‘Scotland in Europe’: A Conference held in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, 17–19 October 2012: Two voices

Abstract

The very first mention of organising a ‘Scottish’ conference appeared quite a few years ago now, in June 2009, the occasion being the completion of my postdoctoral degree which I received from the University of Warsaw. The subject of my dissertation was ‘Translating Scotland. Nation and Identity’, an issue not touched upon earlier in Poland. The suggestion came from one of my reviewers, Professor David Malcolm from the University of Gdansk, one of our later highly colourful and amazingly talented conference participants. The idea lay dormant for quite a few months, only to appear again during a conversation with another reviewer of my work on Scotland, Jerzy Jarniewicz (University of Łodź), whose contribution in the initial organisational stages was extremely helpful. All three of us, from different academic centres in Poland, fully agreed on one thing, that it was high time a conference on Scotland, its languages, literature and culture, and its links with Europe was organised in this part of the world. This initiated what not only turned out to be an extremely interesting – albeit exhausting – venture, but also was the beginning of many unexpected academic contacts, fruitful cooperation and, most important, the realisation that there is an amazing number of individuals scattered around Poland and in many other parts of Europe who are, or have been, involved in Scottish issues. Our own academic involvement in translation also comes into this very strongly. Ideas evolved, support and agreement were received from our Head of Department, announcements were made, and invitations sent out. This also concerned the rather controversial decision on our part that, although it was a Warsaw University conference, the venue was to be 120 kilometres from the capital, in Kazimierz Dolny, a small, historical, and highly picturesque town in