Agnieszka Sobolewska: research & cv

Between Self-Analysis and Autobiography. Everyday Writing Practices of Freud’s First Disciples

Research Area 2 – Norms & Transgressions

Contact: agnieszka.sobolewska@cefres.cz

My research focuses on the everyday writing practices of the first Freudians and the impact of life writing documents on Sigmund Freud’s theory. In my project, I reflect on the development of the psychoanalytic discourse on sexuality, the transmission of the psychoanalytic thought in Central and Eastern Europe before 1939, the displacement of the first psychoanalysts, the social exclusion based on anti-Semitism, homophobia, misogyny, and the heterogeneity of the psychoanalytic discourse. My aim is to explore the interference between literature, art, and psycho-medical discourses between the 19th and 20th centuries.

My doctoral research can be placed at the intersection of cultural history, anthropology, philosophy, and literature. I explore psychoanalytic, psycho-medical, and literary texts written in German, English, French, Hungarian, and Polish. In my thesis, I am particularly interested in socio-political shifts and cultural transfers in Central and Eastern Europe, with an emphasis on the dialogue between psychoanalysis, literature, philosophy, and art before 1939.

CV

Education

2022-2025: Research-and-teaching assistant at the University of Warsaw, Institute of Polish Culture

2019–2023: Ph. D. candidate in the ÉD 4: Civilisations, cultures, littératures et sociétés, Paris-Sorbonne, Cotutelle with the University of Warsaw (Faculty of Humanities)

2017–2019: MA in cultural studies and literaty studies, Paris-Sorbonne – University of Warsaw, summa cum laude

2016–2017: BA in cultural studies, University of Warsaw (Institute of Polish Culture), summa cum laude

Publications (selection)

Books

2021: Auto-ekonomie zapisu Juliana Ochorowicza. Codzienne praktyki piśmienne i badawcze psychologa [Julian Ochorowicz’s Self-Economies. The Psychologist’s Everyday Writing Practices], University of Warsaw Press.
2020: Obrazy czarności. Wyobraźnia imperialna i różnica rasowa w niemieckiej kulturze XIX i XX wieku. Siedem szkiców z antropologii wrogości, Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego [The Images of Blackness. Imperial Imagination and Racial Differences in German Culture of the 19th and 20th centuries. Anthropology of Hostility — Seven Sketches], University of Warsaw Press.

Edited Books

2021: Imago psychoanalizy. Antologia [Imago of Psychoanalysis. An Anthology], ed. by Agnieszka Sobolewska. Trans. Marek Chojnacki and Tadeusz Zatorski, Słowo/obraz terytoria.

Peer-reviewed articles in academic journals

2022: “Theories and Practices of Psychoanalysis in Central Europe Immediately after World War II”, The International Journal of Psychoanalysis, forthcoming.
2022: “Freud’s Queer Fellow: Georg Groddeck Between Psychoanalytic Theory and Literary Modernism,” Oxford German Studies, vol. 51, no. 1, pp. 45-76.
2021: “Isidor Sadger’s Images as the Other. Psychoanalysis Between Life Writing and Literary Experimentalism,” Biography: An Interdisciplinary Quarterly, vol. 44, no. 4, pp. 561-578.
2020: “The Images of Blackness: Savages, Workers and the Emergence of the Counterimagination in Germany (1884-1925),” Theoretical Practice, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 137–74.
2019: “Freud’s Disciples Between Biography and Autobiography. Towards a Collective History of the Psychoanalytic Movement,” Autobiography, vol. 13, no. 2, pp. 19–30.
2019: “Freud Museums. Art, Materiality, and Psychoanalysis,” Theories and Practices of Visual Culture, 2019, no. 23.

Grants and Scholarships

2022-2025: Scholarships of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education for outstanding young scientists
2022: Józef Tischner Award and Junior Visiting Fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences,Vienna
2021–2022: Research Fellowship and Mobility Grant at CEFRES, Prague
2021–2023: National Science Center Scholarship in Grant Project “Life writing competitions. Memoir-writing practices in Poland 1918-1939 (analysis – reception – meaning),” 2020/37/B/HS2/02154
2019–2023: Scholarship for Ph. D. students at the University of Warsaw
2018–2022: Diamond Grant Award funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education for the research project “Between Autoanalysis and Autobiography. Everyday Writing Practices of Freud’s First Disciples,” DI2017 004647
2018–2019: Erasmus+ Scholarship for MA studies at the Sorbonne University
2019: Award for outstanding BA and MA students funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
2018: Award for outstanding BA and MA students funded by the Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education
2015–2019: Award for the best BA and MA students at the University of Warsaw

Memberships

2022-…: International Sándor Ferenczi Network, member
2021-…: International Association for Spielrein Studies, member
2019–2025: Polish Gender Society, Board of Directors
2017–2023: Collegium Invisibile, Member and Program Coordinator
2017–2023: Krajowy Fundusz na Rzecz Dzieci, Tutor