clues" in queer sf narratives. Using Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick's concept of reparative reading, I discuss the idea of queer adolescent reading as a possibly transformative experience that offers exciting theoretical opportunities for academic scholarship on the fantastic. By turning attention to selected testaments of adolescent queer readerly experiences, written by both writers and fans, I hope to demonstrate both the personal (individual) and collective nature of queer self-recognition through these intense and affective engagements with sf texts. A closer examination of a collection of short essays in which authors reflect on the provocative idea of "queers destroying sf," also based on individual recollections of engaging with sf as young readers, expands the discussion to incorporate fan activity and the question of queer canon-forming.
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LUD. Organ Polskiego Towarzystwa Ludoznawczego, 2022
The article is based on research material consisting of ethnographic interviews with young non-no... more The article is based on research material consisting of ethnographic interviews with young non-normative Poles practising as religious members of the Roman Catholic Church. The author analyses their life narratives, discussing how they are struggling to integrate their religious beliefs with their non-normative gender and sexuality, gradually distancing themselves from the institutional Church and sensing that they a becoming "a minority within a minority". In the second part of the article, the author focuses on the non-normative religious Poles' approach to reproduction, family and life plans.
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Queers in State Socialism. Cruising 1970s Poland, 2020
The chapter examines three circles of male homosexual social life in the People’s Republic of Pol... more The chapter examines three circles of male homosexual social life in the People’s Republic of Poland, focusing on their specific spatial organization and the different types of contacts, socialities, and intimacies established in each circle. Because of the invisibility of homosexuality in the official public sphere, homosexual men were forced to create their own queer spaces in urban environments, resulting in the establishment of three distinct, sometimes overlapping, circles of contact: firstly, the cruising spaces used for anonymous same-sex sex acts (public restrooms, parks etc.), secondly, the public bathhouses (ascribed with homosocial and homoerotic meanings and practices), and finally, the specific counter-institutions of “gay parlors,” i.e., the space of private apartments used for socializing, networking and alliance-building. Based on a number of oral history interviews conducted with self-identified Polish homosexual men, the chapter discusses the social and cultural practices connected with each “gay circle,” showing how each type of queer spatial organization is affectively remembered as a site of non-normative expressions of identity, desire, and (proto)political organization. The chapter concludes with a reflection on the overall impact of these distinct modalities—the influence of queer spatiality and sociality on different identity-forming processes—on the emerging gay urban culture in pre-emancipatory Poland.
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Munro's narratives are characteristically intense and condensed character studies, intimate and p... more Munro's narratives are characteristically intense and condensed character studies, intimate and psychological portraits of women and men, frequently embedded in the dynamic clash between individualism (e.g. figures of outsiders) and community (family, small town setting, etc.). Arguably Munro dedicates the form of her stories to their content, referencing in different works similar narrative patterns and tropes, for instance the theme of home-coming, and the tension arising from contrasting lifestyles (modern and " urban " vs. " rural " and narrowed-minded). She constructs her characters' identities by interweaving images of past and present in multi-layered narratives of individual memory. In this chapter Jędrzej Burszta analyzes several short stories (grouped together according to their themes), while focusing in particular on the three-story cycle in her 2004 collection Runaway (" Chance, " " Soon " and " Silence "), a psychological study of the character of Juliet carried out over a number of years, in which the writer deals with many themes that have been reoccurring in her work since the publication of her debut collection.
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Papers (PL) by Jędrzej Burszta
"InterAlia", 2019
The article is based on research material consisting of ethnographic interviews conducted as part... more The article is based on research material consisting of ethnographic interviews conducted as part of the CRUSEV international research project. The author analyzes chosen narratives from the perspective of the language which the interview partners use to reconstruct their memories from the People’s Republic of Poland, a period when homosexuality was a taboo subject and was scarcely present in public discourse. The author focuses on several aspects of these memory narratives: the self-identification of the interviewees, the issue of coming out to closest family members, and the specific code or “pink language” used by the urban homosexual communities. The author argues that the way in which interviewees construct their life narratives (e.g. allusiveness, playfulness) reflects not only on the specificity of non normative life in the People’s Republic, but also on the different strategies of constructing pre-emancipatory gay identities.
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Jędrzej Burszta’s chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the political and ideological dimension... more Jędrzej Burszta’s chapter is dedicated to the analysis of the political and ideological dimensions of the process of canon-forming within the field of science fiction studies. The points of reference are the recent controversies surrounding the 2015 Hugo nominations and the online campaign of the groups “Sad Puppies” and “Rapid Puppies”. In the text, Burszta discusses the connection between defining science fiction and creating a canon of “proper” science fiction texts through “selective tradition” — a perspective that ultimately leads to creation of different, subjective canons of science fiction that are often, if not always, influenced by ideological choices. The author argues that the science fiction new wave movement in the 1970s has had a long-lasting impact on the way that it is defined by most science fiction scholars. Furthermore, the essay attempts to prove that contemporary heated debates on the political nature of science fiction (especially in the context of American science fiction) should be taken into consideration by science fiction scholars as important examples of the on-going “cultural war” and the politics of representation.
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Artykuł opublikowany w kwartalniku "Res Publica Nowa" nr 2/2015 (220).
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The chapter "Queer Zombies: Between Politics, Pastiche and Pornography" is dedicated to an analys... more The chapter "Queer Zombies: Between Politics, Pastiche and Pornography" is dedicated to an analysis of the meaning of the eponymous “queer zombie” figure that appears in contemporary films. Jędrzej Burszta draws attention here to the Canadian film-maker Bruce LaBruce and his two recent films: Otto, or Up with Dead People and L.A. Zombie. Drawing inspiration from ideological interpretations of zombie films (focusing on race relations, consumerism, neoliberalism etc.), the author argues that the political potential present in the figure of the zombie can be translated into a man-ifesto of true queerness. Various frightening creatures and monsters depicted in hor-ror films have often been linked to homosexuality through the apparent similarities in their marginal character and status as outsiders in a society which fears everything that is unknown, strange and different. The analysis of LaBruce's films serves to intro-duce a proposal for a subversive challenge to the identity politics of sexual minorities. The essay attempts to prove that the horror genre (here combined with elements of pastiche and pornography) can indeed express complex critique of social relations in the contemporary Western world.
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Book Reviews by Jędrzej Burszta
Polish Journal for American Studies vol. 14, 2020
Review of Aldona Kobus and Łukasz Muniowski, editors. Sex, Death, and Resurrection in Altered Car... more Review of Aldona Kobus and Łukasz Muniowski, editors. Sex, Death, and Resurrection in Altered Carbon: Essays on the Netflix Series. McFarland, 2020.
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Lud t. 103, 2019
Recenzja pracy naukowej:
ŁUKASZ SZULC, Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Cross-Bord... more Recenzja pracy naukowej:
ŁUKASZ SZULC, Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines, New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2018, ss. 253, ISBN 978-3-319-58900-8.
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Recenzja pracy naukowej:
Agnieszka Kościańska. Zobaczyć łosia. Historia polskiej edukacji seks... more Recenzja pracy naukowej:
Agnieszka Kościańska. Zobaczyć łosia. Historia polskiej edukacji seksualnej od pierwszej lekcji do internetu. Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2017.
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Recenzja opublikowana w kwartalniku "Res Publica Nowa" 2/2017 (228).
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Seria monograficzna "Perspektywy Ponowoczesności" by Jędrzej Burszta
Perspektywy Ponowoczesności, 2017
Książka "Narracje fantastyczne" pod redakcją Kseni Olkusz i Krzysztofa M. Maja jest piątym tomem... more Książka "Narracje fantastyczne" pod redakcją Kseni Olkusz i Krzysztofa M. Maja jest piątym tomem serii „Perspektywy Ponowoczesności”, zbierającym na blisko siedmiuset stronach trzydzieści tekstów naukowych rozpatrujących szeroko pojętą fantastykę z perspektywy ponowoczesnej, transdyscyplinarnej i światocentrycznej zarazem.
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Books by Jędrzej Burszta
The main idea for this book was to present a wide selection of memories from the time of Soviet Legnica. The presentation of the material begins with general issues: opinions about the citizens of the Soviet Union, how they were perceived as Others, stereotypes and reflections connected with the city’s specific status. The second chapter is dedicated to the different types of trade relations, stretching from providing the army with supplies to selling smuggled gold. Trade was a sphere of life that proved to be especially prominent in the gathered material, influencing the characteristic ambivalence of our speakers in terms of their relationship with the Soviet Legnica, a city that was under occupation, but at the same time had prospered quite well. The next chapter presents ethnographic material connected with women and intimacy: images of Soviet women, their fascinations, friendships and romances. The following chapter deals with children. For a large number of our informants „Little Moscow” was connected with childhood memories. The chapter collects narratives about the sympathies and conflicts between Polish and Soviet children, encounters with soldiers, sneaking to the Soviet districts, the taste of Soviet sweets. Chapter five is a collection of topics from which each one could form a separate book: the Soviet medical care, social life, the world of bars and restaurants, criminal activities and other. It was our aim to construct a rich and cross-sectional chapter that offers a wide spectrum of different interactions between both sides. The book closes with a chapter examining the last years of the Soviet presence in Legnica and the consequences of their departure – reflections on the city without the Soviets.
Papers (ENG) by Jędrzej Burszta
Papers (PL) by Jędrzej Burszta
Book Reviews by Jędrzej Burszta
ŁUKASZ SZULC, Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines, New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2018, ss. 253, ISBN 978-3-319-58900-8.
Agnieszka Kościańska. Zobaczyć łosia. Historia polskiej edukacji seksualnej od pierwszej lekcji do internetu. Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2017.
Seria monograficzna "Perspektywy Ponowoczesności" by Jędrzej Burszta
The main idea for this book was to present a wide selection of memories from the time of Soviet Legnica. The presentation of the material begins with general issues: opinions about the citizens of the Soviet Union, how they were perceived as Others, stereotypes and reflections connected with the city’s specific status. The second chapter is dedicated to the different types of trade relations, stretching from providing the army with supplies to selling smuggled gold. Trade was a sphere of life that proved to be especially prominent in the gathered material, influencing the characteristic ambivalence of our speakers in terms of their relationship with the Soviet Legnica, a city that was under occupation, but at the same time had prospered quite well. The next chapter presents ethnographic material connected with women and intimacy: images of Soviet women, their fascinations, friendships and romances. The following chapter deals with children. For a large number of our informants „Little Moscow” was connected with childhood memories. The chapter collects narratives about the sympathies and conflicts between Polish and Soviet children, encounters with soldiers, sneaking to the Soviet districts, the taste of Soviet sweets. Chapter five is a collection of topics from which each one could form a separate book: the Soviet medical care, social life, the world of bars and restaurants, criminal activities and other. It was our aim to construct a rich and cross-sectional chapter that offers a wide spectrum of different interactions between both sides. The book closes with a chapter examining the last years of the Soviet presence in Legnica and the consequences of their departure – reflections on the city without the Soviets.
ŁUKASZ SZULC, Transnational Homosexuals in Communist Poland. Cross-Border Flows in Gay and Lesbian Magazines, New York: Palgrave Macmillan 2018, ss. 253, ISBN 978-3-319-58900-8.
Agnieszka Kościańska. Zobaczyć łosia. Historia polskiej edukacji seksualnej od pierwszej lekcji do internetu. Wydawnictwo Czarne, Wołowiec 2017.