Dr. Dominik Stecula, PhD Examines Polish American Identity in Piast Lecture

His 2010 book, Polish Americans Today: Modern Polonian Leadership, was written jointly with the late Thaddeus C. Radzilowski, Ph.D., co-founder of the Piast Institute in Hamtramck, founded in 2003.

Building on that initial project, the second edition of the book, Polish Americans Today was published in 2021. Both editions were published by the Piast Institute and were based on surveys. This second edition is the only national survey of Polish Americans and offers the most detailed data-driven look at the Polish American community, according to Stecula. With the lecture, the researcher will paint a comprehensive picture of American Polonia and focus on the attitudes, demographics, identities, and cultural activities of the Polish American community.

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This program is part of the 20th anniversary celebration of the Piast Institute. Stecula’s book will be available for purchase at the lecture. To register online for the lecture today, go to: https://rb.gy/lqiinl, walk-ins are also encouraged to attend. Previously, author Imogene Salva delivered a lecture in March, in which she detailed her mother’s World War II experience as one of many Polish children refugees who were given sanctuary in India by a generous benefactor, an Indian maharajah. The lecture was based on her book, One Star Away.

Stecula co-authored the first edition of Polish Americans Today as a research assistant under Radzilowski. His research has been featured in The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, and other news outlets in the United States and abroad. His articles have appeared in USA Today, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Washington Post and Newsweek, among others. As a Polish immigrant, he also writes about American politics for Polish publications like Polityka, Gazeta Wyborcza and Kultura Liberalna. Stecula served as the research director at the Piast Institute and added that since the fall of 2018, he serves on its board of directors.

Directed by Virginia Skrzyniarz, Piast co-founder and current CEO, the 2020 Polish American Survey formed the basis for the 2021 book. It focuses on demographics, beyond the Census data, according to Stecula. He said, “Our national survey of nearly 81,800 Polish Americans is therefore the best source of information about our community: who we are, what we believe, how connected we are to Poland … all of these questions are answered in the book.”

Since its inception in 2003, the Piast Institute has grown to become a nationally recognized nonprofit research center that focuses on Polish and Polish American Affairs. Named after the first dynasty of Poland, the Piast Institute began its 20-year journey in Detroit, Michigan.

In 2005, the Institute moved to Hamtramck, where Polish immigrants had settled and thrived since the early 1900s. In 2006, it was designated as an official Census Information Center by the U.S. Census Bureau, one of 48 centers in the nation. As part of its community outreach, the Institute provides programs to help prevent substance abuse among Hamtramck youth with the aid of their parents and teachers.

This program is co-financed from the Polish community funds of the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Chicago.

For more information, visit www.piastinstitute.org or call the office at (313) 733-4535.

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