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AGNIESZKAGAJEWSKA
ofFrenchandfrequentcorrespondencewithherbrotherErazm,wholived
abroad,providealinkbetweentheEnthusiastWomenAssociationand
similarWestern-Europeanmovements,wherefreethinkersanddemocrats
weredescribedasenthusiasts(Phillips2008:214–266).
InhervisionsNarcyzaŻmichowskaseemstobeequaltosuchfeminist
forerunnersasMaryWollstonecraftandVirginiaWoolf,butUrsulaPhil-
lips’sinterestinŻmichowska’sworks,alongwithsuchtranslationprojects
asanEnglishversionofPoganka(TheHeathen),2appearstobeatransfer
ofknowledgeforwhichnobodyiswaiting.Thecolonisationoffeminism
throughtheEnglishlanguagemayalsomeanthatfeministsreadinginPol-
ishreachforVirginiaWoolf’swritingmorefrequentlythanforthearchives.
MyconcernisnotthenationalprideinPolishfeminism(whichinitself
soundsparadoxicaloriconoclastic),butratherthecategoryofsensitivity,
sodeartoallemancipation.Thesensitivityconsistsinacknowledginglocal
conditions,intheregionalismofculturalstudies,alsoforethicalreasons.
WeareusedtothetransferofknowledgefromtheAnglo-Saxoncoun-
tries,butinthecurrentissueofPrzekładaniecwestrayfromthebeaten
track.Thisdecisionisalreadysignalledbytheissuetitle,whichmentions
feminismandnotgender,queerorwomenstudies.Tomymind,theEng-
lishtermshidethepoliticalpotentialofthemethodologywhichtheyrelate
to(Iamnotaloneinthisapproach,seeMizielińska2006:138).Femi-
nismunequivocallyindicatesthatgendersignifiesandisproblematic.As
myreadingsconfirm,genderstudiesmay,thoughdonothaveto,distance
themselvesfrompoliticalactivitybymeansofthefeministmethodology
withoutchanginggenderstereotypes,withoutthewilltointervene.Queer
studiestranslatedasstudiapedalskie(faggotstudies)3orstudiaodmieńców
(studiesofoutsiders)4becomeanactoftransgressionandviolationofwhat
isconsideredanorm;theyexpandacademicactivitiesthroughsocialactiv-
ismandparticipationinthepublicdebate.Itgoeswithoutsayingthatthe
Englishterminology,insomerespects,guaranteessecurity:thelinguistic
mimesisplacesthestudiesoftheexcludedintheglobalperspectiveand
allowsustoavoidanyideologicalconfrontation.However,thiscompro-
miseis,tomymind,toobig,asitallowstheappropriationofthelanguage
oftheexcludedanditsusedeprivedofemancipatoryintentions,thusre-
2MariaWirtemberska’sMalwina,czylidomyślnośćsercahasbeentranslatedbyUrsula
PhillipsasMalvina,ortheHeart’sIntuition(2012).
3ThistermwasusedbythetranslatorMariaBassaj(Culler1997).
4Cf.thejustificationofsuchatranslationin:Basiuk,Ferens,Sikora(2002).
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