Narrating Historical Changes in Global Academia: The Intercultural Imaginaries of Female International Professors
The primary focus is on the letters of Hanna Buczyńska-Garewicz, a Polish-born professor of philosophy who migrated to the U.S. in the 1980s. We examine the biographical factors that both facilitated and hindered her acculturation process, with particular attention to how cultural differences were remembered and narrated over time. Buczyńska-Garewicz’s personal documents span from the 1960s to the 1990s, a period during which she witnessed the decline of continental Europe and the rise of the U.S. as a global hegemon. Although familiar with the Western academic tradition, she was largely surprised by the cultural patterns she observed in North America. Her experience suggests that geographical imaginaries oscillate between admiration for academic excellence and disenchantment resulting from deconstructed myths and stereotypes through direct cultural encounters.
From a decolonial perspective, this analysis uncovers the process by which the U.S. emerged as a global centre of knowledge production, contributing to the sociology of science. Through Buczyńska-Garewicz’s lens, we observe the old centres (e.g., Germany, France, the U.K.) being replaced by a new hegemon, while the underlying mechanisms of domination remain largely unchanged. Additionally, we explore how cultural capital—understood as the migration-facilitating capital she accumulated during her stays abroad before relocating to the U.S.—shaped her migration trajectory. This analysis offers valuable insights into the study of female academic careers among migrants from peripheral countries to global centres.