George Z. Gasyna

George Z. Gasyna is a Professor at the Department of Slavic Languages & Literatures and the School of Literatures, Cultures & Linguistics at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). He also serves as Co-Director of Undergraduate Studies and is affiliated with the Program in Comparative and World Literature, the Unit for Criticism and Interpretive Theory, and the Program in Jewish Culture and Society.

Education:

• PhD, University of Toronto
• MA, McGill University
• BA, McGill University

Gasyna’s research spans 20th-century Polish literature, diasporic and minority cultures, and Jewish cultural history in pre-1939 multiethnic Poland. His work explores migration, exile, autobiography, memory, postmemory, and travel literature, with a focus on heterotopia and transcultural narratives.

His recent publications analyze Polish literature through transnational and postcolonial lenses, emphasizing borderlands, national identity, and cultural displacement. Themes like imperialism, diaspora, and avant-garde poetics recur across his scholarship.

Scientific Awards:

• Conrad Humanities Scholar (2020-2025)
• Humanities Research Institute Fellowship (2017-18)

Gasyna has taught courses on Polish culture, modernism, Joseph Conrad, and radical political thought. His affiliations with interdisciplinary programs reflect his broad scholarly engagement.