Writing a plebeian turn 3002-2KON2025K12
This course aims to introduce students to issues related to the so-called "folk turn"—a trend in contemporary humanities and literature that focuses on the experiences of working classes, the memory of forgotten social groups, oral history, and grassroots perspectives. The course combines theoretical reflection with creative practice. Students analyze selected texts representing the folk turn in nonfiction, reportage, essays, and prose. At the same time, participants learn to write their own stories, drawing inspiration from methods of working with local memory, family archives, oral history, and engaged ethnography.
1. Introduction: What is the folk turn?
2. People and class—concepts and tensions
3. History written from below
4. The ethics of representation
5. Writing about one's own roots
6. The perspective of place
7. Oral history—reconstruction and imagination
8. The folk turn in media and culture
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Knowledge
1. Students will understand the origins, main assumptions, and theoretical contexts of the folk turn in the humanities and literature.
2. Students will be familiar with key concepts related to the analysis of class, collective memory, microhistory, and oral history.
3. Students will be familiar with narrative strategies used in grassroots literature, folk reportage, and writing practices from the perspective of marginalized groups.
Skills:
1. Analyze literary and reportage texts from the perspective of the folk turn, taking into account their social and historical context.
2. Conduct basic fieldwork (interviews, oral history, observation) and use private and community archives.
3. Create original written texts (prose, microreportage, essay) based on grassroots and local material.
Social Competencies:
1. A reflective and responsible approach to biographical materials and relationships with research participants. 2. Critical assessment of social and class roles in cultural processes and one's own position in the relationship between the researcher and the described subject.
Assessment criteria
The basic requirement for passing the semester is attendance at classes. Absences must be excused with the instructor. Students are entitled to two excused or unexcused absences per semester. Anyone with three to five absences per semester must make up for them in a manner determined by the instructor. Absences (even excused!) from more than five classes will result in students not being allowed to pass the classes - only those granted an Individual Organization of Studies based on the opinion of the BON may have their absence limit increased, but not to more than 50%.
The project can be credited based on:
1. Creative Project
An 8–12-page text inspired by a folk phrase, based on grassroots material (oral history, memory of place, microhistory), or another creative form.
Or:
2. Analytical Essay
A 4–6-page critical analysis of a selected text related to a folk phrase.
One chosen form is required.
The use of artificial intelligence tools in theses, written term papers, and presentations is specified in §§ 3 and 4 of Resolution No. 98 of the University Council for Education of December 8, 2023, regarding guidelines for the use of artificial intelligence tools in the educational process. Since one of the fundamental skills acquired in the fields of study offered at the Faculty of Polish Studies is the efficient and professional use of written Polish, particularly the academic style, the use of artificial intelligence systems for proofreading and editing is prohibited.
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: