Dr Margaret Amaka Ohia-Nowak is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Communication and Media Studies at the Marie Curie-Sklodowska University in Lublin, Poland. She is also a lecturer in Women's and Gender Studies (GEMMA) at the University of Łódź, Poland. She is a faculty member of the Black Europe Summer School in Amsterdam. Her work lies at the intersection of academia, civic education and racial justice activism. Since 2009, she has been an advocate for Black, African and Afro-descendant communities in the region and has been involved in numerous initiatives and projects to promote equity, cultural awareness and create spaces for radical community care.

Her work focuses on race and racism in public and private communications in Poland, anti-Black racist discourses, and media representations of Black Africans in Poland. Margaret received her Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of Wrocław, Poland in 2015. She graduated from the Black Europe Summer School in 2010. From 2012 to 2014, she was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley. She was a visiting scholar at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands in 2011 and at City University London, UK in 2012. She was a National Science Centre Fellow from 2011 to 2014. She is the recipient of the Susan Treadwell Award from the Open Society Initiative for Europe.

She recently co-authored the report on the lived experiences of Africans and Afro-descendants in Poland (2022) and the United Nations University report on modern slavery and financial exclusion of diverse men in times of crisis (2024). She has organised numerous seminars on understanding race and racism in contemporary Poland, and co-organised the first Black History Month debate in Poland (2020). She has been featured on several podcasts, including Being a Black Woman in Poland (2021) and Race and Representation (2020). Margaret is the Polish translator of Change Sings by Amanda Gorman. 

She is a co-founder and a co-director of the Alliance for Black Justice in Poland. She is the founder and executive director of the Centre for Intersectional Justice in Poland, an organisation that provides training, expertise and consultancy on racial justice and diversity, equity and belonging (clients include the Open Society Foundations, Climate-KIC, Freedom House, Facebook, Pinterest, IBM, Astra Zeneca). She is a board member of the Black Europe Foundation and the Journal for Right-Wing Studies (JRWS). She is part of the community of practice on racialised othering and radical belonging in Europe, launched by the Democracy & Belonging Forum of the Othering & Belonging Institute (OBI) at the UC Berkeley. 

RESEARCH PROJECTS AND INTERNSHIPS

• 2022-present Research Fellow. Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań. Genealogies of Peripheral Whiteness. Polish Identities in the Perspective of Urassaism. Funding: National Science Center. Grant No. 2020/37/B/HS2/03370
• 2024-present Research Fellow. House of European History. Brussels. Living Legacies: Facing Europe's Colonial Past. Funding: European Parliament
• 2023–2024 Research Fellow. Centre for Policy Research, United Nations University. Financial Inclusion and Trafficking of Men in Conflict and Crisis. Funded by: Finance Against Slavery and Trafficking (FAST) – United Nations University
• 2021-2023 Research Fellow. University of Warsaw. Decolonial Museology Re-centered: Thinking Theory and Practice through East-Central Europe. Funding: Insight Development Grant - Canadian Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)
• 2021–2023 Research Fellow. University of Warsaw. Sources of negative stereotypes of groups perceived as unfriendly - a comparison of anti-Roma and anti-Semitic prejudices in Poland and Germany. Funding: National Science Center. Grant No. 2017/26/M/HS6/00114.
• 2021–2023 Advisory Board Member. University of Warsaw. Diversity Management as Innovation in Journalism, Funding: National Science Center. Grant No. 2020/37/K/HS2/03773
• 2017–2020 Research Fellow. Wrocław University of Science and Technology. CLARIN ERIC: Common Language Resources and Technology Infrastructure. Funding: European Commission, Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
• 2012- 2014 Project Manager, Department of African American Studies/Center for African Studies, University of California, Berkeley. Funding: Polish-U.S. Fulbright Commission
• 2013-2014 Research Fellow, University of Lodz, Scientific Consortium “Discourse Analysis.” Funding: National Program for the Development of the Humanities (NPRH)
• 2013 Visiting Research Fellow. Department of Translation and Language Sciences, Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona, Spain
• 2011–2013 Project Manager. University of Wrocław/University of California, Berkeley. Linguistic mechanisms of discrimination based on race, Funding: National Science Center, grant no. 2011/01/N/HS2/02105
• 2012 Visiting Research Fellow. Centre for Race, Ethnicity and Migration, City University London, UK. Funding: European Commission, EU Operational Program Human Capital 2007-2013. Grant no. POKL.04.01.01-00-054/10
• 2011 Project manager. University of Wrocław. Overt and covert structures of racial discrimination in Polish social communication. Funding: Faculty of Philology, University of Wrocław. Grant no. 1434/M/IFP/11.
• 2010-2011 Visiting Research Fellow Faculty of Language and Literature. University of Amsterdam. LLP Erasmus Program.

SCIENTIFIC PUBLICATIONS

Monograph

• Ohia-Nowak, M. 2025. Antyczarny rasizm. Język - dyskurs - komunikacja. Lublin: Wydawnictwo UMCS. (publication in Polish)

Articles in peer-reviewed scientific journals

• Balogun, B., Ohia-Nowak, M. 2024. Geographies of race in Poland and Central and Eastern Europe, Ethnic and Racial Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2024.2400301
• Balogun, B., Ohia-Nowak, M. 2024. Geographies of imagination: why decolonizing Polish children's classics matters. Cultural Geographies, 31(2), 271-282. https://doi.org/10.1177/14744740231191533
• Nowak P., Ohia-Nowak M. 2022, Prosty język i naturalny porządek rzeczy w nowoczesnej rekrutacji (na przykładzie ogłoszeń o pracy), Poradnik Językowy, 8/2022, 53-63. DOI: 10.33896/PorJ.2022.8.4 (publication in Polish)
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2020, Słowo Murzyn jako perlokucyjny akt mowy, Przegląd Kulturoznawczy, 3, 195-212. https://doi.org/10.4467/20843860PK.20.023.12583 (publication in Polish)
• Mestre Arrioja G., Siapera E., Průchová Hru�zová A., Nguyen Vu T.L., Ohia-Nowak M., Umeda H., Ziółek M., Bobako M., 2020, Questionnaire: visual culture of race, View. Theories and Practices of Visual Culture 28/2020. https://doi.org/10.36854/widok/2020.28.2314
• Ohia M., 2016, Racism in public discourse in Poland. A preliminary analysis, Edutainment 01/2016, 135-149. DOI 10.15503/edut.2016.1.147.161
• Ohia M., 2013, Mechanizmy dyskryminacji rasowej w systemie języka polskiego, Przegląd Humanistyczny, 5, 93-105. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M., 2012, Social exclusion through racial categorization. An empirical test using articles from “The Independent” and “Gazeta Wyborcza”, Słowo Młodych, 1/(16)-2/(17) and 3/(18) - 4/(19), 5-18. (publication in Polish)

Chapters in edited volumes

• Ohia-Nowak, M (in press, planned publication date 06/2025). From “Murzyn” and “Mulat” to “Czarny”. Naming Black People in Poland. in: S. Makoni, B. Antia, S. Rudwick (eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Language and Race, London/New York: Routledge.
• Ohia-Nowak, M. (in press), Doświadczenie afropolskie. Refleksja autoetnograficzna, in: E. Kledzik, M. Zduniak (eds.), Usytuowania. Praktyki autorefleksji w XX- i XXI-wiecznym dyskursie humanistycznym w kontekście badań postzależnościowych. Kraków: Universitas. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia-Nowak, M. 2024. Discourse and Race/Racism, in: W. Czachur, A. Rejter, M. Wójcicka (eds.), Linguistic Discourse Research. Compendium (pp. 811-823) Krakow: Universitas (publication in Polish)
• Bieńkowski M., Winiewski M., Ohia-Nowak M. 2024. Rasizm wobec osób czarnych w Polsce, in: Dominika Bulska, Michał Bilewicz, Mikołaj Winiewski (eds.), Uprzedzenia w Polsce. Postawy a ideologia polityczna (pp. 91-113) Warsaw: Liberi Libri Press. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia-Nowak M. 2023, Racism, in: M. Branka, D. Cieślikowska (eds.) Anti-discrimination education. Trainer's handbook. (pp. 124-128) 2nd ed., Towarzystwo Edukacji Antydyskryminacyjnej, Stowarzyszenie Willa Decjusza, Warsaw-Krakow. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia-Nowak M. A. 2021. Decoloniality in education about racism. In: E. Banaszek, S. Szykowna, J. Walczyk (eds.), Wrażliwość W Edukacji. Idee, pomysły, działania. (pp. 79-89) Poznań: Centrum Kultury ZAMEK.
• Ohia-Nowak M. 2020. O języku rasizmu, in: Rasizm po polsku (pp. 14-39), Warsaw: HOW2 Publishing House. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M. 2016. Racist structures in the cases of Feston and Wieslaw in: Barczewska, S. Oukhvanova, I., Popova A. (eds.), Discourse Linguistics and Beyond 1. Discourse in Academic Settings (pp. 235-240) Regensburg: Sprachlit.
• Ohia, M. 2016, Media narratives about the 'other', in: J. Wasilewski (ed.), Narratives in life. About the group and the individual (pp. 17-42) Warsaw: Institute of Journalism, University of Warsaw. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia, M. 2016, Kraina mlekiem i czekoladą płynąca, in: K. Kamińska, M. Pięta-Kanurska, A. Snitsaruk (eds.), Wrocław. Rewers. Scenariusze miasta przyszłości, Wrocław: ESK 2016 (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M. 2015, Talking about 'foreigners' – opinion-forming or tabloid? Analysis of press reports on 'dark-skinned' people in Poland based on the examples of topics by Simon Mol and Maxwell Itoya, in: K. Kubin (ed.), Media in a Diverse Society: Ethics, Pluralism and Equal Treatment (pp. 56-96) Warsaw: Social Diversity Foundation. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M. 2014. , Racist Structures. The case of Feston and Wiesław. in: Irina Ukhvanova-Szmygowa et al. (eds.), Discourse in an academic perspective: materials from the international round table, April 3-5, 2009, Minsk, Belarus (pp. 116-120) Olsztyn: Wydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Warmińsko-Mazurskiego. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M., 2014, Linguistic analysis of the “Regulations for Acquiring Partners” In: Kamila Kamińska (ed.), Manual of Microgrants (pp. 53-60) Wrocław: European Capital of Culture 2016. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M., 2012, Nowa choreografia: nowy wymiar choreografii scenicznej, in: Małgorzata Różewicz, Milan Lesiak and Sławomir Bobowski (eds.), Między filmem i teatrem (pp. 405-416) Wrocław: Wyd. University of Wrocław. (publication in Polish)
• Ohia M., 2010, Расистские структуры (на примере случаев Фестона и Веслава) In: Дискурс в академической перспективе: материалы Междунар. круглого стола, 3-5 апреля 2009 г., Минск, Беларусь / под общ. ред. И. – (pp. 128-132) Minsk: Belarusian State University.
• – (pp. 128-132) Minsk: Belarusian State University. (publication in Russian)

Research reports and digital repositories

• Smith A., Vaughn L., Cela T., Marcelin L.H., Ohia-Nowak M., Charu Hogg C. and Marty R. 2024. Modern Slavery and Financial Exclusion: Exploring Crisis-Related Risks for Men, New York: UNU-CPR.
• Gober G., Ohia-Nowak M. 2022, Who makes the news? Poland Country Report, Global Media Monitoring Project 2020.
• Biegalska, A., Maziarz, M., Ohia-Nowak, M. 2021. Mapping plWordNet 3.2 onto Linked Open Data - Manual Dataset, CLARIN-PL digital repository: http://hdl.handle.net/11321/790.
• Biegalska A., Maziarz M., Ohia-Nowak M. 2018 A model set of relations between Slovosieci synsets and Wikipedia articles. [collection, database] Available in the Atlas of Open Science Resources, https://zasobynauki.pl/zasoby/wzorcowy-zbior-relacji-pomiedzy-synsetami-slowosieci-i-artykulami-wikipedii,18455/. License: CC BY-SA 4.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/legalcode.pl.

EDUCATIONAL AND POPULAR SCIENCE PUBLICATIONS (selected, most publications in Polish)

• Ohia-Nowak M.A., Nguyen Vu, T. L., 2024. Decolonization of museums, Polska Akcja Humanitarna.
• Ohia-Nowak M.A., Diouf M. 2023. Recommendations for actions to counteract discrimination against people of African descent in Poland. Warsaw: Afryka Inaczej Foundation.
• Ohia-Nowak M. 2023. Why does racism only concern discrimination against non-white people? Materials of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia-Nowak M. 2023, How to communicate inclusively? Transgender, intersex and non-binary people, “Głos Pedagogiczny” 6 (141), pp. 28-31.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Diouf M. 2023, Recommendations for actions to counteract discrimination against people of African descent. “Afryka Inaczej” Foundation
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2022 Inclusive communication in a class of diverse nationalities and religions, “Głos Pedagogiczny” 11(2022), pp. 18-22.
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2022, Nasze czarne życia, in: Afryka po polsku. Osoby pochodzenia afrykańskiego w Polsce. Polki i Polacy o Afryce i jej mieszkańcach, Fundacja “Afryka Inaczej”, Warsaw, pp. 4-8.
• Ohia-Nowak M., translation 2022, We are change, orig. Amanda Gorman, Change Sings, Zygzaki Publishing House.
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2022, Isn't racism our problem?, “Personel Plus” 3(172), pp. 72-75.
• Alboth A., Kotas D., Kossowska A., Wielądek A., Kossmowska B., Ohia-Nowak M.A., Wrzosek M., Staroń P., Kopcińska Z., Wiśniewski K., Witek R., Ude I., Kosmowska B. in: 15 (u)ważnych opowieści. Disney, Olesiejuk Publishing 2022.
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2021, Język inkluzywny w organizacji, “Personel Plus” 12(169), pp. 68-72.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Nowak P., 2020, Not all Poles are white, or what Norwid never dreamed of, “Krytyka polityczna” 06/18/2020.
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2020, Racism more in us and around us. Educational material of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia-Nowak M., 2020, Adaptacja kulturowa w Polsce: zalety i wyzwania, Fundacja Ukraina, Wrocław.
• Ohia-Nowak M. 2019, Interculturality in communication with foreign students, “Migrants in the Polish education system: successes and challenges. Bulletin summarizing the Eduforum for Unity of Migrants 2019 conference”, Fundacja Ukraina, Wrocław.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Pankowska J. 2019, PAH Helper: Responding to discriminatory words. Educational material of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Pankowska J. 2019, PAH Helper: Moderating discussions – rules and tips.Educational material of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Pankowska J. 2019, PAH Helper: Responding to common arguments. Educational material of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia-Nowak M., Pankowska J. 2019, PAH Helper: Explaining basic concepts of global education. Educational material of the Polish Humanitarian Action.
• Ohia, M. 2016, In Black and White. Reflections from studies about Black people in everyday Polish language and in media discourse in Poland. Africa and Eastern/Central Europe Series, Africa in Words. 19.12.2016

CONFERENCES AND ACADEMIC SEMINARS

• 06/2024. Anti-Black discourse in Poland, Black Europe Summer School, Amsterdam (guest lecture)
• 06/2024. From Racialized Othering to Radical Belonging in Europe, Democracy and Belonging Forum/Othering and Belonging Institute, UC Berkeley. Community of Practice Sweden Summer Retreat 2024
• 11/2023. The Afro-Polish experience. Autoethnographic reflection, Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Situations. Practices of self-reflection in 20th and 21st century humanities discourse in the context of post-dependency research.
• 06/2023. Race, Blackness and Discourse in Poland. Black Europe Summer School. Interrogating Citizenship, Race, and Ethnic Relations, Amsterdam (guest lecture)
• 02/2023 (paper with Bolajim Balogun) Polishness and Blackness: An Understanding of Race in Peripheral Locations, Rutgers University, Black German Heritage & Research Association Conference. ART AS RESISTANCE: Transcultural Expressions.
• 11/2022. Drawing inspiration from allied movements A conversation exploring how wins have been secured in difficult contexts in other social justice movements. Birmingham, Shared Ground Residential Conference. (guest lecture)
• 12/2022. Inclusive Language in Organization. D&I Changemakers Online Conference. (guest lecture)
• 08/2022. Rasizm w języku publicznym, Szczebrzeszyn, Festiwal Stolica Języka Polskiego (guest lecture)
• 07/2022. Racism and discourse in Poland in the context of war in Ukraine. Amsterdam, International Institute for Research and Education (IIRE), International Symposium on Black Europe 2022. Inside Black Europe and African Diaspora. (guest lecture)
• 06/2022. Black Europe Workshop. Resources on Black Poland, Institute of European Studies, University of California, Berkeley (guest lecture)
• 05/2022. Racism and discourse in the context of the war in Ukraine European University Institute, Florence (guest lecture)
• 04/2022. Refugees of Color from the War in Ukraine: The Developing Situation, Online webinar – Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL), (guest lecture)
• 04/2022 Africans escaping the war in Ukraine Center for African Studies, Online panel discussion – Howard University.
• 03/ 2022. Black Polishness. The Afropolska Perspective, Seminar – Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (guest lecture)
• 09/ 2021. Doing gender, making change: the Global Media Monitoring Project @ 2020 and other good things in the gender and media toolbox. Pre-conference forum at the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) 8th European Communication Conference 2021 (online).
• 08/2021. Resources on Black Europe. ESS Hands-On Online Workshop for Black European Research Resources, Stanford University (guest lecture)
• 05/ 2021. Semantics and Pragmatics of Racism, Online seminar – Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (guest lecture)
• 05/2021. Hate Speech and Anti-discrimination in Media, EPI -European Pact for Integration Project (guest lecture)
• 10/ 2020. Curatorial Dreams from Polish Museum Outsiders. University of Warsaw, Decolonizing Museum Cultures and Collections: Mapping Theory and Practice in East-Central Europe.
• 07/2020. Racism in Polish media discourse. Understanding Race and Racism in Contemporary Poland, Online panel discussion – Multiculturalism and Migration Observatory (guest lecture)
• 02/2020. Language and exclusion, Debate on the occasion of the International Day of the Polish Language. Council for the Polish Language at the Presidium of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Poznań.
• 04/2017. Black People in Poland: A Self-Reflective Study of Discourse, Center for American Studies, University of Warsaw. (guest lecture)
• 06/2014. Linguistic structures of representing race in Polish media discourse. Central European University, Budapest, Race in/outside post-WWII Europe: On the Politics of Governing and Knowledge Production (guest lecture)
• 05/2014. Cultural manifestations of racism in contemporary Polish. University of Warsaw, Africa Days 2014 (guest lecture)
• 04/2013. The Role of Discourse Structures in Exclusion. Poland Race Discourse. University of Greenwich, London. Discourse Power Resistance Conference.
• 04/2012. Racial discrimination in the Polish media, University of Plymouth, UK, Discourse Power Resistance Conference: Impact.
• 04/2011. Teaching racism in Polish schools, University of Plymouth, UK, Discourse Power Resistance Conference: Changing Education.
• 05/2010. New choreography as a media strategy, University of Wrocław, Between film and theater.
• 06/2010. The act of racial depreciation as an act of speech, Karpacz, Language and Culture: Acts and genres of speech. A cultural perspective.
• 04/2010. Can we Trust Educational Institutions? Africa as a Course in Polish Schools, University of Greenwich, London, The 9^th Discourse Power Resistance Conference: Trust.
• 05/2009. Racism in the Polish media discourse, University of Łódź, International Conference: Race, Religion, Representation.

MEMBERSHIP IN ACADEMIC SOCIETIES AND NETWORKS

• European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
• Polish Society for Social Communication (PTKS)
• Democracy and Belonging Forum, Othering and Belonging Institute (OBI)

SOCIAL IMPACT COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS (selected)

• 2024. Pojects Manager. Unlearning for Relational Justice. new visions. Funding: Climate KIC/EU.
• 2024. Contractor. “Resilience” project. Funding: filia.die frauenstiftung
• 2023-2024 Project Manager. School of Anti-Racist Practice. Alliance for Black Justice in Poland, new visions, Intersectional Justice Center in Poland. Funding: Rockefeller Brothers Fund/Echoing Green Catalytic Fund
• 2023-present. Contractor. Regenerative Activism. Ulex Centre, Eroles, Spain. Funding: Erasmus+
• 2021-2023 Contractor. Afryka po polsku (Africa in Polish). Afryka Inaczej Foundation. Funding: Aktywni Obywatele - National Fund, Poland
• 2021-2023 Contractor. Generation Change, Stanisław Brzozowski Association. Funding: Aktywni Obywatele - National Fund, Poland
• 2019-2022 Contractor. Human Rights Friendly School. How to prevent violence and exclusion at school? Warsaw Center for Educational and Social Innovation and Training. Funding: City of Warsaw
• 2020-2022 Contractor. Anti-racist tool shop. Polish Migrants Organize for Change - POMOC (UK), new visions (Germany). Funding: Guerilla Foundation
• 2021-2023 Contractor. With a concern for equality. RegenerAkcja Foundation. Funding: Aktywni Obywatele - National Fund