Browsing by Author "Nieznanowska, Joanna"

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    Missed connections: Pomeranian Medical University’s efforts to join circulation- of-knowledge networks in the pre-Thaw cold War times (1948–1956)
    (RSU Medicīnas vēstures institūts. Paula Stradiņa Medicīnas vēstures muzejs., 2021) Nieznanowska, Joanna
    The paper presented is a case study discussing the difficulties a newly established medical school had to face when trying to build itself into existing circulation-of-knowledge networks during the Stalinist period, on the example of Pomeranian Medical University of Szczecin (PUM), founded in 1948. Based on the perusal of documents from the years 1948– 1956 preserved in PUM’s Archives, the paper analyses whether and to what degree the school was able to meet a number of criteria essential for becom- ing a relevant node in the network of knowledge, especially in trans- and international contexts. The criteria discussed include: access to appropriate infrastructure and resources; personnel qualified, willing and able to generate and circulate knowledge; sufficient decisional autonomy; sup- port from power centers; and connectedness with the existing networks. Szczecin’s post-1945 status in Poland and Europe is highlighted as a major factor behind the Stalinist state government’s simultaneous reluctance to tackle PUM’s urgent infrastructural and personnel deficits, and willingness to use PUM as an instrument of political propaganda.
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    Reaching out to the World: Pomeranian Medical University′s Connections to International Networks of Knowledge Production and Circulation, 1956–1968
    (Rīgas Stradiņa universitātes Medicīnas vēstures institūts (Institute of History of Medicine, Rīga Stradiņš University), 2022) Nieznanowska, Joanna
    This study explores the effects the political “Thaw” of 1956 had on the ability of the Pomeranian Medical University of Szczecin, Poland (PUM) to join and contribute to the international production and circula- tion of medical knowledge in the years 1956–1968. It gives an overview of the challenges PUM had to face in its relationships with the state apparatus that controlled access to foreign networks. It also discusses the cases of three PUM professors, namely: Bolesław Górnicki (1908–1998; head of Paediatrics), Witold Starkiewicz (1906–1978; head of Ophthalmology), and Kazimierz Stojałowski (1903–1995; head of Pathological Anatomy). For the first of them, Szczecin was a nine-year episode in a prosperous academic career closely tied with Warsaw; the latter two were among PUM’s founding staff and stayed in Szczecin till retirement. The study reveals how personality, political and confessional worldview, strength of personal attachment to PUM, and diplomatic skills exhibited by each of the three professors influenced the range, the quality, and the durability of connections they established between PUM and the world.