Dr Kasia Jezowska

I am a cultural historian of Eastern Europe during the Cold War. 

I joined UNSW in 2019 to develop a comprehensive programme in design history and theory. Since then, I have been lecturing and convening a range of courses in history and theory for BA and MA students. I am a co-convenor of the Design and Humanities Work in Progress Seminar (with Livia Lazzaro-Rezende) and an international Design History Writing Group (with Leah Armstrong, University of Applied Arts Vienna).

I am currently completing the manuscript of my first book 'Socialist by design. The state, industry, and modernity in Cold War Poland' based on my doctoral thesis (History, Oxford, 2019). The central task of this book is to uncover how modern Poland was conceptualised and visualised in the three decades between the 1940s and 1970s. It shows that more than merely developing a new iconography, the state turned to the products of industry, which allowed it to connect the search for Polishness with the national economic and social objectives. At stake was a political project, which from the start was imbued with a paradox: how to demonstrate the socialist commitment of post-war Poland while providing it with a clear distinctiveness vis-à-vis other countries, including, most importantly, the USSR.

My second project 'Coal Nations and Carbon Cultures' continues an investigation into the political potential of material cultures, placing coal at the forefront of this enquiry. It unearths the complex relationship between natural resources, industrial products, and national identity.

In 2023 I am a Visiting Fellow at Stanford University, The Stanford Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies.