https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6804-4750

Kniaź-Hunek is an Assistant Professor at MCSU in Lublin, Poland, specializing in pop music, American audiovisual media (music videos) and Black Studies with a special focus on Afrofuturism. Her diverse research interests are reflected in her published works, including a notable chapter on Janelle Monae in Fifty Key Figures in Cyberpunk Culture and contributions to prestigious journals such as Extrapolation and Vector (BSFA journal).

 Functions:

- Coordinator of Sounds of America series

- Coordinator of Ask an American series

- Co-organizer of Media in America, America in Media conference

- Secretary and Social Media Specialist for New Horizons in English Studies journal

Academic interests:

- American popculture (music)

- American media (music video)

- Afrofuturism and speculative media

- Black Studies.

Education:

2022 - PhD - Dissertation title: “Afrofuturism in Contemporary American Music Video: Themes, Aesthetics, Politics” [PL: Afrofuturyzm we współczesnym wideoklipie amerykańskim – tematyka, estetyki, polityka].

2016-2022 – Doctoral Studies in Literature and Linguistics at Maria Curie Sklodowska University in Lublin

2014-2016 – MA studies at MCSU, Project title: „Sound Design as Narrative Device in Contemporary American Film” [PL: Reżyseria dźwięku jako narzędzie narracyjne we współczesnym filmie amerykańskim].

2011-2014 – BA studies at MCSU, Project title: “Interchangeability of Ghetto Spaces in American Hip-Hop Music” [PL: Zamienność przestrzeni miejskiego “getta” w amerykańskim hip-hopie].

Membership in academic organizations:

2019 – Black Science Fiction Society

2018 – European Network for Cinema and Media Studies

2018 – European Association for American Studies (EAAS)

2018 – Polish Association for American Studies (PAAS)

Selected grants and scholarships:

2018 – EAAS Transatlantic Travel Grant for Graduate Students, University of California, Riverside, USA.

2018 – Conference Travel Grant; Fantastic Ninth annual conference of the Gesellschaft für Fantastikforschung na Universytecie we Fryburgu, Szwajcaria.

2016 – winner of the 2nd Prize in Poland’s contest for the Best MA Thesis in American Studies.

Selected publications:

1. „Afrokaraibska religia i duchowość w wideoklipie afrofutystycznymna przykładzie twórczości duetu Oshun”. W: Religia, historia i przyszłość w kulturze afrokaraibskiej¸ red. Dariusz Brzostek, Jakub Bohuszewicz. ISBN: 978-83-233-5124-5, str. 211-226. Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego, 2022. Rozdział w monografii
2. “Janelle Monáe.” In: Fifty Key Figures in Cyberpunk Culture, ed. Anna McFarlane et al., Routledge, 2022, pp. 123–26
3. Kolor skóry i etniczność w narracjach audiowizualnego cyberpunka”. Teksty Drugie. Teoria literatury, krytyka, interpretacja, ed. Ryszard Nycz et al., no 6 (2021). ISSN 0867-0633, pp. 125-141.
4. “Capturing the Future Back in Africa: Afrofuturist Media Ephemera.” Extrapolation. Special Issue. “Beyond Afrofuturism” ed. Isiah Lavender III, Lisa Yaszek. No. 61.  Liverpool University Press, UK. 2020. ISSN: 0014-5483. 
5. “Bleak Futures in Two East African Films.” Vector. British Science Fiction Association’s Magazine. Special Issue: “African and Afrodiasporic SF,” ed. Polina Levontin and Michelle Clarke, #289 (August 2019). ISNN: 0505-0448 Great Britain.
6. “Nancy Schreiber.” Hollywood Heroines: The Most Influential Women in Film History. ed. Laura Bauer. ABC-CLIO Press. Santa Barbara, CA, USA. December 2018.
7. “Live 2.0 – wykorzystanie rzeczywistości wirtualnej w muzyce „na żywo”.” [in Polish] MUTE 2: Live. Muzyka / Uniwersytet / Technologia / Emocje. AT Wydawnictwo. Kraków. September 2018.
8. “Revisiting the Aesthetics of Protest: Socially Conscious Music Videos.” In Media Res. Contemporary Music Video. MediaCommons: A Digital Scholarly Network . Media Commons Press. USA. May 2018. http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/imr/2018/05/13/revisiting-aesthetics-protest-socially-conscious-music-videos
9. “A Glitch in the Matrix: A Reflection on Shabazz Palaces’ ‘Welcome to Quazarz’ or a New Wave of Afrofuturist Music Videos.” MOSF Journal of Science Fiction, Special Issue titled: “Afrofuturism” Vol. 2, #2, (January 2018), p. 8-9. ISSN 2474-0837. ed.: Heather McHale. Alexandria, VA, USA. January 2018.
10. “‘Kaboom! Guess That Must Spell Doom!’: Dystopia and the Post-Apocalypse in Hip-Hop Music Videos.” Vector. British Science Fiction Association’s Magazine. Special Issue titled: “The Music Issue,” ed. Anna McFarlane and Glyn Morgan, #286 (summer 2017). Wielka Brytania.
11. “My City, My ‘Hood, My Street: Ghetto Spaces in American Hip-hop Music.” New Horizons in English Studies. #2 (2017), p. 114-126. Wydawnictwo UMCS.
12. “Creative Use of Sound in the Cinematic Adaptation of The Great Gatsby (2013).” New Horizons in English Studies. #1 (2016). e-ISSN: 2543-8980, p. 79-86. Wydawnictwo UMCS.
13. “#BlackLivesDontMatter – postapokalipsa i polityka w teledysku Señorita Vince’a Staplesa’” [in Polish] Annales UMCS, Sectio FF Philologiae, Vol 34, #2 (2016), ISSN: 0239-426X, p. 91-100. Wydawnictwo UMCS.

Other:

1. Fulbright Mentor Program for English Teaching Assistants 2018/2019 and 2019/2020.
2. Organizer of Ask an American series.