Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska
Biographic Data
| ID | 349745 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Katarzyna Górak-Sosnowska |
| GIVEN NAMES | Katarzyna |
| FAMILY NAME | Górak-Sosnowska |
| SIGNATURE | GÓRAK-SOSNOWSKA K |
| AFFILIATIONS | SGH Warsaw School of Economics |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1121-6240 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 15 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 18 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2011 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
‘Arab Summer’ in the Tatra Mountains
This article examines how Arab (in particular GCC ) tourists are represented in Polish media discourse during their visits to the Podhale region and Zakopane. Although Poland is not a traditional destination for tourists from the Middle East, their increasing presence has generated sensation in the media. Using critical discourse analysis, the study explores how the ‘host gaze’ constructs Gulf visitors as exotic others. Drawing on a qualitative a…
Instrumentalizing the war in Gaza in Polish media
The war in Gaza is domesticated globally by national media ecosystems using locally-resonant frames. Research suggests that this produces a pro-Israeli bias in Western outlets, with the opposite observed in the Middle-East. The article analyzes how these patterns function in a semi-peripheral media system. It studies how four key Polish outlets framed the war in Gaza in 2023–2024, arguing that they instrumentalized the conflict to reproduce pre-e…
Introduction to the Special Issue
This special issue is intended to provide insights into the evolving dynamics in offline and online Islamic religious guidance and practice in Eurasia. The four articles share a common focus on the role of digital and online environments in shaping Islamic religious knowledge transmission and community engagement within Muslim minority contexts in CEE countries (Lithuania, Hungary and Poland) and also the CIS
Locality, Universalism, and Modernity in khutbas for Polish Muslims
The article presents the results of research on sermons delivered in mosques belonging to three Polish Muslim organisations: Muslim Religious Union ( MZR ), Muslim League ( LM ), and Sakinah Foundation ( FS ). The analysis focuses on the strategies adopted by Polish Muslim preachers who, in their sermons ( khutba s), try to address issues that are important for the life and identity of the Muslim minority in Poland. Among these issues are: the em…
“Everyone Should Mind their Jihād”. Polish Female Converts to Islam against Homonegativity
Predominantly Catholic and governed in the years 2015–2023 by the populist right Law and Justice Party, Poland is a country that has adopted a conservative stance towards the LGBT+ community. Homonegativity has entered the mainstream political discourse, while the notion of gender is considered a dangerous ideology. This political setting has also strengthened negative attitudes towards Muslims and led to the rise of Islamophobia. Against this co…
The Other at the border
When whiteness is not an asset. Racialisation strategies towards Polish converts to Islam
Unlike Western European countries, in Poland, there are two groups of native Muslim citizens: the Tatars and converts to Islam. They differ from mainstream society by their religion – Islam, and the Tatars, additionally, by their ethnicity. However, one of these groups – Islam converts – is racialised by the other. We argue that the Polish Tatars can use the repertoire of both sides – non-Muslim mainstream society and born Muslims – in order to o…
The Role of the Internet in the Formation of Muslim Subjectivity Among Polish Female Converts to Islam
In this article, we discuss the main arguments related to female Muslim converts' formation of a religious subjectivity in the context of studying Islam in online spaces. In distinguishing between Western and Eastern Europe, it is our purpose to highlight the significance of online sources for converts who inhabit geographic “peripheries” of Islam. After giving an overview of the literature that discusses Muslim subject formation among converts, …
Staying on Guard for Teaching Excellence
Remote teaching became one of the key topics in educational research due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our article looks at the other side of the story, i.e., in-person education during the pandemic. This aspect of teaching excellence has been overlooked because it seemed to be thoroughly studied. However, COVID-19 has profoundly changed in-person teaching. In our study, we focus on the Polish medical and technical universities as the studies they of…
Teaching Social Studies Online. Insights from a Preliminary Quantitative Study in Poland in the Covid-19 Era
The COVID-19 situation has made higher education institutions face the unprecedented challenge of transition into distance learning. As a result, students had to acquire some skills and knowledge remotely, including the experience of learning social research. The article presents the results of research on students’ attitudes and perceptions regarding online teaching, learning, their digital skills, and the presence of subjects connected with soc…
Being Muslim, Polish, and at home
This article focuses on converts to Islam in Poland, taking into account the specific socio-cultural, political, and historical contexts and new trends that have emerged with the gradual growth of the Muslim population. We draw attention to the unique patterns of practices related to Islam and patterns of belonging. Eastern European Islam remains relatively under-researched and, as a consequence, there is little clarity whether processes identifi…
Theorizing the Religious Habitus in the Context of Conversion to Islam among Polish Women of Catholic Background
This article explores the conversion processes of Polish women of Catholic background to Islam. Data from participant observation of mosque-based, women-only weekend gatherings for converts and in-depth interviews with 29 Polish female converts to Islam are presented to illustrate the dialectic between the persistence and transformation of religious habitus. Our analysis demonstrates that in the conversion process, Catholic habitus remains pervas…
Moving In and Out of Islam
With empirical case studies from Western and Central Europe, the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, this anthology opens a new field of study by exploring people’s rationales for leaving, as well as converting to, Islam.
Islamist Terrorism in Europe
Making European Muslims
Islamophobia without Muslims? The Case of Poland
At the first glance Polish intolerance of Muslims—expressed in a variety of quantitative and qualitative studies—seems to be puzzling for two reasons. Firstly, Poland has a six century long tradition of peaceful coexistence with Tatars, indigenous Polish Muslims, thus Poles should be used to the Muslim Other. Secondly, the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal (approximately 0.1%), which makes them hardly visible in the public sphere. Based on …
Between Fitna and the Idyll
The article aims to explore and analyze online activity of Polish female converts to Islam, especially, on forums. Since the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal, Internet forums provide the converts with a sense of a virtual Polish umma as well as information about Islam. At the same time, most of these forums are closed or hidden from the outside world and often only accessible through a network of contacts from the real world. In other word…
Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe
This book aims to fill this gap by describing Muslim communities and their experiences in Central and Eastern Europe, both in countries with marginal Muslim populations, often not exceeding 1% (e.g. Hungary and Lithuania), and in countries with significant Muslim minorities, sometimes proportionally larger than in France (e.g. Bulgaria). Some of these countries have a long history of Muslim presence, dating back to the 14th century in the case of…
Theorizing the Religious Habitus in the Context of Conversion to Islam among Polish Women of Catholic Background
This article explores the conversion processes of Polish women of Catholic background to Islam. Data from participant observation of mosque-based, women-only weekend gatherings for converts and in-depth interviews with 29 Polish female converts to Islam are presented to illustrate the dialectic between the persistence and transformation of religious habitus. Our analysis demonstrates that in the conversion process, Catholic habitus remains pervas…
Islamophobia without Muslims? The Case of Poland
At the first glance Polish intolerance of Muslims—expressed in a variety of quantitative and qualitative studies—seems to be puzzling for two reasons. Firstly, Poland has a six century long tradition of peaceful coexistence with Tatars, indigenous Polish Muslims, thus Poles should be used to the Muslim Other. Secondly, the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal (approximately 0.1%), which makes them hardly visible in the public sphere. Based on …
Being Muslim, Polish, and at home
This article focuses on converts to Islam in Poland, taking into account the specific socio-cultural, political, and historical contexts and new trends that have emerged with the gradual growth of the Muslim population. We draw attention to the unique patterns of practices related to Islam and patterns of belonging. Eastern European Islam remains relatively under-researched and, as a consequence, there is little clarity whether processes identifi…
When whiteness is not an asset. Racialisation strategies towards Polish converts to Islam
Unlike Western European countries, in Poland, there are two groups of native Muslim citizens: the Tatars and converts to Islam. They differ from mainstream society by their religion – Islam, and the Tatars, additionally, by their ethnicity. However, one of these groups – Islam converts – is racialised by the other. We argue that the Polish Tatars can use the repertoire of both sides – non-Muslim mainstream society and born Muslims – in order to o…
Between Fitna and the Idyll
The article aims to explore and analyze online activity of Polish female converts to Islam, especially, on forums. Since the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal, Internet forums provide the converts with a sense of a virtual Polish umma as well as information about Islam. At the same time, most of these forums are closed or hidden from the outside world and often only accessible through a network of contacts from the real world. In other word…
Muslims in Poland and Eastern Europe
This book aims to fill this gap by describing Muslim communities and their experiences in Central and Eastern Europe, both in countries with marginal Muslim populations, often not exceeding 1% (e.g. Hungary and Lithuania), and in countries with significant Muslim minorities, sometimes proportionally larger than in France (e.g. Bulgaria). Some of these countries have a long history of Muslim presence, dating back to the 14th century in the case of…
Between Fitna and the Idyll
The article aims to explore and analyze online activity of Polish female converts to Islam, especially, on forums. Since the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal, Internet forums provide the converts with a sense of a virtual Polish umma as well as information about Islam. At the same time, most of these forums are closed or hidden from the outside world and often only accessible through a network of contacts from the real world. In other word…
Islamophobia without Muslims? The Case of Poland
At the first glance Polish intolerance of Muslims—expressed in a variety of quantitative and qualitative studies—seems to be puzzling for two reasons. Firstly, Poland has a six century long tradition of peaceful coexistence with Tatars, indigenous Polish Muslims, thus Poles should be used to the Muslim Other. Secondly, the number of Muslims in Poland is marginal (approximately 0.1%), which makes them hardly visible in the public sphere. Based on …
Islamist Terrorism in Europe
Making European Muslims
Moving In and Out of Islam
With empirical case studies from Western and Central Europe, the United States, Canada, and the Middle East, this anthology opens a new field of study by exploring people’s rationales for leaving, as well as converting to, Islam.
Theorizing the Religious Habitus in the Context of Conversion to Islam among Polish Women of Catholic Background
This article explores the conversion processes of Polish women of Catholic background to Islam. Data from participant observation of mosque-based, women-only weekend gatherings for converts and in-depth interviews with 29 Polish female converts to Islam are presented to illustrate the dialectic between the persistence and transformation of religious habitus. Our analysis demonstrates that in the conversion process, Catholic habitus remains pervas…
The Role of the Internet in the Formation of Muslim Subjectivity Among Polish Female Converts to Islam
In this article, we discuss the main arguments related to female Muslim converts' formation of a religious subjectivity in the context of studying Islam in online spaces. In distinguishing between Western and Eastern Europe, it is our purpose to highlight the significance of online sources for converts who inhabit geographic “peripheries” of Islam. After giving an overview of the literature that discusses Muslim subject formation among converts, …
Staying on Guard for Teaching Excellence
Remote teaching became one of the key topics in educational research due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Our article looks at the other side of the story, i.e., in-person education during the pandemic. This aspect of teaching excellence has been overlooked because it seemed to be thoroughly studied. However, COVID-19 has profoundly changed in-person teaching. In our study, we focus on the Polish medical and technical universities as the studies they of…
Teaching Social Studies Online. Insights from a Preliminary Quantitative Study in Poland in the Covid-19 Era
The COVID-19 situation has made higher education institutions face the unprecedented challenge of transition into distance learning. As a result, students had to acquire some skills and knowledge remotely, including the experience of learning social research. The article presents the results of research on students’ attitudes and perceptions regarding online teaching, learning, their digital skills, and the presence of subjects connected with soc…
Being Muslim, Polish, and at home
This article focuses on converts to Islam in Poland, taking into account the specific socio-cultural, political, and historical contexts and new trends that have emerged with the gradual growth of the Muslim population. We draw attention to the unique patterns of practices related to Islam and patterns of belonging. Eastern European Islam remains relatively under-researched and, as a consequence, there is little clarity whether processes identifi…
“Everyone Should Mind their Jihād”. Polish Female Converts to Islam against Homonegativity
Predominantly Catholic and governed in the years 2015–2023 by the populist right Law and Justice Party, Poland is a country that has adopted a conservative stance towards the LGBT+ community. Homonegativity has entered the mainstream political discourse, while the notion of gender is considered a dangerous ideology. This political setting has also strengthened negative attitudes towards Muslims and led to the rise of Islamophobia. Against this co…
The Other at the border
When whiteness is not an asset. Racialisation strategies towards Polish converts to Islam
Unlike Western European countries, in Poland, there are two groups of native Muslim citizens: the Tatars and converts to Islam. They differ from mainstream society by their religion – Islam, and the Tatars, additionally, by their ethnicity. However, one of these groups – Islam converts – is racialised by the other. We argue that the Polish Tatars can use the repertoire of both sides – non-Muslim mainstream society and born Muslims – in order to o…
‘Arab Summer’ in the Tatra Mountains
This article examines how Arab (in particular GCC ) tourists are represented in Polish media discourse during their visits to the Podhale region and Zakopane. Although Poland is not a traditional destination for tourists from the Middle East, their increasing presence has generated sensation in the media. Using critical discourse analysis, the study explores how the ‘host gaze’ constructs Gulf visitors as exotic others. Drawing on a qualitative a…
Instrumentalizing the war in Gaza in Polish media
The war in Gaza is domesticated globally by national media ecosystems using locally-resonant frames. Research suggests that this produces a pro-Israeli bias in Western outlets, with the opposite observed in the Middle-East. The article analyzes how these patterns function in a semi-peripheral media system. It studies how four key Polish outlets framed the war in Gaza in 2023–2024, arguing that they instrumentalized the conflict to reproduce pre-e…
Introduction to the Special Issue
This special issue is intended to provide insights into the evolving dynamics in offline and online Islamic religious guidance and practice in Eurasia. The four articles share a common focus on the role of digital and online environments in shaping Islamic religious knowledge transmission and community engagement within Muslim minority contexts in CEE countries (Lithuania, Hungary and Poland) and also the CIS
Locality, Universalism, and Modernity in khutbas for Polish Muslims
The article presents the results of research on sermons delivered in mosques belonging to three Polish Muslim organisations: Muslim Religious Union ( MZR ), Muslim League ( LM ), and Sakinah Foundation ( FS ). The analysis focuses on the strategies adopted by Polish Muslim preachers who, in their sermons ( khutba s), try to address issues that are important for the life and identity of the Muslim minority in Poland. Among these issues are: the em…
Political science (11 works) · Islam (10 works) · Sociology (9 works) · History (8 works) · Law (6 works) · Archaeology (5 works) · History (5 works) · Law (5 works) · Computer Science (4 works) · Gender Studies (4 works)