Wanda Dynowska’s Educational Laboratory

Elements of Performative Education among Tibetan Refugees in India in the Early Formation of the Community in Exile

DOI: https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2025.5104.14
Keywords: Tibet, Montessori, identity, performativity, Wanda Dynowska

Abstract

The aim of this article is to present the educational activities of Wanda Dyn- owska (1888–1971) within the Tibetan refugee community in India during the initial period of its existence in exile. Dynowska, a now largely forgotten Polish theosophist and social activist, typically worked within cultural niches, focusing primarily on educational issues. In interwar Poland she was active in small theo- sophical communities, but she also directed her educational initiatives toward children and adults excluded from the formal education system. After moving to India in 1935, she worked, among others, with the children of Polish ref- ugees in India, emphasizing the need to build an axionormative community. Eventually, she undertook work among Tibetan refugees who began arriving in India after 1959. She focused on the education of children and young peo- ple, striving to create a system of schooling that addressed the specific needs of young refugees – understood by her primarily as the necessity of shaping and preserving identity. To this end, she introduced the Montessori method into the Tibetan education system. This article seeks to present and interpret Dynows- ka’s activities in light of the performance theory of Victor Turner (1982, 1988) and Richard Schechner (2013), with particular emphasis on the transformative potential of performative acts to model human attitudes and behaviors.

Author Biographies

Agata Świerzowska, Jagiellonian University in Kraków

Professor in the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is a scholar of religion and a historian of ideas. Her research interests include the theory of religion, modern and traditional forms of spirituality, and the tradition of yoga, with particular emphasis on its modern transformations and its history in Poland. She conducted research within the NPRH project Polish Culture in Relation to Western Esoteric Philosophy in the Years 1890–1939. She is the author, among other works, of the monograph Yoga in Poland from the Late Nineteenth Century to 1939: Esoteric Contexts and Interpretations (2019), and a co-author (with Izabela Trzcińska) of “Jasną jest droga przede mną”. Życie i dzieło Wandy Dynowskiej Umadevi (2024) [“Bright Is the Path Ahead of Me”: The Life and Work of Wanda Dynowska Umadevi].

Agata Świerzowska  – is a professor in the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilizations at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She is a scholar of religion and a historian of ideas. Her research interests include the theory of religion, modern and traditional forms of spirituality, and the tradition of yoga, with particular emphasis on its modern transformations and its history in Poland. She conducted research within the NPRH project Polish Culture in Relation to Western Esoteric Philosophy in the Years 1890–1939. She is the author, among other works, of the monograph Yoga in Poland from the Late Nineteenth Century to 1939: Esoteric Contexts and Interpretations (2019), and a co-author (with Izabela Trzcińska) of “Jasną jest droga przede mną”. Życie i dzieło Wandy Dynowskiej Umadevi (2024) [“Bright Is the Path Ahead of Me”: The Life and Work of Wanda Dynowska Umadevi].

Izabela Trzcińska , University of Science and Technology

Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and Digital Era Research at the Faculty of Humanities of AGH University of Krakow. Her research focuses on alternative culture and art, with particular attention to currents of contemporary spirituality, as well as on mythologies in Western culture. She was the principal investigator of the research project Programs of Alternative Spirituality in Cieszyn Silesia from the Late Nineteenth Century to the 1970s, conducted within the Ministry of Education and Science programme Science for Society. She is the author of numerous publications, including the monographs O duchowości inaczej. Coaching w perspektywie przemian kultury współczesnej [Spirituality Otherwise: Coaching in the Perspective of Transformations of Contemporary Culture], Sztuka duchowości Janiny Kraupe [The Art of Spirituality of Janina Kraupe], and—co-authored with Agata Świerzowska—“Jasną jest droga przede mną”. Życie i dzieło Wandy Dynowskiej Umadevi [“Bright Is the Path Ahead of Me”: The Life and Work of Wanda Dynowska Umadevi].

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Published
2025-12-30
How to Cite
[1]
Świerzowska, A. and Trzcińska , I. 2025. Wanda Dynowska’s Educational Laboratory: Elements of Performative Education among Tibetan Refugees in India in the Early Formation of the Community in Exile. Perspectives on Culture. 51, 4 (Dec. 2025), 207-222. DOI:https://doi.org/10.35765/pk.2025.5104.14.
Issue
Vol. 51 No. 4 (2025): The Jesuit Cultural Heritage of Cracow and Małopolska Region
Section
Varia

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