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Alicja Syska Dr Alicja Syska
Role Qualifications & background I have been with Plymouth University since 2006, first teaching undergraduate modules in the American Studies Department and now teaching modules in US History in the History Department. I have also taught at Saint Louis University, USA. Ph.D. in American Studies from Saint Louis University, USA Dissertation title: ‘Eastern Europe in the Making of American National Identity'. Supervisors: Prof. Matthew Mancini, Prof. Susanne Wiedemann M.A. in Sociology of Human Behaviour from Szczecin University, Poland B.A. in Sociology from Szczecin University, Poland
Additional training Graduate Certificate in Women Studies at Saint Louis University, USA Certificate in University Teaching Skills at Saint Louis University, USA Internship at the Sheldon Art Galleries in St. Louis, USA (working with the curator on the exhibition Josephine Baker: Image and Icon) Research and Teaching Assistantship at Saint Louis University, USA Professional membership Teaching interests
American History, American Popular Culture, Visual Culture
HIST147: America 1607-1900: From Settlement to Empire HIST266: America Since 1900 HIST267: American Popular Culture Since 1945 HIST361: The Civil Rights Movement Part 2: 1954-1970 Myths of America: Texts and Contexts I Myths of America: Texts and Contexts II America 1607-1798: From Settlement to Revolution Dub-Cultures: Globalisation and Subcultures Eyes on America: Global Perspectives (SLU)
I have also supervised undergraduate theses in U.S. History Research interests U.S. national identity: politics of identity and identity politics; cultural representations and self-representations; U.S. imperialism; Cold War manifestations in the U.S.; American cultural myths; American film; representations of race and gender; power and protest; visual culture with an emphasis on photography. Grants & contracts Publications Review of African Americans and the Presidency: The Road to the White House, edited by Bruce A. Glasrud and Cary D. Wintz. Journal of American Studies (forthcoming, 2011)
“In Search of Subjectivity: An Irigarayan Reading of the Body in Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo” in Women in the Arts: Eccentric Essays in Music, Visual Arts and Literature, edited by Barbara Harbach and DianeTouliatos-Miles (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2010).
“Ambiguous Women: Debates within American Evangelical Feminism.” The European Journal of American Culture vol. 26, no.3 (2007): 167-180.
"Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: The Ambiguities of Josephine Baker’s Self-Representation.” Michigan Feminist Studies Journal Special issue no19, “Bodies: Physical and Abstract” (Fall 2005-Spring 2006): 51-72.
Reports & invited lectures CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
“Rhetorics of Vision: Narratives of Eastern Europe in American Discourse.” HCA Spring Academy, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, 2007
“Methodological Challenges”—panel chair, Postgraduate Conference "Thinking Gender” at the University of Leeds, 2006
“Tolerance for Ambiguity: Dialectics of Evangelical Feminism.” Postgraduate Conference “Thinking Gender” at the University of Leeds, 2006
“Visualizing Distinctions: Constructing Public Identities Through Images”—panel chair, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006
“Remapping Eastern Europe in America: ‘Us’ and ‘Them’ in Photographs”, Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Saint Louis, 2006
“In Search of Subjectivity: An Irigarayan Reading of the Body in Self-Representations of Josephine Baker and Frida Kahlo.” “Women in the Arts” Conference at University of Missouri–St. Louis, 2005
“Dialectics of the Banana Skirt: Who Made Josephine Baker?” National Popular Culture and American Culture Associations Conference, San Diego, 2005
“Double Consciousness: W.E.B. Du Bois and Gender,” Mid-America American Studies Association Conference in Lawrence, Kansas, 2004
“’It’s Hard to be a Woman, but a Black One!’—W.E.B. Du Bois’s Dialectic of Feminism,” The Ninth Annual Barnes Club History Conference at Temple University, Philadelphia, 2004
INVITED LECTURES
“Dialectic of the Banana Skirt” at The Sheldon Art Galleries, Saint Louis, USA, 2006
Conferences organised Additional information Thesis, dissertations and essay assistance for English and international students.
What has been consistent during the years of my teaching in both English and American academia is the assumption that students naturally grasp how to express their knowledge in writing - that is on top of the learning, retention and research that is the core of their university training. In my experience this is rarely true. Consequently, I offer students workshops on written expression. It’s not ‘creative writing’ – that is for fiction; these sessions are focussed on the conveyance and expression of hard to grasp information, making the facts and ideas readable.
There are also circumstances where specialist copy-editing and proofreading is required. This I undertake on a commercial basis outside of my work with the university but nevertheless may be relevant to students and researchers writing books or papers professionally. |
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