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Seminar date and time: Jan 20, 2022 12:00 PM in Eastern Time (US and Canada)

This seminar discusses issues that Poles, whether living in Poland or elsewhere, face on occasion (and for purposes of this seminar being a Pole or being Polish means having a sense of Polish identity). The panel will share their thoughts on what does it mean to be Polish or have a Polish identity? In short, what makes us Polish? Is it language, is it shared values, is it ancestry?

Does this sense of identity change over time? What factors affect this sense of identity? Do Poles who were born and live in Poland see themselves and the world differently than Poles who were born in Poland but no longer live in Poland or Poles who were born and live outside Poland?

How would members of each group answer the following:

• Are Poles disappointed that Poland does not play a greater role in the world? Is their disappointment justified? Do Poles in fact have a realistic view of Poland's place in the world?
• How are Poland and the Poles viewed by others? How does the non-Polish world engage with Poland? Are there differences in how Poles and Poland are viewed by others depending on location? For example, what are the differences in British and American attitudes toward Poles?
• Do Poland and the Poles suffer from a 'bad press' internationally?

A panel consisting of Jaroslaw Garlinski, Bozena Nowicka McLees, Paulina Duda, Ph.D., and Marian Kornilowicz, Esq. will try to respond to these questions.

Register here

The seminar is part of the Studying Poland Today talk series presented jointly by the Kosciuszko Foundation and the Project on Poland Past and Present. Its purpose is to raise the level of general and expert knowledge about Poland in foreign countries and, in particular, to strengthen Polish Studies in the universities of the English-speaking world.

The webinar is free and open to the public. Spots are limited. Registration is required.

Register here