Geneviève Zubrzycki (center) receives the 2017 Aquila Polonica Prize

At this year's annual Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) Convention on November 10, 2017, Geneviève Zubrzycki was awarded the Polish Studies Association's Aquila Polonica Prize for best English-language article published during the previous year on any aspect of Polish studies. According to the Polish Studies Association website:

Geneviève Zubrzycki’s 2016 article "Nationalism, 'Philosemitism,' and Symbolic Boundary-Making in Contemporary Poland" (Comparative Studies in Society and History 58(1):66–98) makes an outstanding contribution to the field of Polish studies. Zubrzycki brilliantly frames the "Jewish revival" in Poland – synthesizing a now considerable body of research – to press for a more supple application of key sociological theories of nationalism and group identity. The article presents its topic in an engaging, well-researched, and nuanced way; juxtaposes philo-Semitic with anti-Semitic discourse; and frames both in the context of reformulations of nation. This allows us to understand these practices much better as well as see their further repercussions, and rethink more general mechanisms governing nations. All in all, the article is profound and full of insight. It is meticulously scholarly but also written in an accessible and lively manner.

Read the article from Comparative Studies in Society and History here: “Nationalism, ‘Philosemitism’ and Symbolic Boundary-Making in Contemporary Poland.

Geneviève Zubrzycki is a comparative-historical and cultural sociologist who studies national identity and religion, collective memory and national mythology, and the contested place of religious symbols in the public sphere. Her work combines historical and ethnographic methods, and considers evidence from material and visual culture. Professor Zubrzycki is the director of the Weiser Center for Europe and Eurasia, which includes the Center for European Studies; Center for Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies; and Copernicus Center for Polish Studies. She is also a faculty affiliate of the Frankel Center for Judaic Studies.