Document
Ewa Barbara Luczak
Election
Position
Name
Ewa Barbara Luczak
Candidate statement
Associate professor, University of Warsaw, Poland
Over the past decade I have examined the response of American literature and culture in the years1900-1940 to the all-pervasive and dominant science and discourse of eugenics. I have focused on the works of both canonical modernist writers such as F.S. Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway, early Hollywood (Charlie Chaplin film comedies and film scripts by Anita Loos) as well as the fiction and journalism by the writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Wallace Thurman and George Schuyler. My recent two monographs and the book that I have co-authored address the confluence of race, eugenic social engineering, nativism and the discourse of degeneration in American modernism. As a result of my research, I regularly lecture on American as well as transatlantic modernism at my home university and have edited volumes on William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway addressed to the Polish reader. While attending the MSA conference in Portland, I was impressed by the collegial atmosphere and the spirit of academic inquiry shared by the MSA members. I regularly follow MSA journal Modernism/modernity and feel an intellectual connection with "new modernist studies." Given that I am stationed in Central Europe but also teach in China, am connected with scholars in Europe as a member of the European Association for American Studies and collaborating on the EU research projects (recently in Spain), I can provide expertise and connections necessary for the role of the International Chair. My past administrative experience, due to my role as the President of the Polish Ass for American Studies (2021-24) might also be valuable. I believe that I could be a good addition to the MSA board and would be honored to be considered for this position.
Over the past decade I have examined the response of American literature and culture in the years1900-1940 to the all-pervasive and dominant science and discourse of eugenics. I have focused on the works of both canonical modernist writers such as F.S. Fitzgerald or Ernest Hemingway, early Hollywood (Charlie Chaplin film comedies and film scripts by Anita Loos) as well as the fiction and journalism by the writers of the Harlem Renaissance such as Wallace Thurman and George Schuyler. My recent two monographs and the book that I have co-authored address the confluence of race, eugenic social engineering, nativism and the discourse of degeneration in American modernism. As a result of my research, I regularly lecture on American as well as transatlantic modernism at my home university and have edited volumes on William Faulkner and Ernest Hemingway addressed to the Polish reader. While attending the MSA conference in Portland, I was impressed by the collegial atmosphere and the spirit of academic inquiry shared by the MSA members. I regularly follow MSA journal Modernism/modernity and feel an intellectual connection with "new modernist studies." Given that I am stationed in Central Europe but also teach in China, am connected with scholars in Europe as a member of the European Association for American Studies and collaborating on the EU research projects (recently in Spain), I can provide expertise and connections necessary for the role of the International Chair. My past administrative experience, due to my role as the President of the Polish Ass for American Studies (2021-24) might also be valuable. I believe that I could be a good addition to the MSA board and would be honored to be considered for this position.
Candidate CV