Between the Old and the New World ─ Studies in the History of Overseas Migrations

The volume contains papers presented at the fourth Workshop «American Ethnicity: Rethinking Old Issues, Asking New Questions» which took place in Krakow, Poland, on May 24th-25th, 2010. The event was organized by the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University, and supported by the (American) Immigration and Ethnic History Society. The tradition of organizing bi-annual workshops goes back to 2004 and continues to be a forum for discussing ongoing research and sharing ideas. The texts included in this volume provide a comparative context to immigration studies, contribute to the gender perspective, bring up new issues and remind the most important aspects of migrants’ life, such as remittances and poverty. There is also a set of the articles on American Jewish experience, studied from a variety of angles, and the Polish-American section presenting texts on local immigrant communities.

Agnieszka Malek, PhD is a sociologist and Assistant Professor at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Her research interests include migration, ethnicity and gender with special emphasis on domestic service, social policy and return migration. She teaches courses on cultural anthropology, U.S. society, and migration and ethnicity in Italy. She is the author and co-author of several articles on migration and gender as well as the co-editor of a book on migration and citizenship.
Dorota Praszalowicz is Professor of Sociology at the Institute of American Studies and Polish Diaspora of the Jagiellonian University in Krakow (Poland). In 2003/2004 she was Fulbright Scholar at the New York University. She teaches courses on world migrations, migration theories, and on ethnic groups and ethnic relations in the U.S., especially on Polish, Jewish and German groups. She is the author of three books on Polish American past and present. She is also interested in gender perspective in migration studies. Her recent research projects include Poles in Berlin: research perspectives.