“This beautifully written and engaging book is a veritable intellectual feast. Not only does it bring the rich scholarly tradition of the Polish historiography of ‘backwardness’ and ‘development’ to bear on global discussions of economic inequality; it also offers an opportunity to rethink the ‘in-between’ place of East Central Europe in the global system of accumulation. Filling a major lacuna concerning the historical record of specifically East Central European contributions to one of the most important debates of our time, this book is a must for scholars working on the social histories/historical sociologies of global social change far beyond the west European core.”-József Böröcz, Professor of Sociology, Rutgers University

More: http://ceupress.com/book/explaining-economic-backwardness

Year 2025/2026

Jan 22: “‘Do I look famished?’: Weird Orality and Convivial Dying in Ishirō Honda’s Matango (1963).”

January 15, 2026

We’re cordially inviting you to the last open event in the “Wiedze u-korzenione” series in the fall semester 2025/26, co-organized by the Weird Fictions Research Group and Centrum Humanistyki Środowiskowej UW.

Year 2025/2026

16 Jan: “U.S Democracy in Crisis: ethnonational authoritarianism, liberal democracy, a Balkanized federation, and the threat to the Transatlantic alliance”

January 13, 2026

Leadership Research Group & Koło Naukowe Amerykanistów have a pleasure of inviting you to a meeting with a renown American journalist and writer Mr. Colin Woodard.

American Studies Colloquium Series

January 22: “Yearning for Crip Horizons: Crip Theory for Postsocialist Spaces”

January 9, 2026

We are pleased to invite you to the last lecture of the American Studies Colloquium Series in the 2025/2026 Winter semester! This time we are pleased to host Kateřina Kolářová with a lecture “Yearning for Crip Horizons: Crip Theory for Postsocialist Spaces”.

News

Student research grant 2025/26

December 11, 2025

The American Studies Center is pleased to announce a competition for student research grants. The grants will support students’ work on their MA theses and BA papers written in conjunction with their BA seminars. As the research must be related to a BA paper or an MA thesis, 3rd-year BA students and MA students of all years will have priority.

News

Holiday break at the ASC

December 9, 2025

We would like to inform you that the holiday break at the American Studies Center will take place from 22 December 2025 to 6 January 2026. On 22, 23, 29, 30 and 31 December the offices will have limited online availability.