Joanna Mizielinska

Collegium Civitas · Institute of Sociology

From the intersection of queer studies, area studies and critical kinship studies, this groundbreaking collection explores queer (non-heterosexual) family practices and kinship formations from converging perspectives and in a range of geopolitical settings around the Baltic Sea region and beyond. Empirically grounded and in critical dialogue with i...

The article demonstrates how the problematic socio-political situation of nonheterosexual communities in Poland and Polish traditionalism significantly impacts how nonheterosexual people develop their sexual stories and perceive their sexual practices. It aims to shift the discussion on sex life, primarily conducted in the Anglo-American context th...

Queer Kinship on the Edge explores ways in which queer families from Central and Easter Europe complicate the mainstream picture of queer kinship and families researched in the Anglo-American contexts. The book presents findings from under-represented localities as a starting point to query some of the expectations about queer kinship and to prov...

Although there is a substantial increase of literature on LGBT elders in Anglo-American academia, studies from Central and Eastern Europe are in paucity. This article draws on the narratives of older gay and lesbian people living in same-sex relationships gathered during focus groups interviews in Poland. Their narratives on defining and negotiatin...

Podczas gdy na Zachodzie mówi się obecnie coraz częściej o reprodukcyjnym normatywizmie (repronormativity) wśród osób nieheteroseksualnych, co jest związane z prawnym rozpoznaniem i ochroną ich rodzicielstwa, w Polsce ich możliwości zostania rodzicami są bardzo ograniczone. Pronatalistyczna polityka państwa regulująca dostęp do technik wspomaganej...

In the article, we discuss the usage of multi-methods qualitative approach in family research drawing on the monthly team ethnographic study of 21 non-heterosexual families in Poland. This study was employed as a part of a larger multi and mixed-method project Families of Choice in Poland, where we implemented a frame story approach ( FSA). By usin...

Poland is the biggest country in the European Union without any regulations concerning same-sex partnerships. Neither does it offer any recognition of queer parenthood. With its very conservative, heteronormative, cisgender, and nuclear vision of family and understandings of kinship, it makes the life of queer parents and their children incredibly...

The concept of families of choice was introduced almost three decades ago by Kath Weston (1997). She used it to describe the situation of the LGBTQ community in the era of the HIV/AIDS crisis, when the relations with families of origin had been heavily tested and proved to fail, whereas relations with friends were the primary source of care and sup...

In the paper, I draw on the data from the ethnographic part of my recently completed research project “Families of Choice in Poland” (2013–2016). I focus on queer families’ ways of describing their kin-relations and the meaning of “families”. This often involves strategic use of kin language and reference to the importance of blood relations. Analy...

Lack of recognition of queer families in Poland impacts their daily experiences in a distinct manner. However, the importance of geo-location and a Central and Eastern European perspective have been marginalized in Western studies on queer kinship. The present investigation examines from a local and intersectional perspective the reproductive plans...

Ethical Dilemmas in Research on Intimate Couples. Experiences from the Fieldwork Abstract Sociological studies of intimate couples are associated with a number of ethical dilemmas. Some of them are connected to studying private life, which implies the questions about why, how and under what conditions the research participants share their experienc...

Przedmiotem artykułu jest program teoretyczno-badawczy ujmujący parę intymną jako formę praktykowania bliskości, miłości i troski, zakorzenionych w praktykach życia codziennego. W ramach tego programu proponujemy analizę o charakterze: relacyjnym, nienormatywnym, intersekcjonalnym oraz procesualnym. Najpierw wyjaśniamy, dlaczego kategoria pary inty...

The roundtable discussion revolves around the two key moments in a couple’s life: living together and marriage (and related practices). The participants of the discussion have agreed that although the relationship can last without these two moments, they are important turning points for the study of pairs. In the debate, the findings concerning the...

Celem artykułu jest prezentacja i uwspólnienie doświadczeń oraz wniosków płynących z jakościowych badań skoncentrowanych na parze i różnych aspektach jej funkcjonowania, prowadzonych w Polsce przez ostatnią dekadę przez wybrane zespoły badawcze. Odwo- łując się do przykładów z badań terenowych wskazujemy na szereg praktycznych oraz sytuacyjnych asp...

Research into queer intimacies and families has been largely conducted from and about the Western (specifically Anglo-American) context. It very often (re)presents a hegemonic, mono-normative paradigm and vision of intimacy and family life, and profoundly influences the scope and methods of such research in other localities. This article uses findi...

The book "In different voices. Families of choice in Poland" aims to provide a sociological, polyphonic portrait of queer kinship in Poland on the basis of the narratives shared by family members, e.g. lesbian mothers and gay fathers, their children, as well as their families of origin, and older gays and lesbians. In order to include various stand...

In this paper we showed how the notion of heteronormative citizenship embedded in the Polish Constitution was (re)produced in the public sphere, and how heteronormativity as an ideal was slowly undermined by the emergence of new narratives on LGBT families. We did so by first conducting a critical reading of the Polish Constitution, public opinion...

This article analyses the most significant judicial and media cases about LGBT families in the last decade. Their existence in the mainstream discourse shows the changes in the image of the family in the public sphere, as well as changes within the emancipatory strategies of the LGBT communities in Poland. Firstly, the dominant, conservative and ma...

In our article we present the results of the analysis of press discourse concerning families of choice in Poland. We make a comparison between two debates over two projects of same-sex partnership law (written, respectively, by senator Maria Szyszkowska in 2003-2004 and the Initiative Group for Same-Sex Partnership in 2011,) as well as between two...

Perhaps some of the most interesting recent developments in queer studies are those books criticizing the U.S. American bias within the discipline (e.g. Hemmings 2007; Mizielinska 2010; Downing and Gillett 2011), and a move towards embracing "non-Western" geographical others (e.g. Patton and Sánchez-Eppler 2000; Altman 2001; Cruz-Malavé and Manalan...

Although homosexuality in its many manifestations has been a significant factor in societies throughout the ages and across cultures, the real explosion of its politics and visibility has taken place after WWII and, arguably, in the “West”. Respectively, the vast amount of academic literature about sexuality is written from and about a Western (Ang...

By undertaking issues of the hegemony of time and space, as reflected in Anglo-American production of knowledge, globalisation, post-socialist transformation, and lesbian and gay studies - the article provides critical engagement with current trends in queer studies, especially of postcolonial provenience. The authors aim to problematize and plural...

De-Centring Western Sexualities critically assesses the current state of knowledge about sexualities outside the framings of 'The West', by focusing on gender and sexuality within the context of Central and Eastern Europe. Providing rich case studies drawn from a range of "post-communist" countries, this interdisciplinary volume brings together the...

This article focuses on questions rarely spoken of openly or written about in Poland. The article investigates what is behind such silence and tells of invisibility. The silence regarding lesbians in Poland is meaningful and reveals a lot about the concept of the Polish nation. This article examines Polish nationalistic discourse, which largely avo...