Jerzy (Jurek) Elżanowski

Joint Appointments

School of Architecture and Urbanism
Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture

Faculty Affiliations

Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies
Carleton Centre for Public History

Research Interests

I explore the relationships between architecture, violence and commemoration in Central and Eastern Europe as well as Canada. My current research projects focus on a) the history and historiography of urban war damage, including excavations and exhibitions of war-damaged objects as well as archival bomb damage and destruction surveys and maps; b) recent commemorative strategies in the Ottawa National Capital Region, particularly the Holocaust and Communism memorials; c) multi-vocal consultation methodologies for engaging communities in design for public installations. I continue to experiment with joint architectural and humanities pedagogies, both in my teaching and through collaborative projects in the fields of heritage conservation pedagogy and curatorial studies.  I am part of a team of scholars working on an exhibition that explores Canada’s responsibilities to water. I have also recently completed a term abroad as a visiting fellow at the Technical University Berlin, where I gave a number of public talks.

My general research interests include:

• War damage cartography in the context of post-conflict heritage planning
• Politics of urban commemoration, particularly commemorative strategies in relation to histories of genocide and the Holocaust
• Curatorial practices at museums of war and conflict
• Artificial ruins / ruin aesthetics / ruin photography

Selected Publications

•  Rebecca Dolgoy and Jerzy Elżanowski, “Working Through the Limits of Multidirectional Memory: Ottawa’s Memorial to the Victims of Communism and National Holocaust Monument,” Citizenship Studies 22:4 (2018), 433-451.
•  Reprint in the anthology of the best of articles published in The Journal of Architecture in the last decade: “Manufacturing Ruins: Architecture and Representation in Post-Catastrophic Warsaw,” The Journal of Architecture 23:5 (2018), 740-755.
• “Putting Roosevelt Back into Play: Reflections on the National Parks Now Competition,” in Alles Heritage, ed. Kirsten Angermann, Eva von Engelberg-Dočkal and Johannes Warda (Weimar: Bauhaus-Universität, 2016), 32-43.
• “Personal Effects: On Violence and Everyday Life in Warsaw’s Anthropogenic Stratum,” in Im Kontext, ed. Simone Bogner and Daniela Spiegel (Weimar: Bauhaus-Universität, 2016), 30-37.
• “Domesticating Violence: Notes from a Socio-Spatial Incursion into Warsaw’s Anthropogenic Stratum,” in Presence/ Absence/ Traces: Contemporary Artists on Jewish Warsaw, ed. Ewa Chomicka and Agnieszka Pindera (Warsaw: POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews, 2016), 164-181.
• “Monuments and Material Dislocation: The Politics of Commemoration in Warsaw,” in Public Space and the Challenges of Urban Transformation in Europe, ed. Ali Madanipour, Sabine Knierbein and Agalée Degros (London: Routledge, 2014), 88-102.
• “Detroit” in Architecture & Situation, ed. Ella Chmielewska, Tahl Kaminer, and Dorrian Wiszniewski, vol. 4, (Edinburgh: The University of Edinburgh and Ampersand Publishing, 2014), 30-33.
• “Ruins, Rubble and Human Remains: Negotiating Culture and Violence in Post-Catastrophic Warsaw,” Public Art Dialogue 2:2 (2012), 114–146.
• “Cidade e memória: vistas de Varsóvia a partir do Palácio de Cultura e Ciência (City and Memory: Views of Warsaw from the Palace of Culture and Science),” Arquitetura e Urbanismo 27: 221 (2012), 72-75.
• “Manufacturing Ruins: Architecture and Representation in Post-Catastrophic Warsaw,” The Journal of Architecture 15:1 (2010), 67-82.

Courses Taught (Fall 2014 – Winter 2020)

Fall 2019 – Winter 2020

• CDNS 5401 / CLMD 6106, Fall 2019: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts (Theme: The ‘Heritage’ of Heritage Concepts)
• CDNS 4400, Fall 2019: Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Identities in Canada (Theme: TBA, please contact me for more information)
• CDNS 1002, Winter 2020: Themes in the Study of Canada (Monuments, Museums, and Memory Activism – see course outline for Winter 2019 below)
• CDNS 3901, Winter 2020: Special topics course

Fall 2018 – Winter 2019

• CDNS 5401 / CLMD 6106, Winter 2019: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts (Theme: The ‘Heritage’ of Heritage Concepts)
• CDNS 1002, Winter 2019: Themes in the Study of Canada (Monuments, Museums, and Memory Activism)
• Course Abroad, Fall 2018: Heritage and Memory in Canada and Central Europe

Fall 2017 – Winter 2018

• CDNS 5401, Fall 2017: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts (Theme: The ‘Heritage’ of Heritage Concepts)
• CLMD 6106, Fall 2017: Historical Representation and Historical Memory (Theme: Landscape, Bodies, and Cultural Memory Practice)
• CDNS 1002, Winter 2018: Themes in the Study of Canada (Theme: Self-Knowledge and Collective Memory)
• CDNS 4400, Winter 2018: Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Identities in Canada (Theme: Wandering the Landscape)

Fall 2016

• CDNS 5401, Fall 2016: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts
• EURR 5201/CLMD6103/ARCH5000, Fall 2016: Architecture and Memory in Europe

Fall 2015 – Winter 2016

• CDNS 5401, Fall 2015: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts
• CDNS 1002, Fall 2015: Themes in the Study of Canada (Theme: Contextualizing Urban Praxis in Canada and Abroad)
• CDNS 3600, Winter 2016: Cultural Politics and Identities in Canada (Theme: Constructing Suburban Identities)
• CDNS 4000, Winter 2016: Capstone Seminar in Advanced Research in Canadian Studies (Theme: Writing in Section; collaboration with ARCS 4106)

Fall 2014 – Winter 2015

• CDNS 5401, Fall 2014: Heritage Conservation I: History, Principles, and Concepts
• CDNS 4901, Winter 2015: Special Topics: “What’s the matter with suburbia?”
• CDNS 4400, Winter 2015: Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Identity in Canada (Theme: Landscape in Section

Graduate Supervisions

I supervise MA, MArch and PhD students in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies, the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture, and the School of Architecture and Urbanism.  Current and past supervisions include:

In-progress (primary supervisor or co-supervisor)

• William Felepchuk, “Unearthing Racial Necrogeographies in Settler Colonies: The Life and Death of Burial Places in Ontario and Virginia,” School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies (PhD co-supervisor with Daniel McNeil).
• Jenan Ghazal, “Constructing Destruction: Architecture and the Question of Violence,” Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism (PhD co-supervisor with Stephen Fai).
• Hilary Grant, “Tracing Heritage: Reassembling Canadian Heritage Theory and Practice,” Cultural Mediations, Institute for Comparative Studies of Literature, Art and Culture (PhD supervisor).
• Emily Putnam, Cultural Mediations, Institute for the Comparative Studies of Literature, Art and Culture (PhD co-supervisor with Ming Tiampo).

Completed

• Trina Cooper-Bolam, “Claiming the Terrible Gift – A Post-TRC Investigation in Praxiological Museology” Cultural Mediations, Institute for the Comparative Studies of Literature, Art and Culture (PhD supervisory committee member with Ruth Phillips and Peter Hodgins), 2020.
• Shannon Kitley, “Habits of Habitation: A Case for Disorienting White Comfort in Thunder Bay,” MArch, Azrieli School of Architecture and Urbanism, 2020.
• Casey Gray, “Graves and Ghosts: Re-emerging Cemetery Landscapes, Bodies, and Stories of the Rideau Canal,” MA in Canadian Studies, 2018.
• Jenan Ghazal, “Architecture and Violence: Between Representation and Exchange,” MArch, School of Architecture, 2016.