- Media culture.
- Cultural heritage.
- Cultural ecology.
- Information society.
- Performativity in culture.
Institute of Culture Studies
RESEARCH TOPICS
The Institute’s research is conducted especially in the fields of:
- film studies and new media, cyberculture, digital humanities, intermediality issues, anthropology and media design, multimedia education, analysis of cultural reality after automation – in the era when cybernetics replaces philosophy, and artificial intelligence sets the directions of technologisation,
- cultural heritage, historical models of life and the values of existing culture, theoretical reflection focused on issues related to culture and civilisation, diagnosis of the contemporary human condition in the context of post-industrial and post-humanistic practices, area research (e.g. political and cultural borderlands),
- cultural phenomena taking place in ecosystems based on the one hand on the harmonious functioning of humans with the natural environment (e.g. mountain areas), and, on the other hand, on the phenomena occurring within post-industrial areas,
- the quality of information and its impact on the health of users (information hygiene), information barriers and practices to overcome them, focusing on the information user as a stakeholder of information, science and culture institutions,
- information quality and its impact on users’ health (information hygiene), information barriers and practices to overcome them, with a focus on the information user as a stakeholder in information, science, and cultural institutions.
- the performance phenomenon and its presence in various spheres of life (artistic, religious, socio-political, entertainment) – research is related to the trends observed in the field of humanities as a result of the performative turn.
research teams
team leader
Aneta Głowacka, PhD
contact: aneta.glowacka@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Indigenous and local forms of cultural expression in storytelling, performance, theatre and drama and their institutional framework.
keywords: decolonisation; indigenisation; indigenous cultures; democratisation; artistic institutions
team leader
Magdalena Figzał-Janikowska, PhD
contact: magdalena.figzal@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Archive – text – scene. Performative spaces of contemporary theatre.
keywords: theatrical archive; performance documentation; performative practices; stage narratives; theatrical text; dramatic practices; the stage body; theatre as an institution
team leader
Małgorzata Krakowiak, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: malgorzata.krakowiak@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Transformations of literary culture from an axiological perspective.
keywords: axiology; literary culture; spirituality; body; text
team leader
Anna Gomóła, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: anna.gomola@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Categories of culture in humanistic research.
keywords: theoretical and cultural reflection; cultural landscape; cultural heritage; history of culture; anthropology of culture
team leader
Dobrosława Wężowicz-Ziółkowska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: dobroslawa.wezowicz-ziolkowska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Spaces of posthumanism. Interdisciplinary cultural studies on interspecies relations and the environment.
keywords: animal studies; postcolonial studies; ecohumanities; local knowledge; ecoglottodidactics
team leader
Jolanta Gwioździk, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: jolanta.gwiozdzik@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Studies on books, libraries, press, and information from the perspective of bibliology and information science.
keywords: cultural heritage; protection of cultural heritage; history and culture of the Republic of Poland from the 16th to the 20th century
team leader
Katarzyna Materska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: katarzyna.materska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Researcher in the digital world of science and science communication.
keywords: science communication; digital science; research culture; a digital workshop of a humanist; book culture
team leader
Jolanta Szulc, PhD Eng.
contact: jolanta.szulc@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Integration of metadata of various types of cultural heritage objects.
keywords: metadata; smart metadata; cultural institutions; metadata interoperability
team leader
Dorota Sieroń, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: dorota.sieron@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Relationality in culture: an individual, community, place.
keywords: culture; the relationship between an individual and a place
team leader
Katarzyna Marcol, PhD, DLitt
contact: katarzyna.marcol@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
New pastoralism and heritage management.
keywords: ethnographic research; intangible cultural heritage; local communities; Carpathians; Soba
individual researchers
Prof. Tadeusz Miczka
contact: tadeusz.miczka@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Tradition and innovation in the post-war and post-modern iconosphere (1945–2023).
keywords: Auschwitz-Birkenau; the Holocaust; film remembrance; convention
Ilona Copik, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: ilona.copik@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Places, media, cultural geographies.
keywords: Polish cinema; German cinema; place and space; cultural identity; post-Yalta spaces
Prof. Bogdan Zeler
contact: bogdan.zeler@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Traditional and new media as the sphere shaping the religious culture, denominational identity and ecumenical dialogue of the Catholic Church and Lutheran churches in Europe.
keywords: the sacred; dialogue; identity; ecumenism; new media; culture
Prof. Urszula Żydek-Bednarczuk
contact: tadeusz.miczka@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Digitalisation and convergence of the media – changes and real perspectives in culture, education, and everyday life.
keywords: media convergence; digitisation; artificial intelligence; education
Barbara Orzeł, PhD
contact: barabara.orzel@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Updating in culture.
keywords: new media; the pandemic; communication behaviour; medical anthropology
Anna Maj, PhD
contact: anna.maj@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Data discourses in the ubicomp paradigm. The art of new media as a communication laboratory.
keywords: cyberculture; media art; interaction studies; media communication; contemporary cultural practices
Matylda Sęk-Iwanek, PhD
contact: matylda.sek-iwanek@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Visuality formulas.
keywords: comics studies; visual studies; visual communication; iconotexts
Prof. Aleksandra Kunce
contact: aleksandra.kunce@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Humanities of place.
keywords: place; home; oikology; Silesia; anthropology
Alicja Głutkowska-Polniak, PhD
contact: alicja.glutkowska-polniak@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Design in the areas of culture.
keywords: Bauhaus; design; art; modernism
Paweł Paszek, PhD
contact: pawel.paszek@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Anthropological contexts of experience (forms, representations, realisations).
keywords: form of life; experience; biography; literature; art
Joanna Aleksandrowicz, PhD
contact: joanna.aleksandrowicz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Pictures of Andalusia in Spanish cinema.
keywords: Spanish cinema; Andalusia; Spanish culture; history of cinema; contemporary cinema
Prof. Andrzej Gwóźdź
contact: andrzej.gwozdz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Design in media cultures.
keywords: visibility in culture; design cultures; visibility ideologies; visibility technologies; Bauhaus and neoplasticism
Prof. Piotr Zawojski
contact: piotr.zawojski@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Reading (about) photography. Explorers, classics, iconoclasts.
keywords: photography; theory of photography; image, imagery; visual culture
Magdalena Kempna-Pieniążek, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: magdalena.kempna@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
The newest cinema – authors, ideas, genres, contexts.
keywords: newest cinema; film landscapes; film adaptations; film authorship
Justyna Budzik, PhD
contact: justyna.budzik@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Theory and practice of media education in contemporary humanities.
keywords: film education; new humanities; hauntology; ecocritics
Barbara Kita, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: barbara.kita@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Aesthetic and cultural contexts of images – photography, film, new media.
keywords: film landscape; memory; photography; space; Chris Marker
Karina Banaszkiewicz-Sadowska, PhD, DLitt
contact: karina.banaszkiewicz-sadowska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Reality and virtuality as dimensions of post-modern popular culture with particular emphasis on identity.
keywords: virtuality, cultural subjectivity, the right to look/create images
Jakub Zajdel, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: jakub.zajdel@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
A pragmatic model of paleotelevision.
keywords: history of film criticism; history of film; Marxism
Piotr Aptacy, PhD
contact: piotr.aptacy@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Cultural studies role of communication in the digital environment.
keywords: information and communication technologies; information society; cyberculture
Wojciech Sitek, PhD
contact: wojciech.sitek@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Ideological dimension of American cinema.
keywords: Ideology; neoliberalism; late capitalism; American cinema; film studies
Prof. Ewa Wąchocka
contact: ewa.wachocka@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Fields of sound culture in contemporary drama and theatre.
keywords: subjective space; body experience; identity games; ‘I’ performance; language of the speaking body
Grażyna Golik-Szarawarska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: grazyna.golik-szarawarska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
In the circle of cultural reflection of Polish classical philologists (theatre and education).
keywords: Greco-Roman antiquity; theatre; education; culture; paradigm
Anna Malinowska, PhD, Associate Professor
contact: anna.malinowska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Technoculture and its affects.
keywords: cultures of emotions; technoculture; robot cultures; new technologies
Małgorzata Grebowicz, PhD, Associate Professor
contact: malgorzata.grebowicz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Cultures of wilderness.
keywords: border studies; environmental humanities; critical animal studies
Agnieszka Tambor, PhD
contact: agnieszka.tambor@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Film, media, new technologies and their perspectives.
keywords: film; cinema; glottodidactics; education; distance learning
Agnieszka Kliś-Brodowska, PhD
contact: agnieszka.klis@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Cultural aspects of video games.
keywords: digital games; GD industry; game design; game studies
Tomasz Bugaj, PhD
contact: tomasz.bugaj@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Religious minorities – cultural traditions, anthropological contexts, borderlines.
keywords: religious minorities; cultural tradition; repression; ‘oral history’; borderlines
Prof. Lech Miodyński
contact: lech.miodynski@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
South Slavic cultural traditions.
keywords: cultural traditions of Slavs; Slavic texts of culture; history of ideas in the Slavic region
Mikołaj Marcela, PhD
contact: mikolaj.marcela@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Modernisation. Literature-culture-education.
keywords: education; school; pop culture; digital technologies
Paweł Jedrzęjko, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: pawel.jedrzejko@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Transatlantic and hemispheric American research.
keywords: American cultures; axiology; hermeneutic analysis of cultural products, the flow of values; synchronic and diachronic research on culture
Joanna Derdowska, PhD
contact: joanna.derdowska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Contemporary Czech culture from the anthropological perspective.
keywords: urban studies; anthropology of absence; exophony; translingualism
Marta Zając, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: marta.zajac@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Religion in secular and post-secular contexts.
keywords: cultural theology; conversion; melancholy
Przemysław Piwowarczyk, PhD
contact: przemyslaw.piwowarczyk@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Organisational and communication structures in late antique Christianity.
keywords: late antique Egypt; Saint Menas; Gnosticism; Coptic literature; hagiography
Agnieszka Łakomy-Chłosta, PhD
contact: agnieszka.lakomy@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
The Arts and Crafts Movement in European culture of the 20th century.
Special library services for culture and preservation of cultural heritage
keywords: culture-forming role of libraries; special libraries; special library services
Anna Tokarska, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: anna.tokarska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Historical resources as cultural heritage in libraries and other cultural institutions.
keywords: literary heritage in museums in Poland; marketing strategies in the cultural sector; special collections in libraries and museums in Poland; bibliophilia
Marlena Gęborska, PhD
contact: marlena.geborska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Social communication and its cultural determinants.
keywords: activities of cultural institutions; codes of culture; popular culture; social media; promotion
Marta Nadolna, PhD
contact: marta.nadolna@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Religious book for children and teenagers (1945–2025).
keywords: literature for a young audience; books; culture; cultural institutions
Bogusław Dziadzia, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: boguslaw.dziadzia@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Favoured and marginalised beneficiaries of the field of art.
keywords: participation in culture; valuation; cultural education
Ewa Tomaszewska, PhD
contact: ewa.tomaszewska@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
In search of non-obvious artistic forms in theatrical practice.
keywords: theatre; puppet theatre; theatre for children and youth; theatre education; Jan Dorman
Ewa Cudzich, MA
contact: ewa.cudzich@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
IA Carpatia – in between tradition and modernity. The concept of implementing activities in the field of cultural heritage using artificial intelligence.
keywords: cultural heritage; folklore; artificial intelligence; innovation; tradition
Mirosława Pindór, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: miroslawa.pindor@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Czech theatre in Silesia. 1945–2015.
keywords: Czech theatre; cross-border cooperation Cieszyn – Český Tĕšín; theatre festivals; Silesia
Agnieszka Pieńczak, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: agnieszka.pienczak@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Polish Ethnographic Atlas – the state of research, analysis of selected source materials, development prospects.
keywords: studies on culture and religion; cultural heritage; folk demonology; Polish Ethnographic Atlas; ethnogeographic method
Anna Drożdż, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: anna.drozdz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Polish Ethnographic Atlas – new contexts of interpretation.
keywords: Polish Ethnographic Atlas; culture of the Polish countryside; memory; changes in traditional culture
Remigiusz Kopoczek, PhD
contact: remigiusz.kopoczek@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Video games in culture.
keywords: traditional games; video games; video game culture and development; multimedia in didactics and art education
Magdalena Szalbot, PhD
contact: magdalena.szalbot@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Depictions games and activities in amateur and professional artistic creation (Cieszyn Silesia, 19th-20th century).
keywords: folklore; traditional games and plays; Cieszyn Silesia; cultural heritage
Jan Kajfosz, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: jan.kajfosz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Reification and magic in the media construction of images of the world.
keywords: discursive strategies; persuasion; magical thinking; reification
Marek Rembierz, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: marek.rembierz@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Cultural heritage and the situation of the borderland – the dynamics and dilemmas of shaping (developing) intercultural and interreligious relations.
keywords: intercultural relations; interreligious relations; borderlands; cultural heritage
Grzegorz Błahut, PhD
contact: grzegorz.blachut@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Everyday social and symbolic practices in the face of intense modernisation processes – mutations, transformations, innovations.
keywords: space; semiotics; contemporary culture; cultural change
Grzegorz Studnicki, PhD, DLitt, Associate Professor
contact: grzegorz.studnicki@us.edu.pl
topic of the research task
Childhood in Cieszyn Silesia and the culture of remembrance: ethnography – biography – subject.
keywords: culture of remembrance; Cieszyn Silesia; borderland