Jola
Jola

Author(s): Piotr Taracha
Subject(s): Cultural history
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Jonata Sierakowska-Dyndo; Oriental Studies; Faculty of Oriental Studies; culturology; Afghanology
Summary/Abstract: This paper reminds readers things that are so easy to take for self-evident duties and clear responsibilities of a principal or a dean as the chief academic and administrative officer of an institute or a faculty. The Jubilee, Professor Jolanta Sierakowska-Dyndo, served as the chief public figure for the Institute, and then Faculty of Oriental Studies of the University of Warsaw for 14 years (2002-2016), representing it before a range of audiences. Her achievements, however, go beyond what we used to expect a dean to accomplish during his/her term of office. Her memorable contribution to development of the Oriental studies at the University of Warsaw, which celebrate this year the 90th anniversary of their establishment, was to transform the Institute into the Faculty in 2008. The Faculty of Oriental Studies is the only one in Poland and nowadays also, one of the several largest research institutions studying Asia and Africa in Europe. The author was able to observe the organisational activities of the Jubilee as her deputy throughout the entire 14-year period. He also summarizes her special role in the discussion about the identity of Oriental studies that she always understood much broader than just research on languages and cultures. She emphasized the need of a holistic approach to problem solving, considering history, religion, philosophy, cultural traditions and today’s pop culture, politics and society of the region or country under scrutiny. She defined the Oriental studies as part of culturology, according to the term introduced by Prof. Mencwel. Finally, the paper points out the Jubilee’s research achievements as Iranologist and Afghanologist.

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