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�ѱ�����, a cultural historian, dedicated educator, Early Career Academic Network (ECAN) board member, and soon-to-be book author. Kasia shares her story, including the challenges that have informed her research, her upcoming manuscript, and the importance of peer engagement.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I am a cultural historian of Eastern Europe. My work centres on cultural diplomacy, international exchanges of goods and ideas, and the formation of national identities. I pay particular attention to the intersection of political and visual narratives at industrial exhibitions and trade fairs during the Cold War.

I obtained a doctorate in History from the University of Oxford in 2019. I joined UNSW the same year to develop a comprehensive program in Design History and Theory (together with my colleague Livia Lazzaro Rezende). Since then, I have been convening and teaching across BA and MA courses that introduce students to the historical narratives that have shaped design since the 19th century.

The courses present design – including material and visual culture broadly – as the outcome of cultural, social, and economic processes. As one of our first-year students pointed out, “It is definitely beyond just designing ‘stuff’”. In spring term 2023, I was Wayne Vucinich Visiting Fellow at the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies at Stanford University.

What sparked your interest in this area of research?

Between my degrees, I worked on several projects of cultural diplomacy. At times, it was difficult to convince the commissioning governmental agencies of some ideas, as they had their own understanding of an image of the country they wanted to present abroad. That made me think about how this vision was formed, what was at stake and how it fit within the broader state cultural policy, as well as economic and international relations. That experience, in a way, informed my later research and made me very attentive to the complexity and plasticity of national projects.

What are you working on right now? 

I am currently completing the manuscript of my first book, entitled Socialist by Design: The State, Industry, and Modernity in Cold War Poland. Grounded in archival records relating to culture, industry, trade and international relations, the book examines the communist government’s interest in material objects. Socialist by Design analyses how and why manufactured products, handicrafts, and architecture were presented at industrial exhibitions and trade fairs between 1940 and the 1970s. The core argument of the book is that as part of diplomatic efforts, the state rebranded the cultural heritage of the interwar era as socialist, and it promoted modernized folklore and endorsed the emergence of industrial design. A by-product of these actions was the creation of a new national style and the rise of exhibition design as a medium facilitating the transnational circulation of goods and ideas. At stake was not only an aesthetic undertaking or commercial venture but a political project of imagining what socialist Poland would be. As my book demonstrates, central to that was an ambitious vision of Poland as a promoter, agent, and broker of a model of distinct modernity.

My second book-length project explores the historical trajectory of coal’s role in the formation of Poland’s modernity for export. It focuses on coal imagery procured for the industrial exhibitions as part of an evolving vision of the state during the Cold War. My research aims to contribute to understanding how coal diplomacy harnessed the multivalence of coal as a natural material, socialist commodity, and token of industrial progress. At the centre of the project is not strictly economic or environmental history – although I have already learned a lot from colleagues in these disciplines – but a cultural history of coal and ‘coal diplomacy’ in particular.

What do you find most rewarding about being a researcher? 

Like most historians, I love archival work. The moment when you come across a note scribbled on a piece of paper, a ministerial document, or a photograph that sheds new light on an event that you have been studying for months and that makes you refine your argument, this is what I really like.

What piece of advice would you give to other early career researchers?

I am quite reluctant to give any advice to anyone as personal situations, commitments, and interests differ. For me, being part of a vibrant research environment is important. Although I let go of the idea of being an interdisciplinary historian of everything some time ago, I still see great value in conversations, be it chats, debates or more formal presentations, with colleagues working across different geographies or historical periods.

To learn more about Dr Kasia Jeżowska’s research, projects and achievements, visit her Researcher Profile.