Marta Wójtowicz

Marta Wójtowicz

Profile

I joined the School of Languages, Cultures and Societies in 2024 as a full-time PhD student, funded by the AHRC White Rose College of Arts & Humanities (WRoCAH).

I hold a BA (Hons) in Media and Cultural Studies from Lancaster University (First Class Honours) and an MA in Visual Culture from Durham University (Distinction). My academic journey has been shaped by a strong interest in the intersections of media, identity, and cultural geopolitics, particularly in relation to Eastern Europe and Slavicness in digital culture. My master’s dissertation, The European Semi-Periphery Laughs Back: Analysing Representations of Eastern European Masculinities and Femininities from Euro-Orientalism to Self-Euro-Orientalism, laid the groundwork for my current research.

My PhD focuses on the self-representations of Eastern Europeans and Slavs. I explore how “Slavicness” emerges as an identity category and how it is performed, consumed and reimagined in art and media, including new media. Of particular interest are the roles of ethnic humour and folklore, which illuminate the gendered and classed dimensions of these representations.

Research interests

  • Popular culture
  • Visual culture
  • Postcolonial theory, including postcolonial perspectives on Eastern Europe
  • Race, ethnicity, gender and class
  • Ethnic humour, irony and stereotypes

Qualifications

  • MA Visual Culture, Durham University (2021)
  • BA (Hons) Media and Cultural Studies, Lancaster University (2020)