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Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, Ph.D.

Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, Ph.D.

 

Dr. Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska specializes in girlhood studies, Young Adult and popular culture, gender representations, fantasy and the Gothic. She is the author of Girls in Contemporary Vampire Fiction (Palgrave Macmillan 2021), which explores the narratives of girlhood in twenty-first-century vampire texts, mapping the ways in which they engage in larger cultural conversations on young femininities. She is co-editor of “Vampiric Transformation: The Popular Politics of the (Post) Romantic Vampire”, a 2021 special issue of Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies; and of Hospitality, Rape, and Consent in Vampire Popular Culture (Palgrave 2017), a collection of essays examining the vampire as a vehicle for cultural ideas of home, violence and consent. Agnieszka’s recent works further comprise articles exploring vampire texts with the focus on self-harming, depression and mental disorder (“When the World Starts Crumbling,” Continuum 2021); transmedial imaginings of female agency and desire (“Lustful Ladies, She-Demons and Good Little Girls,” Continuum 2019); and representations of gendered violence (“The Lower Dog in the Room,” Palgrave 2017).

She is a recipient of two scholarships from the Swedish Institute within the Visby Programme; Harmonia Grant from the Polish National Science Centre (“Negotiating Cultural Differences in the Digital Communication Era”; team project); Dagmar and Nils William Olsson Fellowship from the Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center (Augustana College, Ill., USA); John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies Grant (Berlin, Germany); two grants within Griffith University International Workshop Award (travel and participation in symposia Vampires and Popular Culture 2014, and Vampiric Transformations 2018, as a keynote speaker); and the JU Faculty of International and Political Studies’ grants for young scholars.

Dr. Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska is a member of the International Research Society for Children’s Literature. She is fluent in English and Swedish.

Functions:
  • Visiting Professors – Coordinator
  • Admissions Committee for the Una Europa Heritage PhD Consortium Programme (Una-Her-Doc) 2022–2023 – Secretary
  • Jagiellonian University Coordinator of a study tour to the United States: “Religion in American Society” 2015 (in cooperation with the Institute for American Studies of the University of Leipzig, Germany)
  • Jagiellonian University Administrator of the EU-AU ICI-ECP global exchange program for students and researchers: Project “Border Crossings: People and Places” (2011–2013)

​Academic interests:

  • Young Adult and Popular Culture
  • Girlhood Studies and Gender Representations
  • Fantasy and the Gothic

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Publications

2021, Girls in Contemporary Vampire Fiction, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, Series: Palgrave Gothic, pp. 277.

2011, Kształtowanie tożsamości etnicznej dzieci imigrantów szwedzkich w USA według Augustana Book Concern (1889–1962) (“Constructing the Ethnic Identity of Swedish Immigrants’ Children in the USA: The Case Study of Augustana Book Concern [1889-1962]”); Krakow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, pp. 243.

2022, Migracje, motyw domu i obrazy Inności w twórczości fantastycznej Leigh Bardugo ("Migrations, the Home Theme and Images of the Other in Leigh Bardugo's Fantastic Works"), [in:] Pomiędzy Starym a Nowym Światem. Historia, migracje, etniczność ("Between the Old and the New World: History, Migrations, Ethnicity") (volume dedicated to Professor Adam Walaszek), eds. Marta Kijewska-Trembecka, Ewa Michna, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, pp. 307-322.

2022, Migracje, motyw domu i obrazy Inności w twórczości fantastycznej Leigh Bardugo ("Migration, Home and Otherness in the Fantasy Fiction of Leigh Bardugo"); [in:] Pomiędzy Starym a Nowym Światem: Historia, migracje, etniczność ("Between the Old and the New World: History, Migration, Ethnicity"), eds. Marta Kijewska-Trembecka, Ewa Michna, Kraków: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego. pp. 307–322.

2019, Monstrosising Infertility: Supernatural Barren Females in the Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer; [in:] Monstrous Manifestations: Realities and Imaginings of the Monster, eds. Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, Karen Graham, Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848882027 (first published by Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2013), pp.151–160.

2017, The Lower Dog in the Room: Rape, Consent, and Patriarchal Terrorism in Southern Vampire Mysteries; [in:] Hospitality, Rape and Consent in Vampire Popular Culture: Letting the Wrong One In, eds. David Baker, Stephanie Green, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 183-200.

2016, Strategie aktywizacji obywatelskiej w polskich stowarzyszeniach kobiecych w Szwecji na wybranych przykładach (“The Strategies of Civic Activation in Polish Women’s Associations in Sweden: Selected Examples”); [in:] Pani Anna w Kanadzie. Księga pamiątkowa dedykowana Pani Profesor Annie Reczyńskiej (“Anna in Canada: A Commemorative Book Dedicated to Prof. Anna Reczyńska”), eds. Marcin Gabryś, Magdalena Paluszkiewicz-Misiaczek, Krakow: Księgarnia Akademicka, pp. 81-97.

2016, Germanic Power and Uncle Sam's Orders: The Immigrant Experience of the First World War in Swedish American Writings for Youth; [in:] Children's Literature and Culture of the First World War, eds. Lissa Paul, Rosemary R. Johnston, Emma Short, New York, London: Routledge, pp. 93-105.

2014, Meaningful Connections: Digital Media, Social Networks, and the Experience of Space and Place; [in:] Digital Diversities, Social Media, and Intercultural Experience, eds. Garry Robson, Małgorzata Zachara, Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 74-90.

2013, Monstrosising Infertility: Supernatural Barren Females in the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer; [in:] Monstrous Manifestations: Realities and Imaginings of the Monster, eds. Karen Graham, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 151-160.

2012, Ours Is America: The Self and the Other Interwoven Within the Immigrant Homemaking Myths; [in:] Landscapes of (Un)Belonging: Reflections on Strangeness and Self (eds. Orla McGarry, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska),  Leiden, The Netherlands: Brill. doi: https://doi.org/10.1163/9781848881099 (first published by Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press), pp. 85-95.

2012, Anita Lundberg, Anna Singhateh, Border Crossing Networks: Virtual Makes It Real; [in:] Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World, eds. Si Fan, Thao Le, Quynh Le, Yun Yue, Launceston: Australian Multicultural Interaction Institute, pp. 81-94.

2012, My Heart is Black and Yours is White: The Religious Self and Other in Constructing the Ethnicity of Swedish American Youth; [in:] Making Strangers: Issues of the Other in the Sphere of Identity, eds. Donald Domonkos, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 3-21.

2011, Us and Them: The Image of the Others in Swedish American Periodicals for Youth (1890 – 1920); [in:] Home in Motion: The Shifting Grammars of Self and Stranger, eds. Pedro F. Marcelino, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 21-31.

2010, Swedish American Childhood and the Hybrid Identity of Young Generation: The Thoughts of a Prairie Child by Anna Olsson; [in:] Beyond Imagined Uniqueness: Nationalisms in Comparative Perspective, eds. Joan Burbick, William Glass, Cambridge Scholars Publishing, pp. 385-407.

2021, Suicide, depression and mental disorder in vampire fiction: when the world starts crumbling, Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies Special Issue: Vampiric transformations: the popular politics of the (post) romantic vampire (33.2,2021): 220-232. DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2021.1936827.

2019, Lustful Ladies, She-Demons, and Good Little Girls: Female Agency and Desire in the Universes of Sookie Stackhouse; "Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies", Special Issue: As If: Women in Genres of the Fantastic, Cross-Platform Entertainments and Transmedia Engagements (33.2, 2019). DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10304312.2019.1569393.

2017, Exotic Otherlands, Headquarters of Death: Sub-Tropical Land and Cityscapes in Southern Vampire Mysteries; "eTropic" Special Issue Tropical Liminal: Urban Vampires and Other Bloodsucking Monstrosities, 16.1, 18-30.

2011, A Model for Her Sex: Ethnic Womanhood in Swedish-American Publications for Children and Youth89 (10 – 1920); [in:] "The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly", Vol. LXII, No. 1, pp. 3-39.

2021, "Continuum: Journal of Media and Cultural Studies", Special Issue Vampiric transformations: the popular politics of the (post) romantic vampire. David Baker, Stephanie Green, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, eds. Vol. 35, Issue 2 (2021). Continuum: Vol 35, No 2 (tandfonline.com). Introduction: Vampiric transformations: the popular politics of the (post) romantic vampire (co-authors: David Baker, Stephanie Green): 171-177. DOI: 10.1080/10304312.2021.1936822.

2019, "eTropic" Special Issue: Tropical Gothic: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences. Anita Lundberg, Katarzyna Ancuta, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, eds. Vol. 18, No. 1 (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.18.1.2019.

2019, "eTropic" Special Issue: Tropical Gothic: Literary and Creative Works. Anita Lundberg, Katarzyna Ancuta, Roger Osborne, Agnieszka Stasiewicz-Bieńkowska, eds. Vol. 18, No. 2 (2019). DOI: https://doi.org/10.25120/etropic.18.2.2019.

2017, Hospitality, Rape, and Consent in Vampire Popular Culture: Letting the Wrong One In, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. XXI, 225 (co-editors: David Baker, Stephanie Green)

2013, Monstrous Manifestations: Realities and Imaginings of the Monster, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 206 (co-editor: Karen Graham).

2012, The Polish Diaspora in America and the Wider World, Krakow: Polish Academy of Learning, pp. 172, (co-editor: Adam Walaszek, Janusz Pezda).

2012, Landscapes of (Un)Belonging: Reflections on Strangeness and Self, Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press, pp. 178, (co-editor: Orla McGarry).

Review of Jennifer Eastman Atterbury, Up in the Rocky Mountains: Writing the Swedish Immigrant Experience, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2007, pp. 304, "Przegląd Polonijny" (2008), Issues 1-2.

Review of Babinski Grzegorz, Chalupczak Henryk (eds.), Diaspora polska w procesach globalizacji. Stan i perspektywy badań (“The Polish Diaspora in the Processes of Globalization: The State and Perspectives of Research”); Krakow, 2006, pp. 516, "Przegląd Polonijny", XXXIII (2007) Issue 1.

Review of Rola dawnej i nowej emigracji polskiej w warunkach Unii Europejskiej (“The Role of the Old and New Waves of Polish Immigrants Under the Conditions of the European Union”), Krakow: Polska Akademia Umiejętności, 2006, pp. 201, "Przegląd Polonijny", Issue 3 (2007).

2018, Interdisciplinary symposium: “Vampiric Transformations,” Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. Presentation: “Biting into Books: Constructing Schoolgirls in Vampire Fiction for Youth” (keynote speech).

2017, October 18 – 22, Midwest Popular Culture Association/Midwest American Culture Association Conference, St. Louis, MO, USA. Presentation: “Pangs of Pleasure, Pangs of Guilt: Girlhood, Polyandry, and Carnal Desire in the House of Night.”

2017, September 6 – 9, Tropics of the Imagination Conference, James Cook University, Singapore. Presentation: “Bring Some Black to a Vampire Bar: Sub-Tropical Cityscapes and the Exotic Other in The Southern Vampire Mysteries” (participation online).

2014, Interdisciplinary symposium: “Vampires in Popular Culture,” Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia (keynote speaker).

2013, October 2-3, “Negotiating Cultural Difference in the Digital Era,” Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora, Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland.

2012, Tenth Global Conference: “Monsters and the Monstrous,” Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom.

2011, “‘A Game That Calls up Love and Hatred Both’: The Child, the First World War, and the Global South.” International Leverhulme Project: Approaching War: Childhood, Culture, and the First World War, University of Technology, Sydney, Australia.

2011, Third Global Conference: “Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners,” Inter-Disciplinary.Net, Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom.

2011, Twentieth Biennial Congress for the International Research Society for Children Literature: “Fear and Safety in Children's Literature,” Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia.

2010, International Workshop on History and Migration: “Beyond the Border, Behind the Men: The Invisibility of Female Migration.” University of the Basque Country, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.

2010, Second Global Conference: “Strangers, Aliens and Foreigners,” Oriel College, Oxford, United Kingdom.

2009, “New Perspectives on the European Mass Migration to America: An International Workshop at the House of Emigrants,” Växjö University, Sweden.

2008, “Beyond Imagined Uniqueness: Nationalisms in Comparative Perspective,” International Conference of American Studies Center, University of Warsaw, Poland.

2008, HCA Spring Academy 2008 – American History, Culture, and Politics, Heidelberg Center for American Studies, Germany.

2006, Opening lecture during Sixteen Days Against Violence Towards Women: Violence and Law – Regulations Against Domestic Violence in Sweden, Krakow Association of Crisis Intervention.

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Research projects and awards

Current Projects:

  • The Heroic “Final Girl” in Popular Culture: Young Girls as Figures of Resistance and Futurity, participant in the project (project leader: Simon Bacon).
  • The Palgrave Handbook of the Vampire, participant in the project (project leader: Simon Bacon).
  • Haunted Histories and Troubled Pasts: 21st Century Screen Horror and the Historical Imagination, participant in the project (project leaders: Amanda Howell and Stephanie Green).

Completed Projects (selected):

  • 2019–2021, Girls in Contemporary Vampire Fiction (book project)
  • 2018–2021, Vampiric Transformations: The Popular Politics of the (Post)Romantic Vampire (co-leader of the project, with Stephanie Green, David Baker and Jock McLeod).
  • 2019, Two special issues of “eTropic”: Tropical Gothic: Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 18.1 (2019), DOI and Tropical Gothic: Literary and Creative Works 18.2 (2019), DOI (co-editors: Anita Lundberg, Katarzyna Ancuta, Roger Osborne).
  • 2019, As If: Women in Genres of the Fantastic, Cross-Platform Entertainments, and Transmedia Engagements, participant in the project (project leaders: Stephanie Green, Amanda Howell, Rikke Schubart).
  • 2014–2017, Hospitality, Rape, and Consent in Vampire Popular Culture: Letting the Wrong One In; Palgrave Macmillan 2017 (co-edited with David Baker and Stephanie Green) (a contributed volume).
  • 2011–2016, International Research Project: Approaching War: Childhood, Culture and the First World War (financed by the Leverhulme Trust) (participant in the project).
  • 2014–2015, The Swedish Institute Scholarship within the Visby Programme (research at the Lund University and in the regions of Lund/Malmö and Stockholm, Sweden).
  • 2012–2014, Negotiating Cultural Differences in the Digital Communication Era (National Center of Science, HARMONIA Grant).
  • 2014, Grant within LLP-Erasmus Programme, Individual Teaching Programme for Teaching Staff Mobility, Universidad de Santiago de Composela, Spain (lectures and seminars).
  • 2012–2013, Monstrous Manifestations: Realities and Imaginings of the Monster; Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press 2013 (co-edited with Karen Graham) (a contributed volume).
  • 2011–2012, Landscapes of (Un)Belonging: Reflections on Strangeness and Self; Oxford: Inter-Disciplinary Press 2012 (co-edited with Orla McGarry) (a contributed volume).
  • 2010–2012, The Polish Diaspora in America and the Wider World, (co-organizer of the international symposium and co-editor of the volume, with Adam Walaszek and Janusz Pezda, published in 2012).
  • 2012, September 27–29, The Association of European Migration Institutions, Annual Meeting and Conference, Krakow, Poland (co-organizer).
  • 2006–2011, Constructing the Ethnic Identity of Swedish Immigrants’ Children in the USA: The Case Study of Augustana Book Concern (1889-1962); Krakow: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego 2011 (book project in Polish).
  • 2007, The Swedish Institute Scholarship within the Visby Programme (research at the Växjö University and The House of Emigrants, Växjö, Sweden).
  • 2007, Research Grant at the John F. Kennedy Library (John F. Kennedy Institute for North American Studies at the Freie Universität Berlin, Germany).
  • 2006, Swenson Swedish Immigration Research Center, Augustana College, Rock Island, Ill., USA (research facilitated by the Dagmar and Nils William Olsson Fellowship).

  • 2018, Jagiellonian University Rector’s Award in recognition of special achievements in academic work.
  • 2012, Jagiellonian University Rector’s Award in recognition of special achievements in academic work.
  • 2012, Award for the conference paper Border Crossing Networks: Virtual Makes It Real (co-authors: Anita Lundberg, Anna Singhateh) “In recognition of inspiring contribution to innovative research in Social Science” (International Conference Innovative Research in a Changing and Challenging World, May 2012, Phuket, Thailand).
  • 2011 Franklin Scott Prize of the Swedish-American Historical Society for the article “A Model for Her Sex: Ethnic Womanhood in the Swedish-American Publications for Children and Youth (1890 – 1920)”, The Swedish-American Historical Quarterly LXII (1), January 2011.