Florence Vychytil-Baudoux: Research & CV

Between Citizenship, Ethnicity and the Politics of Exile: The Logics of Polonia‘s Political Integration. France, the United States and Canada, 1945-1980

Research Area 1 – Displacements, “Dépaysements” and Discrepancies: People, Knowledge and Practices

Contact: florence.vychytil-baudoux@cefres.cz

My research explores the strategies of political inclusion designed and implemented by Polish communities (Polonia) in the United States, Canada and France after World War II. More precisely saying, this project investigates the renewal of collective political imagination and action in the wake of WW2 and during the Cold War and questions the shifting perceptions, conceptualizations and operationalizations of host country citizenship by Polish communities abroad at that time.

The analysis of sources and of chronology also leads me to look closer into the topic through the prism of circulations and transfers, enabling the analysis of the modes and structuration of such flows along with the reception with which they were met. Bringing to light the trans-state network at stake, it is necessary to renew the (so far relatively fragmented) historiography on the Polish dispersion and add it to the ongoing reflection on the notions of diaspora and transnationalism. In the context of Poland’s integration within the Soviet bloc, and Polish institutions in exile in London that became progressively isolated, North America soon took precedence, leading to the reexamination of the notions of centre and periphery.

CV

Education

Since 2008: PhD in Immigration History, École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS, Paris). Dissertation topic: Polonia’s Political Assimilation in France, Canada and the United States during the Cold War. Supervisor: Prof. Nancy L. Green

2006-2008: Master’s Degree in History of International Relations (with highest honors), Sciences Po, Paris. Thesis title: “Le Comité électoral des Polonais naturalisés, 1953-1976” [The Electoral Committee of French Citizens of Polish Ancestry, 1953-1976]. Supervisor: Prof. Maurice Vaïsse

2003-2006: BA Program in Central and Eastern European Studies, Sciences Po, Paris/Dijon

Publications

Articles
  • “Le Comité électoral des Polonais naturalisés (1953-1976) : une expérience polonienne en France” [The Eletcoral Committee of Naturalized Poles: a Polonian experience in France (1953-1976)], Relations Internationales, 2010/1, n°141, p. 65-81.
  • “S’approprier la citoyenneté française : la négociation d’une nouvelle économie de la polonité en France pendant la Guerre froide” [Becoming a French Citizen: Renegotiating Polishness in France during the Cold War], Forthcoming.
Book reviews
Conference reviews

Conference Papers (Selection)

  • “Construire la diaspora : circulations franco-américaines au sein de l’émigration polonaise pendant la Guerre froide“ [Building the Diaspora: Circulations of Ideas and Practices between French and American Polonia during the Cold War] – Journée d’étude doctorale du GDR Connaissance de l’Europe Médiane, 18 mai 2018, Paris (France).
  • “S’approprier la citoyenneté française : la négociation d’une nouvelle économie de la polonité en France pendant la Guerre froide” [Becoming a French Citizen: Renegotiating Polishness in France during the Cold War] – International conference organized by Ośrodek Kultury Francuskiej i Studiów Frankofońskich (University of Warsaw) / Centre de Civilisation Polonaise (Paris-Sorbonne University), in cooperation with the Center of Migration Research (University of Warsaw), “La diaspora polonaise en France, 1918-2018. Etat de l’art et nouvelles perspectives”, February 27-28, 2018, Warsaw (Poland).
  • “La dispersion polonaise, une communauté atlantique ?” [The Polish “Diaspora” : an Atlantic Community ?] – Workshop organized by Centre de Recherches en Histoire Internationale et Atlantique / University of La Rochelle, “Les circulations dans l’espace atlantique à l’époque contemporaine. Nouvelles approches, sources et méthodologies”, December 11, 2015, La Rochelle (France).
  • “ La dispersion polonaise à l’épreuve de la Guerre froide : politique d’exil et nouveaux modèles de polonité” [Polish “ Diaspora” and the Cold War: Exile Politics and New Patterns of Polishness] – International conference organized by Archives Nationales et Musée national de l’histoire de l’immigration, “La nationalité en guerre”, December 3-4, 2015, Paris (France).
  • “Citizenship Practices during the Cold War: a Polish American Model?”- 72nd annual meeting of the Polish American Historical Association, January 2-4, 2015, New York City (USA).
  • “Entretenir la polonité par-delà le territoire : exilés polonais et Polonia(s), 1939-1980” [Maintaining Polishness beyond Territory: Polish Exiles and Polonia(s)] – Workshop organized by CRHIA / University of Nantes, “Droits, liens à la nation et territoires en Europe”, November 28, 2014, Nantes (France).
  • “Political Integration as a By-Product of Exile Politics: Polish-Americans during the Cold War” – International conference organized by the University of Gdańsk and Polish American Historical Association, “East-Central Europe in Exile: Patterns of Transatlantic Migrations”, May 31-June 1, 2012, Gdańsk (Poland).
  • “Citoyens et patriotes : la Polonia pendant la Guerre froide” [Citizens and Patriots : Polonia during the Cold War] – International conference organized at Cité Nationale de l’Histoire de l’Immigration “Homeland Connections. E-Diasporas Atlas / A Century of Transnationalism”, May 23-25, 2012, Paris (France).

Awards and Grants

  • 2011-2012: 8-month research stay, Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota (USA):
    • Fulbright doctoral fellowship ;
    • Association Française des Femmes Diplômées des Universités (AFFDU), Monique Fouet Grant (Grant-in-Aid) ;
    • Institut des Amériques, Pôle Nord-Est, Mobility Grant.
  • 2010: Research Grant from the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development for a 3-month research stay in Canada: visiting doctoral student, Institute of Canadian Studies, University of Ottawa, Canada (3 months).
  • 2009: Research Grant from the Polish Government for a 2-month research stay in Poland (2009): Visiting doctoral student, Jagiellonian University, Cracow, Poland (3 months).

Languages

French: native speaker
English: bilingual
Polish: fluent
Czech: fluent

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