The International Border Studies Center is a team of scientists from the Faculties of Philology, History and Social Sciences of the University of Gdańsk, which deals with interdisciplinary research on the phenomena of border and boundary. IBSC was established thanks to the Gdańsk Humanities Development Programme, and its inauguration will be accompanied by a three-day international Border Seminar conference ( May 25-27, 2021).
The International Border Seminar conference is a regular conference organised since 2017 at IAiAWF UG by the Border StudiesGroup (BSG). Taking place this year remotely (on the Zoom platform) from May 25-27, 2021, it is the first one organised jointly with the International Border Studies Center (IBSC) established at UG in May 2021. The inauguration and presentation of the programme and team, as well as ongoing IBSC projects, is scheduled for May 25 at 18.00 on the Zoom platform. The meeting will be hosted by dr hab. Anna Mazurkiewicz, prof. UG, the initiator of the IBSC.
- 'The IBSC team consists of historians, philologists and sociologists interested in the issues of borders, borderlands, etc. and recognizing the importance of the reflection on the phenomena of borders both in the context of "our place on Earth", that is Gdańsk, Pomerania and their history, as well as in the context of the changing world, in which borders are material artefacts but also imagined phenomena,' - explains dr Grzegorz Welizarowicz from the Faculty of Philology, University of Gdańsk. - 'We are interested in moments of encounter, intercultural exchange and conflict. The IBSC aims to promote interdisciplinary approaches to the subject, and to promote border practice, i.e. combining academic reflection with artistic or social activity,' he adds.
The interdisciplinary Border Seminar will be devoted to everything related to the notion of the border. The aim is to bring together and confront various theoretical proposals, to create a platform for friendly dialogue and productive exchange, to get to know real and imagined places that exemplify the 'border' and allow for a better understanding of the phenomena, narratives and images evoked by this term.
- 'We try to weave the academic aspect such as lectures and discussions with pedagogy and performance studies, e.g. by preparing performances with students, as was the case in 2019 or is currently the case,' says dr Grzegorz Welizarowicz. This year, for example, a joint performance is being prepared by students from UG and Valdosta State University from Valdosta, Georgia, USA ( May 27 at 6 pm). The artistic director of this event is dr Martin Blaszk.
Border Seminar 2021 has two themes in its title (Re)Thinking Border Studies/Communication across Borders. - 'First, we consider what is Border and Borderlands Studies as an academic discipline. Hence the two opening lectures - by Ross Aldridge (BSG, UG) and Elżbieta Opiłowska (UWr) - which will outline the research field of the discipline," informs dr Grzegorz Welizarowicz. - We ask what we, researchers from Gdańsk, can contribute to the ongoing debate? Secondly, we ask about communication through borders, about the mechanisms of crossing them,'. As he stresses, especially the period of the pandemic provoked new questions about the necessity of setting boundaries (on a macro and micro scale) and the ways of their transgression, as well as changes in the ways of working or on the cognitive plane in the era of overlapping crises of algorithmic communication and lockdown reality.
BORDER SEMINAR PROGRAM:
May 25, 2021:
11.00-13.00 – OPENING AND SPECIAL SESSION: Keynote Lectures: Border and Borderlands Studies
Grzegorz Welizarowicz (UG) – welcome and opening statement
Ross Aldridge (UG) – Border Journeys: Exploring the Language, Concepts and Themes of Border Studies
Elżbieta Opiłowska (UWr) – Advances in Borderlands Studies: Theoretical and Methodological Approaches
13.15-14.45 – SESSION: Linguistics, Actor Network Theory, Virtual Performance in Education
Maciej Rataj (UG) – Bi-accentism, Translanguaging or just a Costume? What Margaret Thatcher and the Portrayal of her Speech in Popular Culture can Tell Us about Linguistic Boundaries and Ideologies
Magdalena Bielenia-Grajewska (UG) – The (in) visible border between humans and machines. The application of Actor Network Theory in Border Studies
Martin Blaszk (UG) – A Performative Educational Practice in the Virtual World Moderated by Maciej Rataj
15.00-16.30 – SESSION: Colonialism, Theater, Artivism
Marta Grzechnik (UG) – Fitting within borders. The interwar Polish colonial plans as an aspiration of civilisational advancement
Maiza Hixson (Doctoral Fellow, UCSB) – Resisting Neo-Settler Colonial Performance in Santa Barbara
Ewa Antoszek (UMCS) – Border Artivism and Communication across Borders at the U.S.-Mexico Border. Moderated by Grzegorz Welizarowicz
18.00-20.00 – SPECIAL SESSION: IBSC Launch - Inauguration of the International Border Studies Center Grab a glass of champagne (or whatever) and let’s celebrate!
Anna Mazurkiewicz (UG) – opening and mission statement
Team IBSC – presentations
Open discussion. Moderated by Anna Mazurkiewicz
May 26, 2021:
11.00-13.00 – LECTURE: Border and Borderlands Studies
Julian Wolfreys (UG) – How Many Borders Must We Cross to Reach Home?’ The Politics and Poetics of PorosityModerated by Ross Aldridge
13.15-14.45 – SESSION: Sociology and Translation Studies
Elżbieta Czapka (UG) – Challenges related to caring across the borders for parents with dementia
Wioleta Karwacka (UG) – Anthropocentric overtones in translating the voices of nature - a few notes on anthropomorphism, intentionality and deontic modality in translating popular science. Moderated by Anna Mazurkiewicz
15.00-16.45 – SPECIAL SESSION: Blurred boundaries of work in the age of covid-19. The Sociological Perspective
Magdalena Żadkowska (UG) and Jacek Gądecki (AGH) – Borders between work and family at home. Segregation or integration? COVID19 pandemic as a trigger to dene new borders at home in terms of space, gender and social roles
Adam Mrozowicki (UWr) in cooperation with Markieta Domecka, Karol Muszyński and Valeria Pulignano (CESO K Leuven – COVID-19 pandemic and the social boundaries of work: what can we learn so far?
Dorota Mroczkowska (UAM) and Małgorzata Kubacka (UAM) – On the Treadmill of Pandemic Everyday Life: Work-Life Boundary Dynamics in Three Types of Organizations in PolandModerated by Bartosz Mika (UG)
17.30-20.00 – SPECIAL SESSION: Gilberto Rosas's The New Lloronx and “TRUMPUS CAESAR”Screening and Discussion with the Artists
Gilberto Rosas (UIUC) – The New Lloronx
”TRUMPUS CAESAR” – screening of the 2020 satirical tragicomedy by Carlos Morton followed by live discus-sion with the creators: Jorge Huerta (UCSD), playwright Carlos Morton (UCSB), Irwin Appel (UCSB), Luis Moreno (veteran of El Teatro Campesino), Maiza Hixson (UCSB).
TRUMPUS CAESAR begins at 18.00 Moderated by Grzegorz Welizarowicz
May 27, 2021:
11.30-13.00 – LECTURE: Sociological, Historical and Literary Approaches
Monika Mazurek (UG) – Our Home is Our Castle: Words Change Meaning during the Pandemic of Covid 19
Anna Podciborska (UG) – Messages of Hope Surng through the Waves: Communication Across the Iron Curtain
Izabela Morska (UG) – Animality as an excuse for murder: David Grann and Killers of the Flower Moon. Moderated by Anna Mazurkiewicz
13.15-14.45 – LOUNGE: The IBSC Coffee Hour and Border Studies Group Roundtable.
Roundtable: Border Studies projects, collaborations, ideas and recommendations for theme of next conference. Moderated by Anna Mazurkiewicz
16.00-17.30 – SESSION: Dispatches from the Borderlands
Santiago Vaquera-Vasquez (UNM) – This is Not an Exit: Dispatches from the Borderlands
Grzegorz Welizarowicz (UG) – Rituals of Hospitality in the Greater San Diego Area. Moderated by Grzegorz Welizarowicz
18.00-20.00 – SPECIAL SESSION:"CROSSING / ACROSS BORDERS”: Live Virtual Performance by Students of Valdosta State Universityand University of Gdansk
Live virtual collaboration and performance of "CROSSING/ACROSS BORDERS" collectively-created by students of the Valdosta State University and the University of Gdansk. Moderated and directed by Martin Blaszk