Biography
Jim Bjork joined the Department in 2005 as Lecturer in Modern European History. He has previously taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor in the US at the universities of Notre Dame, Rice, and Colgate, and he has held postdoctoral fellowships at the Centre for German and European Studies (Georgetown University) and the Institute of European Studies (Cornell University). Jim received his PhD from the University of Chicago.
From 2012 to 2015, Jim Bjork served as the first director of the Liberal Arts BA at King’s.
Research interests and PhD supervision
- the social history of religion in modern Europe
- history of nationalism in modern Europe
- supranational identifications in modern Central Europe, especially Germany and Poland.
Jim Bjork’s primary research and teaching interests are the social history of religion and the history of nationalisation in modern Europe. His current research explores the relationship between national exceptionalism and the idea of the ‘Christian West’ in shaping the religious revival in Poland during the 1960s and 1970s. His book, ‘Neither German nor Pole: Catholicism and National Indifference in a Central European Borderland, 1890-1922’, which examines the role played by everyday religious life in frustrating the formation of clearly defined national communities in Upper Silesia, was published by the University of Michigan Press in 2008.
For more details, please see his full research profile.
Teaching
Jim Bjork teaches a range of modules at undergraduate and postgraduate level, with a particular focus on the history of East-Central Europe, the social history of religion, and the history of empires and nations.
Expertise and public engagement
Jim Bjork has served as the secretary of the German History Society (2011 to 2015) and was recently elected to the board of the Polish Studies Association (2017).
He has been interviewed by various Polish media outlets about his book, and his views on prospects for Silesian autonomy/independence:
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Bjork, J., 13 Jun 2021, (Accepted/In press) In: JOURNAL OF MODERN HISTORY. 94, 3, p. 1-40 40 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
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Reading, A., Bjork, J., Hanlon, J. & Jakeman, N., Jun 2021, In: Memory Studies. 14, 3, p. 606-621 16 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980211010697
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Bjork, J., Sep 2020, National Indifference and the History of Nationalism in Modern Europe. Van Ginderachter, M. & Fox, J. (eds.). Abingdon: Routledge, p. 204-224 21 p. (Routledge Studies in Modern European History). Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Bjork, J., Mar 2020, In: CENTRAL EUROPEAN HISTORY. 53, 1, p. 71-93 23 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0008938919000979
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Bjork, J., 6 Jan 2020, (E-pub ahead of print) In: Central Europe. 17, 2, p. 79-92 14 p. Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1080/14790963.2019.1709017
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Bjork, J., 15 May 2016, Science, Religion and Communism in Cold War Europe. Betts, P. & Smith, S. A. (eds.). Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 35-54 20 p. (St. Antony’s/Macmillan series ). Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54639-5_2, https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-54639-5
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Bjork, J., 28 Apr 2016, Creating Nationality in Central Europe, 1880-1950: Modernity, violence and (be)longing in Upper Silesia. Kamusella, T., Bjork, J., Wilson, T. & Novikov, A. (eds.). Abingdon: Routledge, p. 105-126 22 p. 6. (Routledge studies in the history of Russia and Eastern Europe; no. 25). Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Kamusella, T. (ed.), Bjork, J. (ed.), Wilson, T. (ed.) & Novikov, A. (ed.), 14 Apr 2016, Taylor and Francis Inc. 236 p. Research output: Book/Report › Book › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315641324
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Bjork, J. E., 28 May 2015, Ashgate Research Companion to Imperial Germany. Surrey: Ashgate, p. 245-260 16 p. 14 Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter
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Bjork, J., 2014, Borderlands in World History, 1700-1914. Readman, P., Radding, C. & Bryant, C. (eds.). Houndsmills, Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, p. 192-213 20 p. Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review. DOIs: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137320582_10