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Assistant Professor
PhD Director
Ph.D. 2006 (Sociology), M.A. 2000 (Sociology) New York University, New York, U.S.A.; M.A. 1995 (Philosophy), B.A. 1993 (Philosophy), Université de Paris-Sorbonne (Paris IV), France.
Office Address:
Zrinyi 14, Room 407A
Phone Number: (36-1) 327 3000 Ext. 2603
Email: kowalskia@ceu.hu
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AREAS OF RESEARCH / INTEREST:
classical and contemporary social theory; sociology of culture; historical and comparative sociology; sociology of the state; nations and nationalism; cultural policy; cultural globalization; epistemology of the social sciences; sociology of knowledge.
CEU COURSES:
ONGOING RESEARCH:
SYMBOLIC CAPITAL, THE URBAN FRONTIER AND THE LIMITS OF COMMODIFICATION
If historic preservation has become one of the most blatant cultural manifestations of economic globalization, urban studies have devoted little attention to the precise sociological relationship between economy and culture that it instantiates, taking it for granted, instead, as an effect of "gentrification" processes. What explains that historic preservation comes to mediate economic interests in processes of urban development at some point in the history of a city or a state, while it has not before or does not equally do so everywhere? What explains that its impact and its forms vary across the time and space of global modernity? The project explores these issues by comparing the controversies opposing preservationists and modernizers in the historic centers of two developing regional capitals: Budapest, Hungary and Lyon, France. Besides its theoretical aim (illuminating symbolic and micro-political dynamics that are often overseen in gentrification and urban development studies) the study also explores the potential uses of preservationism in the defense of public space.
Erzsebet Fanni Toth, Alexandra Szoke and Ferenc Laczo assist with interviews, documentary and bibliographic research. The research is supported by a CEU Faculty Research Grant through the 2008-2009 academic year.
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