Joanna Kulawiak-Cyrankowska

Assistant Professor at the Department of Roman Law

University of Lodz

I’m an Assistant Professor of Roman Law with a background in Classical Philology and Literary Studies, working in the in-between, where law and literature borrow each other’s tricks.

I use philological and hermeneutical approaches to study Roman law and literature in order to open up our understanding of how legal thinking, language, and rules bring each other to life, and how this subtle interplay extends far beyond the scope of juristic sources.

I gave my academic heart to Roman jurists and wrote a book on utilitas in their thought. I trace legal echoes in Roman satire and teach law students Latin in Latin.

I like how interpretation sharpens when you let the words bite back, take ideas seriously but not grimly, and believe that joy and rigor can share a desk.

Areas of Research Interests:

Roman Jurisprudence

Legal Interpretation, Argumentation, and Thinking

(Roman) Law and Literature

Ancient Rhetoric

Roman Satire

Living Latin

My top 5 current activities:

- Celebrating publishing my monograph, 'Utilitas in Roman Jurists' Legal Interpretation', which will be published by Franz Steiner Verlag. This English translation of my doctoral thesis was made possible through the support of the Doctoral Research Grants from the University of Lodz.
- Delving into late antique imperial constitutions within the ERC Consolidator Grant Project "Understanding Late Antique Top-Down Communication: A Study of Imperial Constitutions" (AntCoCo) led by Prof. Dr. Dr. Dr. Peter Riedlberger.
- Iusculum: A Latin course for lawyers, taught partially in Latin, aimed at introducing law students to Latin in a novel and immersive manner
- The project In a Distorting Mirror? Law as Presented in Roman Satire supported by the Polish National Science Centre (grant number 2021/41/N/HS2/02500), which explores the portrayal of law in Roman satirical literature.
- Index 2.0 - the project aiming at creating a digital platform to facilitate text-critical studies of Roman law, leveraging the Index Interpolationum. The research team includes Marton Ribary (Royal Holloway), Giuseppe Di Donato (Edinburgh Napier), Julien Danneau (UCLouvain), and myself.

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