Event Details:

Alena Gray Aniskiewicz, Assistant Professor, Center for Integrative Studies in the Arts & Humanities, explores how Polish rappers engage the texts and narratives of their nations past, remixing history to speak to the present. From the rapper Pejas reinterpretation of Mickiewiczs The Great Improvisation, through the many musical memorials to the 1944 Warsaw Uprising, to Dorota Maslowskas colorful critique of contemporary society, Polish hip-hop offers a valuable lens through which to approach (and teach) the complexities of Polish culture, one that encourages us to debate conceptions of Polishness and consider the writing (and rewriting) of national history and identity. In addition to introducing these hip-hop histories and offering a portrait of a nation constantly sampling its past, this talk will consider how these creative and evolving narratives might be engaged in teaching Polish culture to American students. NOTE: this system does not allow quotation marks or apostrophes or any special characters, please insert them where needed.