The Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings entered into force on 1 February 2008. The added value of this new piece of international legislation lies in its human-rights, victim-centred approach and how it obliges Member States to provide assistance and support to all those who have been trafficked. The Czech Republic has not signed the Convention yet, but Poland ratified it in November 2008. It came into force in Poland in May 2009.
Roma people, one of the most mobile groups in Europe, have had a long history of discrimination and ostracism. Many have been left with no citizenship and almost always living in ghettoes and in dire economic circumstances. They are known to be particularly vulnerable to trafficking in human beings. Only recently, statutory and non-statutory agencies across the continent are placing more attention on understanding these vulnerabilities so as to develop social schemes and programmes that can deliver successful assistance to Roma people who may have been victims of trafficking. For example, the European Roma Rights Centre and the People in Need Slovakia are conducting a research project funded by the European Commission in five different Eastern and Central European countries in order to improve our knowledge of how the Roma community is affected by trafficking.
There are known cases of Roma people being trafficked into Poland and the Czech Republic, and Roma people being trafficked from the Czech Republic further afield to countries such as Spain, the United Kingdom and France. In Poland, the greatest number of non-Polish citizens identified as victims of trafficking for any form of exploitation are from the Ukraine, Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania. Of these last two countries, the great majority of them are of Roma background. Although most have looked into the trafficking of young people and women for sexual exploitation, only recently attention is being paid to trafficking for forced labour, benefit fraud and criminal activity across Europe.
During the two day investigation I would speak to NGOs working with Roma people and on trafficking in both, the Czech Republic and Poland. I will be contacting NGOs in both of these locations to examine the extent of Roma inward and outward migration, their socio-economic circumstances and issues of integration and identity, as well as how trafficking discourses may be impacting on Roma migration and integration. I would also examine whether the implementation of the Convention since May 2009 has delivered the assistance and protection it recommends in the Polish context and how this differs from the Czech Republic context, which has not signed the Convention but has greater numbers of Roma population and whose government has formulated anti-trafficking policies since 2003, the year in which the National Rapporteur for Trafficking in Human Beings was established.
Mar 22, 2010
Mar 21, 2010
Darya Marchenkova - A place for a happy life: the city’s ethnic minorities in Ostrava 2015
Ostrava is a 2015 European Culture Capital hopeful. The candidacy, which in his endorsement Václav Havel calls “an effort to recognize, appreciate, and develop even the less conspicuous beauty of our country and our cities,” is the impetus behind Ostrava 2015, an urban and cultural revitalization project designed both to place Ostrava on the European culture map and improve the daily life of Ostrava residents. Central to the vision is the introduction of culture clusters, or planned environments that concentrate cultural institutions and spaces to create a “mutual synergy” between interactive parts. While architects of the Ostrava 2015 envision generating a dynamic culture cluster that places Ostrava on a European culture map, a second ambition is to improve the daily and cultural lives of city residents. How do project planners include ethnic minorities in this vision for an improved life? How will members of ethnic minorities and their communities be impacted by, or participate in, Ostrava 2015? Do communities actively participate in aspects of the planning process? Does culture, in fact, of the type represented by Ostrava 2015 have the capacity to benefit local communities of ethnic minorities, and how?
Ostrava 2015 has four components—five construction initiatives, improved networking between Ostrava cultural institutions and the larger European cultural community, increased education in arts management, and improved quality of life, including an emphasis on ecological sustainability, an important response to the externalities of the city’s industrial legacy. The first component, deemed Buildings, is “the main investment activity of the Ostrava 2015 project.” The Black Meadow Cluster is the largest of the five construction projects envisioned by Buildings. The project will transform Black Meadow, a presently unutilized former industrial site advantageously located in the city center, into a culture cluster with a music hall and pavilion and a gallery with temporary exhibitions.
The Black Meadow Cluster plans are comprehensive. Aside from music and visual arts institutions, the project will found an educational complex for pre-school, elementary, and high school students; residential housing integrated into the complete cluster environment; and the “humanization of the Ostravice River” for the public usability and enjoyment of the waterfront. Public documents state: “All of this together should create the conditions for a happy life.” As with all urban revitalization projects, one question is: for whom? How do planners take care to distribute both costs and benefits of comprehensive revitalization across social groups in the city?
What place do Ostrava’s minorities have in the vision for the 2015 city? On the one hand, Ostrava 2015 aims to attract international recognition and tourism to the city, giving the project a cosmopolitan character. Yet the vision also has a local scope: to improve the long-term cultural life of the city and the daily lives of residents. The incorporation of education, housing, and environment within the scheme demonstrate the Cultural Capital candidacy’s symbolic impetus to transform the city. Due to its industrial past and the brownfield sites that remain its symbols, aspects of Ostrava’s landscape can be seen as a tabula rasa upon which culture clusters can be erected. Yet no site is vacant in the city: as city planners build upon vacant physical space, they equally build upon the occupied social space of the city, including its diverse residents and the inequalities, conflicts, and interactions that characterize their cohabitation.
My research objective is to interview representatives of the 2015 project in Ostrava. Given its pivotal location in the Ostrava 2015 imagination, I will focus my questions on the Black Meadow Cluster project. In addition, I would like to interview local leaders not involved or peripherally involved in the planning process, hopefully including local activists or leaders within ethnic minority communities or organizations, to hear their take on the scheme. Special attention is paid to integration of members of ethnic minorities into the plans for housing and education.
Resources permitting, I will also visit Pécs, Hungary—the current European Culture Capital—on another occasion to conduct less in-depth series of interviews on the impact or participation of Culture Capital status on ethnic minorities in Pécs, one of Hungary’s most ethnically diverse cities and the home of nine local minority governments. If Ostrava wins the Culture Capital selection round in September, could the project’s implementers learn something from the Pécs experience, relative to the impact or participation of ethnic minorities?
Note: All quotes are referenced to the Ostrava 2015 website: www.ostrava2015.cz
Image derived from Official Website of Ostrava City: http://www.ostrava.cz/
Mar 18, 2010
Sasha Borovikova - The Settlement of Slovak Migrant Workers in Ostrava
Can ethnicity be a determinative factor for an urban settlement?
In big cities, particularly in Western Europe and the USA, we can come across ethnic quarters: Chinese, Arabic, Bangladeshi, Jewish, Russian, etc. Ostrava is not a multicultural megalopolis but as an industrial center. it has always attracted people from other regions of Czechia and from abroad, especially from Slovakia and Poland, recently Ukraine has been added to this list. Throughout the history a great number of mass housing was built for the thousands of migrants who moved to work in the coal mines during the periods of economic upturn, new districts emerged and developed. Besides, Ostrava has a large Romani population inhabiting the Hrušov district. And then a question arises: are there any other examples of the settlements determined by ethnicity in Ostrava?
In my research I decided to focus on the current wave of the Slovak immigrants. Though restructuring of heavy industry and downsizing of coal mines have entailed the highest rate of unemployment in the country, lots of those who lost their jobs decided to stay in Ostrava. And one of the questions is how do they consolidate themselves in the city? I am interested both in those who still work at the factories and in those who found different ways after losing their work. Even the official number of the Slovak migrant workers is relatively big: «at the end of 2008, the Ostrava Job Centre’s register of foreign workers listed 3,843 employees from the EU/EEA/Switzerland, of which 3,026 were Slovak citizens».
What districts of the city do these migrants choose for living? Do they settle in the districts where previous waves of immigrants have settled? And if they live in workers' estates, are there any ethnic peculiarities there? If they do not work at the factory anymore, where and with whom do they generally rent an apartment? Is there any active Slovak community in Ostrava among the workers (and former workers)? Do recent migrants keep in touch with the previous generations? Are there any public places where they gather? Or maybe they are totally dispersed and there is nothing of the mentioned above?
The area I am planning to focus on is Vitkovice, an administrative part of Ostrava, situated in the Moravian part of the city. It has been an industrial center since the establishment of the steelworks in 1828. At present Vitkovice has an engineering group which specializes in machinery production and incorporates about thirty companies. Though this choice is not that strict, and if in the course of research there appear people from other districts (e.g. Hrabová, Mošnov or something else), I could work with them as well. I intend to select 2-3 heroes for an explicit inquiry.
As a result of the research I would like to create a multimedia which will contain soundscapes and visualscapes of the district (in regard to Slovak migrant workers), as well as parts of the interviews and photographic portraits. The aim of this research is to describe the settlement of the Slovak migrant workers by means of their personal stories and media scapes of the areas and therethrough to answer the question to what degree their settlement is determined by their ethnicity.
In big cities, particularly in Western Europe and the USA, we can come across ethnic quarters: Chinese, Arabic, Bangladeshi, Jewish, Russian, etc. Ostrava is not a multicultural megalopolis but as an industrial center. it has always attracted people from other regions of Czechia and from abroad, especially from Slovakia and Poland, recently Ukraine has been added to this list. Throughout the history a great number of mass housing was built for the thousands of migrants who moved to work in the coal mines during the periods of economic upturn, new districts emerged and developed. Besides, Ostrava has a large Romani population inhabiting the Hrušov district. And then a question arises: are there any other examples of the settlements determined by ethnicity in Ostrava?
In my research I decided to focus on the current wave of the Slovak immigrants. Though restructuring of heavy industry and downsizing of coal mines have entailed the highest rate of unemployment in the country, lots of those who lost their jobs decided to stay in Ostrava. And one of the questions is how do they consolidate themselves in the city? I am interested both in those who still work at the factories and in those who found different ways after losing their work. Even the official number of the Slovak migrant workers is relatively big: «at the end of 2008, the Ostrava Job Centre’s register of foreign workers listed 3,843 employees from the EU/EEA/Switzerland, of which 3,026 were Slovak citizens».
What districts of the city do these migrants choose for living? Do they settle in the districts where previous waves of immigrants have settled? And if they live in workers' estates, are there any ethnic peculiarities there? If they do not work at the factory anymore, where and with whom do they generally rent an apartment? Is there any active Slovak community in Ostrava among the workers (and former workers)? Do recent migrants keep in touch with the previous generations? Are there any public places where they gather? Or maybe they are totally dispersed and there is nothing of the mentioned above?
The area I am planning to focus on is Vitkovice, an administrative part of Ostrava, situated in the Moravian part of the city. It has been an industrial center since the establishment of the steelworks in 1828. At present Vitkovice has an engineering group which specializes in machinery production and incorporates about thirty companies. Though this choice is not that strict, and if in the course of research there appear people from other districts (e.g. Hrabová, Mošnov or something else), I could work with them as well. I intend to select 2-3 heroes for an explicit inquiry.
As a result of the research I would like to create a multimedia which will contain soundscapes and visualscapes of the district (in regard to Slovak migrant workers), as well as parts of the interviews and photographic portraits. The aim of this research is to describe the settlement of the Slovak migrant workers by means of their personal stories and media scapes of the areas and therethrough to answer the question to what degree their settlement is determined by their ethnicity.
Mar 17, 2010
Federica Gatta - Reading the Borders (Ostrava Research Draft)
What means Ethnicity in the contemporary city? Does still make sense to speak about ethnic groups in the globalized world?
Maybe these questions hide a deeper issue that we have to ask ourselves about urbanity nowadays.
How are we, as citizens, able to produce culture in the city?
Public space today has lost his function of sublimation of the social conflict due to the increasing need of control and cleaning out of every form of disturb and risk from our shared spaces. The citizen as a consumer is not yet able to modify the public space but with tactics that leave no permanent trace.1)
So understanding where and how the cultural production and the negotiation of social conflict take place in the city is a matter of reading these small traces and finding out the spaces that, out from the "clean, intact and safe" 2), let these practices transform a blank ground to a community platform.
The hypothesis of the research is that conflict between identities is manifestly expressed and negotiated in the "waste" spaces of the city. These "waste" spaces are to be intended not simply as the voids which are around the city, but as every place that produce a boundary: all interruptions of the city flow 3).
As we can visualize the contemporary city as a complex pattern in which every community tends to close itself in an homogeneous space, then we can also imagine how boundaries are multiplying in the city as kind of "buffer zones" between fragments of communities.
Romolo Ottaviani - Stalker, “Planisferio of Rome”, 1995
This research would like to speak about ethnic and cultural integration through the visualization of the physical structure of the borders which these "voids" create inside the city, starting from the idea that the border is the place which gives hospitality to all that is undesirable and "out" of the predominant reality. This means that the border is the potential space for the manifestation of new political and cultural claims, and consequently represents the ground where minorities find their way of expression. The potential of the border lies in its in-betweeness, in its capacity of being nor one side neither the other, but the neutral space in which a different and spontaneous organization is needed and tolerated 4).
Rough representation of Ostrava through its voids.
Ostrava is a city in which the process of deindustrialization, after the boom of the Industrial Revolution, has left many wasted spaces near infrastructures and old factories inside the urban fabric. Nevertheless Ostrava is a city which has hosted lots of migrations, due to his industrial vocation, since the XIX century. This kind of migrations leaves now the place to a contraction and a change of identity of the city, which today is trying to propose itself as a city of culture. One more issue is brought by the big presence of Romani population that, as in many other european countries, lives a condition of cultural and spatial segregation.
The research would like to understand how the wasted spaces of Ostrava are absorbing and giving room to a free elaboration to all these changes and identities. The aim would be to choose one of the ex-industrial areas of the city, which presents a characteristic of being a void between residential districts, in order to map the footprints of spontaneous/illegal uses of it. The result would build a narration of the social claims of the cultural and ethnic minorities that live the city and use this kind of spaces. This would like to be a way to understand how these "uneconomic" devices can be functional for the integration and expression of the ethnicity in the city.
The representation of this research would produce three types of mapping:
One, of a virtual kind, by putting information on a google map.
Another one would be a common map where to collect histories and photos of the place as a collage.
The last one, as a second degree of interpretation, would be a representation of the place through an emotional map that will be probably detached from the geographical reality (non respecting the true distance and size of the elements) but will render the social thickness of the space (representing how the place is perceived from the people).
Öyvind Fählström, - "Section of World Map - A Puzzle," 1973
Notes:
1) Michel De Certeau, “L’invention du quotidien”, Gallimard, Paris, 1990
2) Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment.
3) Stalker Laboratorio d’arte Urbana, Manifesto. Stalker through the actual territories, URL:http://digilander.libero.it/stalkerlab/tarkowsky/manifesto/manifesting.htm
4) Piero Zanini, “Significati del confine. I limiti naturali,storici,mentali”, Bruno Mondadori, Milano 1997
Literature:
James Holston, “Cities and citizenship”, Duke University Press, Durham, 1999
Giorgio Agamben, “Stato di eccezione”, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2003
Giorgio Agamben, “Che cos’è un dispositivo?”, Nottetempo srl, Roma, 2006
Guy Debord, “La società dello spettacolo”, BCD editore, Milano, 2008.
Hakim Bey, “Temporary Autonomous Zone”, Autonomedia Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991
URL: http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html
Ignasi de Solà-Morales Rubiò, "Presente y futuros. La arquitectura en las ciudades". In AA.VV., "Presente y futuros. Arquitectura en las grandes ciudades", Barcelona: Col.legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya / Centre de Cultura contemporània, 1996, 10-23
Michel Foucault, “Antologia”, Feltrinelli editore, Milano, 2005
Maybe these questions hide a deeper issue that we have to ask ourselves about urbanity nowadays.
How are we, as citizens, able to produce culture in the city?
Public space today has lost his function of sublimation of the social conflict due to the increasing need of control and cleaning out of every form of disturb and risk from our shared spaces. The citizen as a consumer is not yet able to modify the public space but with tactics that leave no permanent trace.1)
So understanding where and how the cultural production and the negotiation of social conflict take place in the city is a matter of reading these small traces and finding out the spaces that, out from the "clean, intact and safe" 2), let these practices transform a blank ground to a community platform.
The hypothesis of the research is that conflict between identities is manifestly expressed and negotiated in the "waste" spaces of the city. These "waste" spaces are to be intended not simply as the voids which are around the city, but as every place that produce a boundary: all interruptions of the city flow 3).
As we can visualize the contemporary city as a complex pattern in which every community tends to close itself in an homogeneous space, then we can also imagine how boundaries are multiplying in the city as kind of "buffer zones" between fragments of communities.
Romolo Ottaviani - Stalker, “Planisferio of Rome”, 1995
This research would like to speak about ethnic and cultural integration through the visualization of the physical structure of the borders which these "voids" create inside the city, starting from the idea that the border is the place which gives hospitality to all that is undesirable and "out" of the predominant reality. This means that the border is the potential space for the manifestation of new political and cultural claims, and consequently represents the ground where minorities find their way of expression. The potential of the border lies in its in-betweeness, in its capacity of being nor one side neither the other, but the neutral space in which a different and spontaneous organization is needed and tolerated 4).
Rough representation of Ostrava through its voids.
Ostrava is a city in which the process of deindustrialization, after the boom of the Industrial Revolution, has left many wasted spaces near infrastructures and old factories inside the urban fabric. Nevertheless Ostrava is a city which has hosted lots of migrations, due to his industrial vocation, since the XIX century. This kind of migrations leaves now the place to a contraction and a change of identity of the city, which today is trying to propose itself as a city of culture. One more issue is brought by the big presence of Romani population that, as in many other european countries, lives a condition of cultural and spatial segregation.
The research would like to understand how the wasted spaces of Ostrava are absorbing and giving room to a free elaboration to all these changes and identities. The aim would be to choose one of the ex-industrial areas of the city, which presents a characteristic of being a void between residential districts, in order to map the footprints of spontaneous/illegal uses of it. The result would build a narration of the social claims of the cultural and ethnic minorities that live the city and use this kind of spaces. This would like to be a way to understand how these "uneconomic" devices can be functional for the integration and expression of the ethnicity in the city.
The representation of this research would produce three types of mapping:
One, of a virtual kind, by putting information on a google map.
Another one would be a common map where to collect histories and photos of the place as a collage.
The last one, as a second degree of interpretation, would be a representation of the place through an emotional map that will be probably detached from the geographical reality (non respecting the true distance and size of the elements) but will render the social thickness of the space (representing how the place is perceived from the people).
Öyvind Fählström, - "Section of World Map - A Puzzle," 1973
Notes:
1) Michel De Certeau, “L’invention du quotidien”, Gallimard, Paris, 1990
2) Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment.
3) Stalker Laboratorio d’arte Urbana, Manifesto. Stalker through the actual territories, URL:http://digilander.libero.it/stalkerlab/tarkowsky/manifesto/manifesting.htm
4) Piero Zanini, “Significati del confine. I limiti naturali,storici,mentali”, Bruno Mondadori, Milano 1997
Literature:
James Holston, “Cities and citizenship”, Duke University Press, Durham, 1999
Giorgio Agamben, “Stato di eccezione”, Bollati Boringhieri, Torino, 2003
Giorgio Agamben, “Che cos’è un dispositivo?”, Nottetempo srl, Roma, 2006
Guy Debord, “La società dello spettacolo”, BCD editore, Milano, 2008.
Hakim Bey, “Temporary Autonomous Zone”, Autonomedia Anti-copyright, 1985, 1991
URL: http://www.hermetic.com/bey/taz_cont.html
Ignasi de Solà-Morales Rubiò, "Presente y futuros. La arquitectura en las ciudades". In AA.VV., "Presente y futuros. Arquitectura en las grandes ciudades", Barcelona: Col.legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya / Centre de Cultura contemporània, 1996, 10-23
Michel Foucault, “Antologia”, Feltrinelli editore, Milano, 2005
Mar 16, 2010
Abdelrazak Bouali - Public presentation of minor cultures in the urban area of Krakow
Sociologists predict that within a span of our lifetimes the major cities of central Europe, which belonged to the “Eastern block” two decades ago, will transform from almost monocultural to diverse multicultural entities. As the cities we live in become more and more multicultural, question arises how we could ensure peaceful coexistence of many different cultures inhabiting one place so densely, as is usual in modern European metropoles.
Therefore it is important to promote the idea of unity in diversity, which became a slogan for the member states of European Union, amongst the citizens of the union. Giving the major ethnic group means for acquainting with and understanding the culture of other ethnic groups that are sharing the city with it is the first step towards this goal. Various cultural organizations play important role in presentation of minor cultures in the cities and they apply various methods and practices in achieving this. In my contribution to the Ethnicity in the city research seminar, I will document these approaches of several selected institutions in the city of Krakow.
I had selected two renowned museums in Krakow namely National Museum and Czartoryski Museum which I will examine in order to find out how is the culture of ethnic minorities presented there I will focus on three key issues:
1. Which ethnic groups and cultures are presented in the cultural facilities?
2. How much space do these cultures have for their presentation?
3. What methods and ways are they using for the presentation?
Apart from the renowned organizations I had selected those organizations that are focused on promotion of culture of specific minority present in the city of Krakow. According to official census that took place in 2002, the three largest ethnic minority groups are Slovakian, Ukrainian and Jewish. I would like to perform research in at least one organization for each of these minorities.
For the Slovakian minority I shall conduct research within the Association of Slovakians living in Poland. This association takes part in many activities especially social and cultural events and educational courses. It also houses the magazine for Slovakian minority in Poland called Život. The association focuses on Slovakian communities in Krakow and other Polish cities and funds its activities through offering printing and publishing services.
For the Ukrainian minority I shall conduct research within the Ukrainian Social and Cultural foundation of St. Volodymir, which runs Ukrainian art gallery in Krakow. This gallery holds exhibitions of classical and contemporary Ukrainian art. The foundation is supported by Ukrainian Greek-catholic church.
For the Jewish minority I shall conduct research in the Galicia Jewish museum, which offers a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland and presenting Jewish culture from new perspectives. This museum is partially funded from international foundations and various associations of Jews and therefore is focused on promoting the Jewish culture towards international community, taking advantage of tourism in Krakow.
Within these ethnic-specific institutions I will focus on two issues:
1. What methods and ways are they using for the presentation?
2. What methods and ways are they using for attracting their target groups?
Regarding the research method, I will perform interviews with curators and program managers of these organizations as well as analyses of their exhibition or dramaturgic plan. I will also create several photo series, documenting the efforts of various cultural organizations to present minor cultures.
This research should result in formulating examples of best practice that could serve as reference point to any cultural institution which intends to promote idea of diverse intercultural society in the area of former “Eastern block” countries. Furthermore, outcomes of this research would serve as the first part for the comparative study of presentation of minor cultures in the “Western block” and “Eastern block” cities.
Used literature:
1. Community Cohesion: A New Framework for Race and Diversity, T.Cantle, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008
2. Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion, Margaret Wetherell, Sage Ltd, 2007
Therefore it is important to promote the idea of unity in diversity, which became a slogan for the member states of European Union, amongst the citizens of the union. Giving the major ethnic group means for acquainting with and understanding the culture of other ethnic groups that are sharing the city with it is the first step towards this goal. Various cultural organizations play important role in presentation of minor cultures in the cities and they apply various methods and practices in achieving this. In my contribution to the Ethnicity in the city research seminar, I will document these approaches of several selected institutions in the city of Krakow.
I had selected two renowned museums in Krakow namely National Museum and Czartoryski Museum which I will examine in order to find out how is the culture of ethnic minorities presented there I will focus on three key issues:
1. Which ethnic groups and cultures are presented in the cultural facilities?
2. How much space do these cultures have for their presentation?
3. What methods and ways are they using for the presentation?
Apart from the renowned organizations I had selected those organizations that are focused on promotion of culture of specific minority present in the city of Krakow. According to official census that took place in 2002, the three largest ethnic minority groups are Slovakian, Ukrainian and Jewish. I would like to perform research in at least one organization for each of these minorities.
For the Slovakian minority I shall conduct research within the Association of Slovakians living in Poland. This association takes part in many activities especially social and cultural events and educational courses. It also houses the magazine for Slovakian minority in Poland called Život. The association focuses on Slovakian communities in Krakow and other Polish cities and funds its activities through offering printing and publishing services.
For the Ukrainian minority I shall conduct research within the Ukrainian Social and Cultural foundation of St. Volodymir, which runs Ukrainian art gallery in Krakow. This gallery holds exhibitions of classical and contemporary Ukrainian art. The foundation is supported by Ukrainian Greek-catholic church.
For the Jewish minority I shall conduct research in the Galicia Jewish museum, which offers a contemporary look at the Jewish past in Poland and presenting Jewish culture from new perspectives. This museum is partially funded from international foundations and various associations of Jews and therefore is focused on promoting the Jewish culture towards international community, taking advantage of tourism in Krakow.
Within these ethnic-specific institutions I will focus on two issues:
1. What methods and ways are they using for the presentation?
2. What methods and ways are they using for attracting their target groups?
Regarding the research method, I will perform interviews with curators and program managers of these organizations as well as analyses of their exhibition or dramaturgic plan. I will also create several photo series, documenting the efforts of various cultural organizations to present minor cultures.
This research should result in formulating examples of best practice that could serve as reference point to any cultural institution which intends to promote idea of diverse intercultural society in the area of former “Eastern block” countries. Furthermore, outcomes of this research would serve as the first part for the comparative study of presentation of minor cultures in the “Western block” and “Eastern block” cities.
Used literature:
1. Community Cohesion: A New Framework for Race and Diversity, T.Cantle, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2008
2. Identity, Ethnic Diversity and Community Cohesion, Margaret Wetherell, Sage Ltd, 2007
Jürgen Rendl - Ostrava and Krakow Research Draft
a) mapping the very surroundings of detention centers
with my research i'd like to focus on one of the less visible aspects of migration - the nature of detention centers. i want to analyze the very urban/rural context they are embedded in, and find out about the socio-spatial setting and perception of these non-places. as a first stage i will focus on web based research, as there seems to be plenty of information about some comprehensive projects and studies about detention available. for the practical part during the seminar i would like to conduct a sound-mapping of these locations.
b) about migrants utilizing cracks in 'steel suburbs'
imagining a survey in krakows nowa huta and ostravas suburb zabreh, looking for some kind of ‚cracks‘ in the suburban tissue that could potentially be used resp. are already utilized by migrants. assuming that there are similar structural changes going on in both suburban areas, these processes tend to leave empty spaces, which are just like in ‚standby mode‘. Besides the fact that such spaces are indeed often used by migrants, they also reflect the transient character of migration as a phenomenon.
regarding the very approach i could imagine this research to be conducted together with a photographer, walking through both suburban areas and benefiting from our outsider's view in detcting these cracks.
with my research i'd like to focus on one of the less visible aspects of migration - the nature of detention centers. i want to analyze the very urban/rural context they are embedded in, and find out about the socio-spatial setting and perception of these non-places. as a first stage i will focus on web based research, as there seems to be plenty of information about some comprehensive projects and studies about detention available. for the practical part during the seminar i would like to conduct a sound-mapping of these locations.
b) about migrants utilizing cracks in 'steel suburbs'
imagining a survey in krakows nowa huta and ostravas suburb zabreh, looking for some kind of ‚cracks‘ in the suburban tissue that could potentially be used resp. are already utilized by migrants. assuming that there are similar structural changes going on in both suburban areas, these processes tend to leave empty spaces, which are just like in ‚standby mode‘. Besides the fact that such spaces are indeed often used by migrants, they also reflect the transient character of migration as a phenomenon.
regarding the very approach i could imagine this research to be conducted together with a photographer, walking through both suburban areas and benefiting from our outsider's view in detcting these cracks.
Klára Vomastková - Theorizing EthniCity
In the current academic discourse, Ethnicity is considered as a social construct (see for example Barth, Brubaker, Puskác); there is a common view among researchers that ethnicity is not a natural condition or natural essence but something that is created and kept through social interactions. In researching ethnicity, I would like to follow Brubaker, according to whom race and ethnicity exist just through our perception, representation, classification, categorization and identification (Brubaker 2004). Ethnicity is therefore done and performed by particular agents in various situations, when we perceive and categorize people or places. Various agents can also experience ethnicity differently, depending on their social location within power hierarchies and interlocking inequalities (see Herbert 2008:6).
City does not represent only a physical space but also the society living in this space. We can characterize city as a dynamic social space and social structure where various cultural innovations can originate (see Ferenčuhová 2009). When we consider urban space in this way, we can explore various social processes connected with ethnic differentiation, symbolic boundary creation and power-relations and creating inequalities in our society. When we consider recent Czech history, there is quite a significant change between the Czech socialist city and post-socialist city. These changes are connected with the processes of social and economic transformation; migration and formation of what some scholars called “new inequalities” during the 90's. These changes are also connected with the new ways of urban space differentiation where ethnicity and social capital became most important factors.
In current Czech politic and academic discourses, there is a big interest especially in the growing processes of Roma space segregation and ghettoization which are apparent both in the urban and rural space. The majority of Roma people in the Czech Republic (or in other countries of Eastern and Central Europe) deal with poverty and live at social margins of the society which can be symbolized by ethnically segregated and socially deprived city quarters downtown or by dormitories for poor people at the city periphery.
Ostrava is presented as a big city with the highest population of the Roma in the Czech Republic (see Navrátil 2003, Veryvision 2008). The growth of the city is tightly bound with its development of heavy and mining industry which influenced the general character and image of Ostrava. This caused a need for a higher population and unskilled laborers which led to the migration waves within Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. During the fifties, there was a migration of Roma people from Slovakia initiated by the communist state due to the labor empowerment of industrial regions and Roma assimilation conceptions especially in case of Eastern Slovakia (elimination of traditional Roma settlements) (Pavelčíková 2004). During 60's and 70' there was a big increase of Roma population in Ostrava especially due to the follow-up migration (family members) and high natality.
The character of the city is typical for its leap industrialization in very diversified and dispersed self-contained districts of the city which are typical for various historical and social contexts, manners of housing and living (Navrátil 2003). The dynamics of the city development is therefore connected with significant changes in population structure and formation of places – districts or streets – which are typical for their gradual decline of infrastructure, concentration of poor Roma inhabitants who lost their jobs in city industrial factories during the 90s.
In my research project I would like to focus on a particular quarter of the city which is often characterized as ghettoized and ethnically segregated (Temelová, Víšek 2007). The processes of constructing boundaries – spatial, symbolic and social – between inhabitants of the stigmatized locality and other city residents can have many forms.I would like to concentrate on the local context formation of “Roma schools” which are connected with the processes of ghettoization and boundary construction. I would like to make use of some findings and data of the international comparative research Edumigrom where I took part as a researcher and develop some of these topics at the seminar.
Literature
Brubaker, R. (2004). Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge: Harvard Press 2004.
Ferenčuhová, S (Eds.). 2009. Město: proměnlivá ne/samozřejmost . Červený kostelec: Pavel Merhart.
Herbert, J. 2008. Negotiating Boundaries in the City: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in Britain. Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
Pavelčíková, N. 2004. Romové v českých zemích v letech 1945-1989. Praha: Úřad dokumentace a vyšetřování zločinů komunismu.
Sýkora L., Temelová, J. (Eds.) 2005. Prevence prostorové segregace. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Přírodověděcká fakulta, katedra sociální geografie a regionálního rozvoje.
VeryVision 2008. Sociálně demografická analýza Slezké Ostravy s přihlédnutím k tzv. sociálně vyloučeným lokalitám. Final report. August 2008.
City does not represent only a physical space but also the society living in this space. We can characterize city as a dynamic social space and social structure where various cultural innovations can originate (see Ferenčuhová 2009). When we consider urban space in this way, we can explore various social processes connected with ethnic differentiation, symbolic boundary creation and power-relations and creating inequalities in our society. When we consider recent Czech history, there is quite a significant change between the Czech socialist city and post-socialist city. These changes are connected with the processes of social and economic transformation; migration and formation of what some scholars called “new inequalities” during the 90's. These changes are also connected with the new ways of urban space differentiation where ethnicity and social capital became most important factors.
In current Czech politic and academic discourses, there is a big interest especially in the growing processes of Roma space segregation and ghettoization which are apparent both in the urban and rural space. The majority of Roma people in the Czech Republic (or in other countries of Eastern and Central Europe) deal with poverty and live at social margins of the society which can be symbolized by ethnically segregated and socially deprived city quarters downtown or by dormitories for poor people at the city periphery.
Ostrava is presented as a big city with the highest population of the Roma in the Czech Republic (see Navrátil 2003, Veryvision 2008). The growth of the city is tightly bound with its development of heavy and mining industry which influenced the general character and image of Ostrava. This caused a need for a higher population and unskilled laborers which led to the migration waves within Czechoslovakia after the Second World War. During the fifties, there was a migration of Roma people from Slovakia initiated by the communist state due to the labor empowerment of industrial regions and Roma assimilation conceptions especially in case of Eastern Slovakia (elimination of traditional Roma settlements) (Pavelčíková 2004). During 60's and 70' there was a big increase of Roma population in Ostrava especially due to the follow-up migration (family members) and high natality.
The character of the city is typical for its leap industrialization in very diversified and dispersed self-contained districts of the city which are typical for various historical and social contexts, manners of housing and living (Navrátil 2003). The dynamics of the city development is therefore connected with significant changes in population structure and formation of places – districts or streets – which are typical for their gradual decline of infrastructure, concentration of poor Roma inhabitants who lost their jobs in city industrial factories during the 90s.
In my research project I would like to focus on a particular quarter of the city which is often characterized as ghettoized and ethnically segregated (Temelová, Víšek 2007). The processes of constructing boundaries – spatial, symbolic and social – between inhabitants of the stigmatized locality and other city residents can have many forms.I would like to concentrate on the local context formation of “Roma schools” which are connected with the processes of ghettoization and boundary construction. I would like to make use of some findings and data of the international comparative research Edumigrom where I took part as a researcher and develop some of these topics at the seminar.
Literature
Brubaker, R. (2004). Ethnicity without Groups. Cambridge: Harvard Press 2004.
Ferenčuhová, S (Eds.). 2009. Město: proměnlivá ne/samozřejmost . Červený kostelec: Pavel Merhart.
Herbert, J. 2008. Negotiating Boundaries in the City: Migration, Ethnicity and Gender in Britain. Queen Mary, University of London, UK.
Pavelčíková, N. 2004. Romové v českých zemích v letech 1945-1989. Praha: Úřad dokumentace a vyšetřování zločinů komunismu.
Sýkora L., Temelová, J. (Eds.) 2005. Prevence prostorové segregace. Praha: Univerzita Karlova v Praze, Přírodověděcká fakulta, katedra sociální geografie a regionálního rozvoje.
VeryVision 2008. Sociálně demografická analýza Slezké Ostravy s přihlédnutím k tzv. sociálně vyloučeným lokalitám. Final report. August 2008.
Ioana Florea - Exploring Ethnicity in the City of Experts
My research project starts from the social constructivism idea that reality is how people perceive it and how they think it is – because their perceptions and beliefs lead to practices; of course, this is not a “one way” determination, but a circular process, from practice to perception and from perception to practice and further on.
The understanding of “ethnicity” used in this project it is based on: 1) philosopher Michel Foucault’s power-discourse theory – stating that any public affirmation is a discourse and it involves power relations (being either micro- or macro-social); and 2) historian Eric Hobsbawm’s invented traditions theory – stating that culture, tradition, cultural identity are continuously transformed, negotiated, rediscovered or forgotten by the different social groups associated to them.
For example, ethnicity can be used by a group, as a legitimizing discourse to reclaim certain ancient rights or properties; on the contrary, it can be used to deny the rights of a certain group; or a certain ethnic tradition, such as a celebration or an artefact, can be advertised and commercialized as tourist attraction, by romanticizing (and thus reinventing) its meaning.
From this double perspective, ethnicity can be analysed as a fluid concept (as opposed to fixed), like a mirror revealing social relationships, social contexts, transformations of social realities.
I would like to turn this “mirror” towards the future, in order to illustrate how perceptions, discourses, re-inventions of ethnic issues would develop, and thus shape the future cities. I choose to study this process at the local level of Ostrava; it is a representative case study because it is a city in transformation, with many possible futures and with similarities (economic, political, historical, and social) to many other East European cities.
So, in order to turn towards the future, I propose to turn towards the ones who build it or who will build it: through policy, through the power of decision, through expert discourses about it, through the sharing of knowledge and information about it; among the social actors playing this role, the social sciences scholars are of special importance – as experts of the social reality.
I plan to explore the social reality of the social sciences scholars, in order to (at least partly) answer the questions: how do social sciences professors teach about ethnicity (generally and locally)? how do students – the future experts of social reality – perceive ethnicity and ethnical issues (as individuals and as specialists)? how is this topic reflected in courses, projects, articles, planned programs, at the Faculty of Social Studies in Ostrava?
Social knowledge (and not only), although aiming to be objective, cannot totally escape subjectivity – but is can be sincere, by clearly stating its premises and its reference system; it is what Max Weber understood through “axiological neutrality” in social sciences. The research will offer the social sciences scholars (professors and students) to come closer to “axiological neutrality” and state their perspectives.
In addition, the Faculty and some of its professors are partners in the “Ostrava European Capital of Culture” Project and their approach on ethnicity will have an imprint on the overall Project; and the Project, if implemented, will have an imprint on the entire city of Ostrava and its region – thus, directly creating the city of the future and its approach of ethnical issues. This part of the research can open a wider discussion about the Project and its multi-layered impact.
The exploration will be based on qualitative instruments: in-depth interviews (unstructured and semi-structured) with University professors and students, audio-recorded. The analysis of interviews will try to picture the city of the future, as seen and invented by the social experts, and the role ethnicity will play as a social discourse, in that context. I will also edit an audio-installation with key words from the interviews, illustrating the “mirror” effect of the study’s central concept.
The understanding of “ethnicity” used in this project it is based on: 1) philosopher Michel Foucault’s power-discourse theory – stating that any public affirmation is a discourse and it involves power relations (being either micro- or macro-social); and 2) historian Eric Hobsbawm’s invented traditions theory – stating that culture, tradition, cultural identity are continuously transformed, negotiated, rediscovered or forgotten by the different social groups associated to them.
For example, ethnicity can be used by a group, as a legitimizing discourse to reclaim certain ancient rights or properties; on the contrary, it can be used to deny the rights of a certain group; or a certain ethnic tradition, such as a celebration or an artefact, can be advertised and commercialized as tourist attraction, by romanticizing (and thus reinventing) its meaning.
From this double perspective, ethnicity can be analysed as a fluid concept (as opposed to fixed), like a mirror revealing social relationships, social contexts, transformations of social realities.
I would like to turn this “mirror” towards the future, in order to illustrate how perceptions, discourses, re-inventions of ethnic issues would develop, and thus shape the future cities. I choose to study this process at the local level of Ostrava; it is a representative case study because it is a city in transformation, with many possible futures and with similarities (economic, political, historical, and social) to many other East European cities.
So, in order to turn towards the future, I propose to turn towards the ones who build it or who will build it: through policy, through the power of decision, through expert discourses about it, through the sharing of knowledge and information about it; among the social actors playing this role, the social sciences scholars are of special importance – as experts of the social reality.
I plan to explore the social reality of the social sciences scholars, in order to (at least partly) answer the questions: how do social sciences professors teach about ethnicity (generally and locally)? how do students – the future experts of social reality – perceive ethnicity and ethnical issues (as individuals and as specialists)? how is this topic reflected in courses, projects, articles, planned programs, at the Faculty of Social Studies in Ostrava?
Social knowledge (and not only), although aiming to be objective, cannot totally escape subjectivity – but is can be sincere, by clearly stating its premises and its reference system; it is what Max Weber understood through “axiological neutrality” in social sciences. The research will offer the social sciences scholars (professors and students) to come closer to “axiological neutrality” and state their perspectives.
In addition, the Faculty and some of its professors are partners in the “Ostrava European Capital of Culture” Project and their approach on ethnicity will have an imprint on the overall Project; and the Project, if implemented, will have an imprint on the entire city of Ostrava and its region – thus, directly creating the city of the future and its approach of ethnical issues. This part of the research can open a wider discussion about the Project and its multi-layered impact.
The exploration will be based on qualitative instruments: in-depth interviews (unstructured and semi-structured) with University professors and students, audio-recorded. The analysis of interviews will try to picture the city of the future, as seen and invented by the social experts, and the role ethnicity will play as a social discourse, in that context. I will also edit an audio-installation with key words from the interviews, illustrating the “mirror” effect of the study’s central concept.
Viorica Buica - Jewish Memorials: Berlin – Bucharest
Premises
The memorials built during the last decades share an approach which brings to mind an aesthetics of absence, often leading to an interesting paradox: through a rather abstract structure, they manage to convey a strong symbolic message, often relating to the victims of totalitarian régimes but, at the same time, they allow for this message to be “covered”, meaning, completely assimilated by the public. Even more so, the usage of a slightly abstract architectural vocabulary gives the visitors, watchers and passers-by a crucial role in the transmission of the symbolic message. From this point of view, the new memorials are public spaces, fully integrated in the urban tissue, dynamic and lively, which allow users to explore them and to constantly define new uses for them. To prove this theory, we have chosen two case studies, both of them memorials dedicated to the Jewish victims of World War Two: the former, in Berlin, designed by architect Peter Eisenman, and the latter, in Bucharest, by artist Peter Jacobi, recently inaugurated.
Location and history
After presenting a short history of the Jewish communities in the two cities, I will analyze the location of each memorial trying to see how it relates with the urban context and the impact on people’s perception.
The Berlin memorial was built on the vacant site between the Brandenbug Gate, a symbol of Prussian power and authority, and Potsdammer Platz, one of the main tourist attractions in West Berlin. Out of the two hectares granted to the monument, 3.000 square feet are covered in concrete blocks, the tallest of which reaches up to 4 metres in height. The central situation allows for the open air memorial to be crossed, visited and used, by the people of Berlin and tourists alike, on a daily basis, investing it with an important public function.
The Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest was built within the limits of the former Brezoianu Park, in a central area of the city, which, despite its status, is seldom frequented by passers-by and tourists (although their number has increased greatly during the last few years). Nevertheless, the area has great potential, the memorial being situated near important landmarks, such as the Bucharest City Hall, the Ci[migiu Park, the historical House of Economies (the “CEC” building) and the House of the People, presently the seat of the Romanian Parliament. A future urban design scheme of the entire area (dictated by the necessity of both expanding the City Hall and building a bridge over the river Dambovita) will have to take the new structure into account and try to amplify the project’s public side. The Memorial comprises four elements, each with its own, fairly recognizable, symbolism, namely The Column, The Star of David, The Romany Wheel and the Via Dolorosa (the latter being one of the points that makes the Bucharest memorial even more abstract than the one in Berlin).
The relation with the city. The public life of the monument
Peter Eisenman’s project, remarkable through its very lack of monumentality and situated at the limit between art and architecture, enjoys the full dynamism of public life. Its structure is free, open, the memorial becoming part of the city and the street, through the placing of miniature concrete blocks, only a few milimetres in height, on the nearby sidewalks. This expansion is a symbolic gesture, underlining the necessity of a continuous integration of memory, first of all, but also of any urban intervention.
Open to all, the Memorial was soon “seized” by all types of visitors: tourists and locals resting on the smaller volumes, children and adolesecents exploring new routes and chasing on the adolescents hiding in the higher area to smoke or kiss. Conceived with no particular functions, the Memorial generates so many uses precisely by being so abstracly simple, for it sets free the passers-by’s imagination and creativity.
Despite being clearly defined by an all-around corridor and an ivy-covered lawn, The Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest has several access points that allow people to cross it, integrating it into their daily urban itinerary (the place’s symbolic charge is not overwhelming, allowing passers-by to gradually uncover several messages). Unfortunately, the measures undertaken by the local administration in order to ensure security affect both the ensemble’s open nature and its aesthetic profile.
I will observe directly during several days the public life of these two memorials, i will discuss with the visitors and analyze their opinions about Jewish communities, trying to underline the differences of using the public space in the two cities.
Images: © Peter Eisenman Architects, © HotNews.
The memorials built during the last decades share an approach which brings to mind an aesthetics of absence, often leading to an interesting paradox: through a rather abstract structure, they manage to convey a strong symbolic message, often relating to the victims of totalitarian régimes but, at the same time, they allow for this message to be “covered”, meaning, completely assimilated by the public. Even more so, the usage of a slightly abstract architectural vocabulary gives the visitors, watchers and passers-by a crucial role in the transmission of the symbolic message. From this point of view, the new memorials are public spaces, fully integrated in the urban tissue, dynamic and lively, which allow users to explore them and to constantly define new uses for them. To prove this theory, we have chosen two case studies, both of them memorials dedicated to the Jewish victims of World War Two: the former, in Berlin, designed by architect Peter Eisenman, and the latter, in Bucharest, by artist Peter Jacobi, recently inaugurated.
Location and history
After presenting a short history of the Jewish communities in the two cities, I will analyze the location of each memorial trying to see how it relates with the urban context and the impact on people’s perception.
The Berlin memorial was built on the vacant site between the Brandenbug Gate, a symbol of Prussian power and authority, and Potsdammer Platz, one of the main tourist attractions in West Berlin. Out of the two hectares granted to the monument, 3.000 square feet are covered in concrete blocks, the tallest of which reaches up to 4 metres in height. The central situation allows for the open air memorial to be crossed, visited and used, by the people of Berlin and tourists alike, on a daily basis, investing it with an important public function.
The Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest was built within the limits of the former Brezoianu Park, in a central area of the city, which, despite its status, is seldom frequented by passers-by and tourists (although their number has increased greatly during the last few years). Nevertheless, the area has great potential, the memorial being situated near important landmarks, such as the Bucharest City Hall, the Ci[migiu Park, the historical House of Economies (the “CEC” building) and the House of the People, presently the seat of the Romanian Parliament. A future urban design scheme of the entire area (dictated by the necessity of both expanding the City Hall and building a bridge over the river Dambovita) will have to take the new structure into account and try to amplify the project’s public side. The Memorial comprises four elements, each with its own, fairly recognizable, symbolism, namely The Column, The Star of David, The Romany Wheel and the Via Dolorosa (the latter being one of the points that makes the Bucharest memorial even more abstract than the one in Berlin).
The relation with the city. The public life of the monument
Peter Eisenman’s project, remarkable through its very lack of monumentality and situated at the limit between art and architecture, enjoys the full dynamism of public life. Its structure is free, open, the memorial becoming part of the city and the street, through the placing of miniature concrete blocks, only a few milimetres in height, on the nearby sidewalks. This expansion is a symbolic gesture, underlining the necessity of a continuous integration of memory, first of all, but also of any urban intervention.
Open to all, the Memorial was soon “seized” by all types of visitors: tourists and locals resting on the smaller volumes, children and adolesecents exploring new routes and chasing on the adolescents hiding in the higher area to smoke or kiss. Conceived with no particular functions, the Memorial generates so many uses precisely by being so abstracly simple, for it sets free the passers-by’s imagination and creativity.
Despite being clearly defined by an all-around corridor and an ivy-covered lawn, The Holocaust Memorial in Bucharest has several access points that allow people to cross it, integrating it into their daily urban itinerary (the place’s symbolic charge is not overwhelming, allowing passers-by to gradually uncover several messages). Unfortunately, the measures undertaken by the local administration in order to ensure security affect both the ensemble’s open nature and its aesthetic profile.
I will observe directly during several days the public life of these two memorials, i will discuss with the visitors and analyze their opinions about Jewish communities, trying to underline the differences of using the public space in the two cities.
Images: © Peter Eisenman Architects, © HotNews.
Mar 15, 2010
Ruby Saakor Tetteh - Research Project in Relation to Objectives of Ethnicity in the City
The idea of Ethnicity in the City is appealing and proactive as it works to manage prospective challenges associated with migration into the urban space. Migration concerns individuals or families that travel out of their original settings to another to live and work for a better life. The characteristics of migration may be in the realm of rural-rural migration, rural-urban migration, urban-rural migration and urban-urban migration. In the context Ethnicity in the City, it places a spotlight on managing the issue of rural-urban migration in European cities which is increasingly becoming a challenge for policy makers.
It is in this regard that the research intends to focus on security within the urban setting. This is a direct result of migration and problematic for policy makers and inhabitants within the urban setting. The security implication of urbanization is essential in any growing integration of persons in European cities. It is also deep rooted in planning as well as essential to guarantee security of persons within this newly growing city.
Among other issues, conflicts between local residents and new migrants may create tensions within the city and it is vital that structures are put in place to create opportunities for both groups while guaranteeing security for all. Suggestions may include advocacy work to create job openings, requisite training for new entrants and new living quarters to accommodate the growing population, an objective that is in line with ideals of Ethnicity in the city.
It is in this regard that the research intends to focus on security within the urban setting. This is a direct result of migration and problematic for policy makers and inhabitants within the urban setting. The security implication of urbanization is essential in any growing integration of persons in European cities. It is also deep rooted in planning as well as essential to guarantee security of persons within this newly growing city.
Among other issues, conflicts between local residents and new migrants may create tensions within the city and it is vital that structures are put in place to create opportunities for both groups while guaranteeing security for all. Suggestions may include advocacy work to create job openings, requisite training for new entrants and new living quarters to accommodate the growing population, an objective that is in line with ideals of Ethnicity in the city.
Emily Bereskin - Tourism and Discourses of Ethnicity within the Urban Environment
This research project investigates the influence of tourism, place marketing and entrepreneurial forms of urban governance on the formation of urban ethnic discourses. The working argument is threefold:
(1) that place-marketing and tourism create a new discursive field in which narratives of ethnicity expressed through the built environment are rewritten:
(2) that various agencies with differing agendas pursue diverse strategies in marketing heritage and ethnicity; and
(3), that disenfranchised communities are often silenced by official neoliberal discourses while simultaneously being given a place to speak through the development of their own tourist attractions and place-marketing schemes.
The drives to generate service-sector growth and to attract investors and businesses through strategic marketing are perhaps the most aggressive forces shaping cities today. These goals have powerful impacts on spatial planning, new construction, urban policy, and resource allocation.1) Such urban regeneration schemes are particularly attractive to transitioning cities, such as post-socialist cities or newly deindustrialized cities, looking to develop new methods of income generation. Moreover, given the low overhead costs and the ease with which small suppliers can infiltrate the market, tourism is a sector which socially and economically disadvantaged people can enter with relative ease.2) Thus, both the government (often through public-private partnerships), and community groups in transitioning cities often seek to develop a strong tourism industry in order to generate revenue and build infrastructure.3)
During such regeneration processes, discourses and narratives relating to the cities' heritage and demographics are rewritten. On both a macro and a micro scale, ethnic identity is expressed in cities through an array of spatial, social, and symbolic forms: businesses, cultural and community centers, districts, neighborhoods, language, dress, graffiti, flags and other symbolic markers, etc. Individual and collective identities both are defined, expressed, and legitimized through spatial and material practices.4) In turn, these expressions shape cultural and ethnic identity formation. All cultural expressions from extravagant monuments to daily dress are essential to the formation and preservation of collective memory—and therefore, to creation of a common heritage, itself one of the defining markers of an ethnic group.5)
Tourism and place-marketing provide a new discursive lens for the rewriting of ethnic discourses and the reformation of ethnic images in the city. Tourism and place-marking are essentially discourse-producing mechanisms aimed at audiences interested in the cultural and historical narrative of a particular place. Place-marketing actively rewrites and redevelops the built environment of the city and its narratives by
(1) selecting particular structures and narratives over others for promotion
(2) reframing those structures in order to make them more tourism-friendly and “readable”
(3) changing structures and districts into tourist attractions and thus reassigning ownership of the city and
(4) spurring urban development schemes. And like all discourses, those produced for the sake of tourist consumption are subject to any number of falsifications or manipulations to suit a particular purpose.
Analyses of how a city chooses to present itself, which narratives it chooses to present, which it chooses to ignore, which social groups are included and excluded, can provide valuable insight into a particular group's acceptation, legitimacy and integration, within the city.6) Governments and urban management regimes worldwide create new formations of ethnic, cultural, and national identity through the development of tourist attractions, tourist narratives, and place-marketing schemes. Tourism can both bind ethnic groups to the nation as well as provide them the tools with which to declare and maintain their separateness.7) Under Rabin, new government sponsored tourism patterns and trails in Israel engendered new imaginings of nationhood which, for the first time in decades, conceived of Palestinians living within the 1949 Armistice line as Israelis.8) Tourist interest in socially marginalized groups, such as the Sherpa in Nepal, can successfully increase that group´s social standing within a state and can lead to not only a greater share of representation, but also an increase in government resources, be they financial or infrastructural. On the other hand, ethnic groups considered adverse to a country´s self-image, such as the Turks in Germany, will remain purposely excluded from the country/city’s touristic landscape. Individual and community-group based tourism ventures have been used in the urban centers of Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina to contest the legitimacy of the dominant historical or cultural narratives. Other times, cities will boast cosmopolitanism, whether extant or imagined, to make themselves more appealing to tourists and investors. A variety of strategies clearly exist; what is most evident, is that cultural and heritage based-tourism is an important factor in the symbolic reformations of collective ethnicities and the relations which structure intergroup relations.
Ostrava and Krakow are both cities still undergoing the long process of transitioning from Socialism and deindustrialization, and which have actively pursued cultural and heritage based regeneration to attract tourists and investors. Krakow was the European capital of Culture in 2000 and Ostrava is currently a candidate for 2015. Both cities have boast rich multicultural heritages. Yet, while both EU and non-EU based immigration are changing the dynamics of these cities, they do however remain relatively homogeneous. In Ostrava, discussions of ethnicity are linked primarily to national minorities, who are represented in the city's symbolic landscape through an array of cultural centers (German House, Polish House, etc.). In Krakow, urban managers are actively producing a discourse of the city as a diverse, open, and cosmopolitan locale, in efforts mostly to appeal to the vast numbers of tourists the city sees every year, rather than to actually reflect the reality of citizens actually in residency. Histories of ethnicity and ethnic relations in both cities must be historically situated, as the cities' Jewish heritages and histories of forced migrations inevitably shape contemporary understandings and formations of ethnicity. In Krakow especially, we see a continually growing interest in Jewish heritage and Jewish history, which has developed almost entirely in response to tourist interest. The Jewish district of Kazimierz is heavily marketed in city promotional materials and the city has developed a specific Jewish heritage trail. Kazimierz boasts kosher restaurants, Jewish bookstores and hosts a yearly Jewish cultural festival. The entire character of the neighborhood has changed within the past 15 years to become essentially, more Jewish; all the while only about 100 self-identified Jews live in the city. The largest minority group in both cities, the Roma, is essentially invisible in the cities' symbolic landscapes.
A discursive analysis of representations and presentations of ethnicity in these cities combined with political and sociological research into how immigration and formations of ethnic identity are perceived and constructed, can tell us much about official discourses on ethnicity in the city and how groups may or may not try to contest these discourses. Tourism, place-marketing, urban regeneration, ethnic discourses and identity formation and ethnic relations are intimately intertwined. And the city—in its spatial, social, and symbolic sense—is at the center of this dynamic interplay.
Notes:
1) See for instance: David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Inquiry into the Origins of Social Change (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1989); Denis Judd and Susan Fainstein, eds. The Tourist City (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1999); and, Sharon Zukin, The Culture of Cities (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995).
2) Susan Fainstein and David Gladstone, “Evaluating Urban Tourism” in The Tourist City, eds., Dennis Judd and Susan Fainstein (New Haven: London: Yale University Press, 1999), 24.
3) David Gladstone, From Pilgrimage to Package Tour: Travel and Tourism in the Third World (New York: Routledge, 2005); David Harrison, ed., Tourism and the Less Developed World: Issues and Case Studies (New York, NY: CABI Pub, 2001).
4) Morrisey, Mike and Frank Gaffikin. “Planning for Peace in Contested Space,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research vol. 30 no. 4 (December 2006) 873 – 893.
5) Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berekely: University of California Press, 1985).
6) Marc Howard Ross, eds. Culture and Belonging in Divided Societies: Contestations and Symbolic Landscapes (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009).
7) Michel Picard and Robert E. Wood, eds. Tourism, Ethnicity and the State in Asian and Pacific Societies (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997).
8) Rebecca Luna Stein, Itineraries in Conflict: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Political Lives of Tourism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).
(1) that place-marketing and tourism create a new discursive field in which narratives of ethnicity expressed through the built environment are rewritten:
(2) that various agencies with differing agendas pursue diverse strategies in marketing heritage and ethnicity; and
(3), that disenfranchised communities are often silenced by official neoliberal discourses while simultaneously being given a place to speak through the development of their own tourist attractions and place-marketing schemes.
The drives to generate service-sector growth and to attract investors and businesses through strategic marketing are perhaps the most aggressive forces shaping cities today. These goals have powerful impacts on spatial planning, new construction, urban policy, and resource allocation.1) Such urban regeneration schemes are particularly attractive to transitioning cities, such as post-socialist cities or newly deindustrialized cities, looking to develop new methods of income generation. Moreover, given the low overhead costs and the ease with which small suppliers can infiltrate the market, tourism is a sector which socially and economically disadvantaged people can enter with relative ease.2) Thus, both the government (often through public-private partnerships), and community groups in transitioning cities often seek to develop a strong tourism industry in order to generate revenue and build infrastructure.3)
During such regeneration processes, discourses and narratives relating to the cities' heritage and demographics are rewritten. On both a macro and a micro scale, ethnic identity is expressed in cities through an array of spatial, social, and symbolic forms: businesses, cultural and community centers, districts, neighborhoods, language, dress, graffiti, flags and other symbolic markers, etc. Individual and collective identities both are defined, expressed, and legitimized through spatial and material practices.4) In turn, these expressions shape cultural and ethnic identity formation. All cultural expressions from extravagant monuments to daily dress are essential to the formation and preservation of collective memory—and therefore, to creation of a common heritage, itself one of the defining markers of an ethnic group.5)
Tourism and place-marketing provide a new discursive lens for the rewriting of ethnic discourses and the reformation of ethnic images in the city. Tourism and place-marking are essentially discourse-producing mechanisms aimed at audiences interested in the cultural and historical narrative of a particular place. Place-marketing actively rewrites and redevelops the built environment of the city and its narratives by
(1) selecting particular structures and narratives over others for promotion
(2) reframing those structures in order to make them more tourism-friendly and “readable”
(3) changing structures and districts into tourist attractions and thus reassigning ownership of the city and
(4) spurring urban development schemes. And like all discourses, those produced for the sake of tourist consumption are subject to any number of falsifications or manipulations to suit a particular purpose.
Analyses of how a city chooses to present itself, which narratives it chooses to present, which it chooses to ignore, which social groups are included and excluded, can provide valuable insight into a particular group's acceptation, legitimacy and integration, within the city.6) Governments and urban management regimes worldwide create new formations of ethnic, cultural, and national identity through the development of tourist attractions, tourist narratives, and place-marketing schemes. Tourism can both bind ethnic groups to the nation as well as provide them the tools with which to declare and maintain their separateness.7) Under Rabin, new government sponsored tourism patterns and trails in Israel engendered new imaginings of nationhood which, for the first time in decades, conceived of Palestinians living within the 1949 Armistice line as Israelis.8) Tourist interest in socially marginalized groups, such as the Sherpa in Nepal, can successfully increase that group´s social standing within a state and can lead to not only a greater share of representation, but also an increase in government resources, be they financial or infrastructural. On the other hand, ethnic groups considered adverse to a country´s self-image, such as the Turks in Germany, will remain purposely excluded from the country/city’s touristic landscape. Individual and community-group based tourism ventures have been used in the urban centers of Northern Ireland and Bosnia-Herzegovina to contest the legitimacy of the dominant historical or cultural narratives. Other times, cities will boast cosmopolitanism, whether extant or imagined, to make themselves more appealing to tourists and investors. A variety of strategies clearly exist; what is most evident, is that cultural and heritage based-tourism is an important factor in the symbolic reformations of collective ethnicities and the relations which structure intergroup relations.
Ostrava and Krakow are both cities still undergoing the long process of transitioning from Socialism and deindustrialization, and which have actively pursued cultural and heritage based regeneration to attract tourists and investors. Krakow was the European capital of Culture in 2000 and Ostrava is currently a candidate for 2015. Both cities have boast rich multicultural heritages. Yet, while both EU and non-EU based immigration are changing the dynamics of these cities, they do however remain relatively homogeneous. In Ostrava, discussions of ethnicity are linked primarily to national minorities, who are represented in the city's symbolic landscape through an array of cultural centers (German House, Polish House, etc.). In Krakow, urban managers are actively producing a discourse of the city as a diverse, open, and cosmopolitan locale, in efforts mostly to appeal to the vast numbers of tourists the city sees every year, rather than to actually reflect the reality of citizens actually in residency. Histories of ethnicity and ethnic relations in both cities must be historically situated, as the cities' Jewish heritages and histories of forced migrations inevitably shape contemporary understandings and formations of ethnicity. In Krakow especially, we see a continually growing interest in Jewish heritage and Jewish history, which has developed almost entirely in response to tourist interest. The Jewish district of Kazimierz is heavily marketed in city promotional materials and the city has developed a specific Jewish heritage trail. Kazimierz boasts kosher restaurants, Jewish bookstores and hosts a yearly Jewish cultural festival. The entire character of the neighborhood has changed within the past 15 years to become essentially, more Jewish; all the while only about 100 self-identified Jews live in the city. The largest minority group in both cities, the Roma, is essentially invisible in the cities' symbolic landscapes.
A discursive analysis of representations and presentations of ethnicity in these cities combined with political and sociological research into how immigration and formations of ethnic identity are perceived and constructed, can tell us much about official discourses on ethnicity in the city and how groups may or may not try to contest these discourses. Tourism, place-marketing, urban regeneration, ethnic discourses and identity formation and ethnic relations are intimately intertwined. And the city—in its spatial, social, and symbolic sense—is at the center of this dynamic interplay.
Notes:
1) See for instance: David Harvey, The Condition of Postmodernity: An Inquiry into the Origins of Social Change (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1989); Denis Judd and Susan Fainstein, eds. The Tourist City (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1999); and, Sharon Zukin, The Culture of Cities (Cambridge: Blackwell, 1995).
2) Susan Fainstein and David Gladstone, “Evaluating Urban Tourism” in The Tourist City, eds., Dennis Judd and Susan Fainstein (New Haven: London: Yale University Press, 1999), 24.
3) David Gladstone, From Pilgrimage to Package Tour: Travel and Tourism in the Third World (New York: Routledge, 2005); David Harrison, ed., Tourism and the Less Developed World: Issues and Case Studies (New York, NY: CABI Pub, 2001).
4) Morrisey, Mike and Frank Gaffikin. “Planning for Peace in Contested Space,” International Journal of Urban and Regional Research vol. 30 no. 4 (December 2006) 873 – 893.
5) Donald L. Horowitz, Ethnic Groups in Conflict (Berekely: University of California Press, 1985).
6) Marc Howard Ross, eds. Culture and Belonging in Divided Societies: Contestations and Symbolic Landscapes (Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 2009).
7) Michel Picard and Robert E. Wood, eds. Tourism, Ethnicity and the State in Asian and Pacific Societies (Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press, 1997).
8) Rebecca Luna Stein, Itineraries in Conflict: Israelis, Palestinians, and the Political Lives of Tourism (Durham: Duke University Press, 2008).
Andrea Barna - Getting acquainted with the interest of the population of Krakow about the Jewish issues and their possibilities
Despite the dark past which surrounded Krakow during the Second World War, many Jewish people decided to stay in Krakow and try not only to accept the past, but show it to others, remind them of atrocity and make them learn from it, mainly with the help of their one-year-long festival, the Jewish Cultural Festival. As I am majored in communications I would like to do a research about their PR possibilities outside Krakow of attracting people to visit Krakow in order to get to know more about the dark past the Jews suffered. The research field I am most interested in is the media and PR possibilities that are the most helpful for this issue and the most usable to boost this kind of cultural tourism of Krakow. Krakow is definitely one of best places to help these ambitions as many Jews stay there preserving their culture; have an appealing architecture and gastronomy; and Auschwitz is also close enough. I firmly believe that with a stronger PR built upon this, the tourism of Krakow could boost soon, but only maximising the small, free possibilities could also achieve great results. I also would investigate the attitude of Krakow today in this issue in order to harmonize the interests and possibilities.
The most favourable possibility is the Jewish Cultural Festival. Searching other Jewish festivals on the Internet I could not find any advertisements about each other. Should we think that these are competitors? My answer is no, they need to help one another in order to reach the target groups. These festivals usually focus on different free time activities, so they really could advocate each other. Boskovice Festival in the Czech Republic; Klezmer Paris in France, Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany, Klezfest in England, Jewish Summer Festival in Hungary, Klezmer Festival in Lithuania and the different festivals in Poland (Krakow, Gdansk, Lódz, Bialystok, Chmielnik, Warsaw) all could help each other and collaborate. As far as I know there is not a central web site that provides information on these. To establish one could help all of them, and with the initiation Krakow could control it. Establishing one is a long process, so naturally it is not my intention in the two days I can spend in Krakow with my research.
The second types of possibility I would like to draw the attention to are the museums, synagogues, cemeteries, cultural places… that preserve the Jewish past and culture and so form the settings of the festivals. These places could find equal partners in other countries. To show an example I would like to mention the Jewish Summer Festival in Hungary that has five main settings: Dohány Street Synagogue, Rumbach Street Synagogue, Hungarian Jewish Museum, Symbol Budapest and the Uránia Movie Theatre. All of them could advertise synagogues, museums, cinemas that are the settings of the festivals in Krakow. This is again a huge project that is still not utilized.
In my view an elaborated PR project focusing each year on one country and the customs and memories of its population would draw the attention of the foreigners and make them feel that it is a vital issue they do not know enough about. It could really boost the cultural tourism of Krakow and could also draw the attention of the new generation to our diverse cultures and the past from which we always need to study.
In Krakow my research will focus on the people who live there for a long time. I would take interviews focusing on their needs. The projects I mentioned above can work only if the people support them and see what they can profit from them. Their feelings and attitudes can be the basic contribution or hindrance of any kind of PR activity. Based on complex interviews I would like to reach as many people and target groups as I can in those two days. It could show the facts how much the people advocate boosting cultural tourism based on Jewish history and culture in Krakow.
I think the connection of my research and ethnicity is obvious. I would focus on the everyday people. By asking them about their interest in this issue and their contribution and feelings about it, I could get to know a lot about their way of thinking of the past, different cultures, the Jewish culture, the memorials around them and their knowledge. A later aim can be the realisation of the PR projects I mentioned above, but I would use these two days to get acquainted with what the people want inside Krakow and what they make possible or just reject.
The most favourable possibility is the Jewish Cultural Festival. Searching other Jewish festivals on the Internet I could not find any advertisements about each other. Should we think that these are competitors? My answer is no, they need to help one another in order to reach the target groups. These festivals usually focus on different free time activities, so they really could advocate each other. Boskovice Festival in the Czech Republic; Klezmer Paris in France, Yiddish Summer Weimar in Germany, Klezfest in England, Jewish Summer Festival in Hungary, Klezmer Festival in Lithuania and the different festivals in Poland (Krakow, Gdansk, Lódz, Bialystok, Chmielnik, Warsaw) all could help each other and collaborate. As far as I know there is not a central web site that provides information on these. To establish one could help all of them, and with the initiation Krakow could control it. Establishing one is a long process, so naturally it is not my intention in the two days I can spend in Krakow with my research.
The second types of possibility I would like to draw the attention to are the museums, synagogues, cemeteries, cultural places… that preserve the Jewish past and culture and so form the settings of the festivals. These places could find equal partners in other countries. To show an example I would like to mention the Jewish Summer Festival in Hungary that has five main settings: Dohány Street Synagogue, Rumbach Street Synagogue, Hungarian Jewish Museum, Symbol Budapest and the Uránia Movie Theatre. All of them could advertise synagogues, museums, cinemas that are the settings of the festivals in Krakow. This is again a huge project that is still not utilized.
In my view an elaborated PR project focusing each year on one country and the customs and memories of its population would draw the attention of the foreigners and make them feel that it is a vital issue they do not know enough about. It could really boost the cultural tourism of Krakow and could also draw the attention of the new generation to our diverse cultures and the past from which we always need to study.
In Krakow my research will focus on the people who live there for a long time. I would take interviews focusing on their needs. The projects I mentioned above can work only if the people support them and see what they can profit from them. Their feelings and attitudes can be the basic contribution or hindrance of any kind of PR activity. Based on complex interviews I would like to reach as many people and target groups as I can in those two days. It could show the facts how much the people advocate boosting cultural tourism based on Jewish history and culture in Krakow.
I think the connection of my research and ethnicity is obvious. I would focus on the everyday people. By asking them about their interest in this issue and their contribution and feelings about it, I could get to know a lot about their way of thinking of the past, different cultures, the Jewish culture, the memorials around them and their knowledge. A later aim can be the realisation of the PR projects I mentioned above, but I would use these two days to get acquainted with what the people want inside Krakow and what they make possible or just reject.
Peter Michalik - Draft paper for European City seminars: Ethnicity in the City (Ostrava - Krakow)
My project, as a part of the European City seminar: Ethnicity in the City project, covers one specific area of a possible research: the metamorphoses of a formerly Jewish Krakowian district. Kazimierz, once a separated city, used to be the place of residence of the Jewish community in Krakow for centuries. Deep changes, following the deportations during the Second World War, transformed the character of the place to a high degree. Nowadays, only fragments of the Jewish community remained in Kazimierz, which means, that the cultural and ethnical group, that was shaping the district for a long time, is missing. The district became a part of the must – see Krakowian touristic routes, a place where masses of visitors spend their money and to whom the character of the place is being adapted to a certain degree. On the other hand, Kazimierz is an importan place of European cultural and historical memory. The Old synagoge and Jewish cemetery are sites visited by pilgrims from all aroud the world. This ambivalent character of present Kazimierz is a factor, that falls into my field of research, covering both the metamorphoses of the urban reality and the ethnical relevancy of the studied area. The core of my research is the way, how the persisting communities are reflecting these ambiguities cinsidering their personal relationship between memory and the urban space.
Viorica Buica - Ethnic memory and contemporary public spaces: A study about Bohaterow Getta Square, Krakow
Premises
Given the proliferation of public squares in contemporary cities, but given also the gradual atrophy of their social role, their success can no longer be exclusively associated with how they were formed, nor with what they contain, but, first of all, with what happens inside them. Its life should come first, be it an extremely dinamic square, with shops and lively commerce, a quiet place, inviting to contemplation, or a place to meet friends and find out the latest news, a place for social and political debates, or just a space that has all these functions, at different hours of a day. This interactive dimension has even deeper meanings and challenges when the place is and ethnic and commemorative one, like in the case of new Bohaterow Getta Square (ex-Zgody Square) in Krakow.
The remodellation of Zgody Square by the Polish architects Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Latak managed to recuperate the intense ethnic memory of the place, but in the same time to create a powerful and liveable new public space for the city.
Short history of the place
Zgody Square is a historical place in the city, loaded with painful memories, reminding of the extermination of Jews in World War II. On March 3, 1941, the German authorities closed off a great part of the Podgorze district, in order to transform it in a ghetto for the Jews in the city; in the beginning, 17.000 Jews were relocated here. Taking up an area of 20 hectares, the ghetto streched from Zgody Square to Rekawka Street and between Lwoswska Street and Wegierska Street. It was sealed off from the city with a high wall and strategically situated next to an industrial district, with many plants, including the now famous “Schindler’s factory”.
Also the Plaszow concentration camp was near by, while the adjoining Zablocie train station facilitated future deportations. On May 30, 1942, for instance, the ghetto dwellers without identity cards where rounded up in Zgody Square and more than 4.000 of them left for the Belzec death camp.
The tragic ethnic memory of the place had to be integrated and “told” by the vast project of remodelling the square. Also, supporting the project, the old pharmacy in Zgody Square (owned by a man that helped a lot the Jews in the area during World War II) was turned into a museum of the Holocaust.
Urban solution
This urban project has the quality that it does not assign any use to the space, allowing passers-by and visitors to interact with the site and feel its memories, but also to add new ones. Even the commemorative dimension is high, the square represents a dynamic, functional and modern public area.
Seeing archival films and photos, reading memoirs of those who survived the Holocaust, the architects interpreted the history of the Krakow Ghetto as a sequence of movements, that capture a drama: a column of miserable human beings marching along the pavement, each with a stool over his heads; a girl crossing the street has a chair with its backrest down in her hands.
The architects knew that after the nazis liquidated the Ghetto, Zgody Square was full of useless things, a meaningful trace of the absence of their owners: wardrobes, tables, sideboards and other furniture have been abandoned; they have been moved from one place to another no one knows how many times now.
All this information generated a story that streches over the entire surface of the square, while the simple process of “defamiliarization” brings out objects stripped of their everyday practical functions: chairs, a well with a pump, rubbish bins, tram stops shelters, bicycle racks and even traffic signs.
The materials used symbolize the pass of time and they are very simple, almost humble: patinated bronze, corroded cast iron, paving blocks of grey syenite and ordinary concrete.
The Polish architects created a symbolical discourse that turns the square into the site’s memory, making visible that which could not be seen anymore, compensating for the irremediable absence of essential facts and things.
Uses, social life and symbolic meanings
Observing directly the daily life of the square, I will try to draw some conclusions regarding the following issues:
- how people interact with the new urban elements (and also the perspective of the tourists)
- the correlation between social identity and the activities in the square
- the relation of the square with the Kazimierz and Podgorze areas (with Jewish communities)
- the patterns in using the public space
- the presence of Jewish symbols and the way people react to them
- the presence of Jewish community in the square
In the end, I will try to compare the Zgody Square with some other european public squares with a powerful ethnic dimension in order to see the impact of the ethnic memory on contemporary urban life.
Note: the images were provided by the architect Piotr Lewicki.
Given the proliferation of public squares in contemporary cities, but given also the gradual atrophy of their social role, their success can no longer be exclusively associated with how they were formed, nor with what they contain, but, first of all, with what happens inside them. Its life should come first, be it an extremely dinamic square, with shops and lively commerce, a quiet place, inviting to contemplation, or a place to meet friends and find out the latest news, a place for social and political debates, or just a space that has all these functions, at different hours of a day. This interactive dimension has even deeper meanings and challenges when the place is and ethnic and commemorative one, like in the case of new Bohaterow Getta Square (ex-Zgody Square) in Krakow.
The remodellation of Zgody Square by the Polish architects Piotr Lewicki and Kazimierz Latak managed to recuperate the intense ethnic memory of the place, but in the same time to create a powerful and liveable new public space for the city.
Short history of the place
Zgody Square is a historical place in the city, loaded with painful memories, reminding of the extermination of Jews in World War II. On March 3, 1941, the German authorities closed off a great part of the Podgorze district, in order to transform it in a ghetto for the Jews in the city; in the beginning, 17.000 Jews were relocated here. Taking up an area of 20 hectares, the ghetto streched from Zgody Square to Rekawka Street and between Lwoswska Street and Wegierska Street. It was sealed off from the city with a high wall and strategically situated next to an industrial district, with many plants, including the now famous “Schindler’s factory”.
Also the Plaszow concentration camp was near by, while the adjoining Zablocie train station facilitated future deportations. On May 30, 1942, for instance, the ghetto dwellers without identity cards where rounded up in Zgody Square and more than 4.000 of them left for the Belzec death camp.
The tragic ethnic memory of the place had to be integrated and “told” by the vast project of remodelling the square. Also, supporting the project, the old pharmacy in Zgody Square (owned by a man that helped a lot the Jews in the area during World War II) was turned into a museum of the Holocaust.
Urban solution
This urban project has the quality that it does not assign any use to the space, allowing passers-by and visitors to interact with the site and feel its memories, but also to add new ones. Even the commemorative dimension is high, the square represents a dynamic, functional and modern public area.
Seeing archival films and photos, reading memoirs of those who survived the Holocaust, the architects interpreted the history of the Krakow Ghetto as a sequence of movements, that capture a drama: a column of miserable human beings marching along the pavement, each with a stool over his heads; a girl crossing the street has a chair with its backrest down in her hands.
The architects knew that after the nazis liquidated the Ghetto, Zgody Square was full of useless things, a meaningful trace of the absence of their owners: wardrobes, tables, sideboards and other furniture have been abandoned; they have been moved from one place to another no one knows how many times now.
All this information generated a story that streches over the entire surface of the square, while the simple process of “defamiliarization” brings out objects stripped of their everyday practical functions: chairs, a well with a pump, rubbish bins, tram stops shelters, bicycle racks and even traffic signs.
The materials used symbolize the pass of time and they are very simple, almost humble: patinated bronze, corroded cast iron, paving blocks of grey syenite and ordinary concrete.
The Polish architects created a symbolical discourse that turns the square into the site’s memory, making visible that which could not be seen anymore, compensating for the irremediable absence of essential facts and things.
Uses, social life and symbolic meanings
Observing directly the daily life of the square, I will try to draw some conclusions regarding the following issues:
- how people interact with the new urban elements (and also the perspective of the tourists)
- the correlation between social identity and the activities in the square
- the relation of the square with the Kazimierz and Podgorze areas (with Jewish communities)
- the patterns in using the public space
- the presence of Jewish symbols and the way people react to them
- the presence of Jewish community in the square
In the end, I will try to compare the Zgody Square with some other european public squares with a powerful ethnic dimension in order to see the impact of the ethnic memory on contemporary urban life.
Note: the images were provided by the architect Piotr Lewicki.
Mar 13, 2010
Siobhan Magee - Ostrava and Krakow Research Draft
Introduction
The actions and appearance of a passenger on a tram often mark them out as either an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’. This distinction is central to the idea of ‘ethnicity in the city’ because ‘ethnicity’ and ‘culture’ are political concepts with the power to be either inclusive or damagingly exclusive. When we think about our travels on trams, or indeed or other forms of public transport in European cities, one of the words that is likely to describe our journeys is ‘busy’- that is, busy with people. This business is also at the heart of what makes the city special- that it contains a great number of people who, despite their close proximity to one another, are strangers with diverse beliefs, backgrounds and lifestyles. In which ways do these people feel a common bond, a sense of community with one another? In which ways to they fear, resent and misunderstand those whom they perceive as ‘different’?
‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’?
Ethnicity is based on a feeling of belonging to particular historical or cultural tradition. I predict that the discussions and fieldwork in Ostrava and in Krakow will expose the trickiness of the word ‘ethnicity’. It is a confusing term because it is very similar to ‘culture’. It is also a potentially very dangerous word. Both historically and in the present day, ‘ethnicity’ is brandished as a tool for exclusion, racism, discrimination and genocide. ‘Ethnicity’ is a sensitive and momentous topic. It is impossible to give it a thorough and ethical appraisal in only two days. But I suggest that the Krakow tram works as a snapshot of the ‘insider/outsider’ dichotomy central to ethnicity.
On the one hand, a tram constitutes a group: when we board a particular tram, we join a ‘community’ in a specific place and time. This community is based on the belief that each passenger wants the same thing: to travel. When we travel on such transport, we are expected to act in a very specific way. ‘Insiders’, those ‘in the know’ within a certain social situation know these rules. For example, on a Krakow tram, there might be a tacit agreement between passengers about how much eye-contact it is acceptable to make with a stranger, or how close one should stand to them. Ideas about generation, disability and gender come to the fore with the mundane but heavily political question ‘for whom should I give up my seat?’
But on the other hand, such rules can create ‘outsiders’: migrants and tourists who are not familiar with tacit and written codes of conduct. People unfamiliar with the tram-system, new to the city, might be unsure about how to buy and validate a ticket. Insufficient knowledge of such a system might lead to the double-threat of social embarrassment and accidental illegal behaviour in the form of fare-evasion. Do people help those unfamiliar with such rules, or do they allow them to consolidate their ‘outsider’ identity?
Perceptions of Trust
Trams, along with other forms of public transport, are many citizens’ most frequent point of interaction with state and municipal governments. When people complain of a tram being late, or being dirty, they very often are also either implicitly or explicitly criticizing those in positions of power. In capitalist societies, municipal authorities also serve as mediators between passengers and advertisers. A passenger on a Krakow tram is exposed to countless advertisements for businesses and services: shopping malls, travel agents, hairdressers- the list goes on. Can municipal governments be trusted to mediate between businesses and the tram’s ‘captive audience’ of consumers?
However, a tram passenger is not only compelled to interact with state and municipal authorities, but with other passengers too. If he/she is able to trust these authorities, and indeed the driver of the tram, in which ways does he/she also go about ‘trusting’ fellow passengers? Public transport is quite unique in its requirement that one exist in close proximity with strangers. Which assumptions do passengers make about others when judging who is ‘trustworthy’ and who might be ‘risky?’ How might these be attached to differences in gender, age, social class or nationality?
How might these issues be explored in Krakow, using the practical and heuristic devices of ‘tramlines’?
• Looking at the map of tramlines. The names and locations of tram-stops tell a story about a city. They are often named after a famous person or a significant event.
• Signs, for example prohibitions such as ‘no drinking’. This could use photography or video.
• Advertisements. This could also use photography.
• ‘Ethnicity’ with the axes of other divisions within society. For example, exploring ‘ethnicity and gender’. Other ideas could be ‘ethnicity and age/generation’ or ‘ethnicity and social class and/or wealth’.
• ’24 hours of the tram’- observing a tram around the clock, to see how its atmosphere changes when light fades to dark, and when it passes through different parts of the city, areas perceived as ‘nice’, ‘not so nice’ and even ‘dangerous’.
The actions and appearance of a passenger on a tram often mark them out as either an ‘insider’ or an ‘outsider’. This distinction is central to the idea of ‘ethnicity in the city’ because ‘ethnicity’ and ‘culture’ are political concepts with the power to be either inclusive or damagingly exclusive. When we think about our travels on trams, or indeed or other forms of public transport in European cities, one of the words that is likely to describe our journeys is ‘busy’- that is, busy with people. This business is also at the heart of what makes the city special- that it contains a great number of people who, despite their close proximity to one another, are strangers with diverse beliefs, backgrounds and lifestyles. In which ways do these people feel a common bond, a sense of community with one another? In which ways to they fear, resent and misunderstand those whom they perceive as ‘different’?
‘Insiders’ and ‘outsiders’?
Ethnicity is based on a feeling of belonging to particular historical or cultural tradition. I predict that the discussions and fieldwork in Ostrava and in Krakow will expose the trickiness of the word ‘ethnicity’. It is a confusing term because it is very similar to ‘culture’. It is also a potentially very dangerous word. Both historically and in the present day, ‘ethnicity’ is brandished as a tool for exclusion, racism, discrimination and genocide. ‘Ethnicity’ is a sensitive and momentous topic. It is impossible to give it a thorough and ethical appraisal in only two days. But I suggest that the Krakow tram works as a snapshot of the ‘insider/outsider’ dichotomy central to ethnicity.
On the one hand, a tram constitutes a group: when we board a particular tram, we join a ‘community’ in a specific place and time. This community is based on the belief that each passenger wants the same thing: to travel. When we travel on such transport, we are expected to act in a very specific way. ‘Insiders’, those ‘in the know’ within a certain social situation know these rules. For example, on a Krakow tram, there might be a tacit agreement between passengers about how much eye-contact it is acceptable to make with a stranger, or how close one should stand to them. Ideas about generation, disability and gender come to the fore with the mundane but heavily political question ‘for whom should I give up my seat?’
But on the other hand, such rules can create ‘outsiders’: migrants and tourists who are not familiar with tacit and written codes of conduct. People unfamiliar with the tram-system, new to the city, might be unsure about how to buy and validate a ticket. Insufficient knowledge of such a system might lead to the double-threat of social embarrassment and accidental illegal behaviour in the form of fare-evasion. Do people help those unfamiliar with such rules, or do they allow them to consolidate their ‘outsider’ identity?
Perceptions of Trust
Trams, along with other forms of public transport, are many citizens’ most frequent point of interaction with state and municipal governments. When people complain of a tram being late, or being dirty, they very often are also either implicitly or explicitly criticizing those in positions of power. In capitalist societies, municipal authorities also serve as mediators between passengers and advertisers. A passenger on a Krakow tram is exposed to countless advertisements for businesses and services: shopping malls, travel agents, hairdressers- the list goes on. Can municipal governments be trusted to mediate between businesses and the tram’s ‘captive audience’ of consumers?
However, a tram passenger is not only compelled to interact with state and municipal authorities, but with other passengers too. If he/she is able to trust these authorities, and indeed the driver of the tram, in which ways does he/she also go about ‘trusting’ fellow passengers? Public transport is quite unique in its requirement that one exist in close proximity with strangers. Which assumptions do passengers make about others when judging who is ‘trustworthy’ and who might be ‘risky?’ How might these be attached to differences in gender, age, social class or nationality?
How might these issues be explored in Krakow, using the practical and heuristic devices of ‘tramlines’?
• Looking at the map of tramlines. The names and locations of tram-stops tell a story about a city. They are often named after a famous person or a significant event.
• Signs, for example prohibitions such as ‘no drinking’. This could use photography or video.
• Advertisements. This could also use photography.
• ‘Ethnicity’ with the axes of other divisions within society. For example, exploring ‘ethnicity and gender’. Other ideas could be ‘ethnicity and age/generation’ or ‘ethnicity and social class and/or wealth’.
• ’24 hours of the tram’- observing a tram around the clock, to see how its atmosphere changes when light fades to dark, and when it passes through different parts of the city, areas perceived as ‘nice’, ‘not so nice’ and even ‘dangerous’.
Laszlo Szemelyi - Bratislava/Vienna Research draft
Laszlo Szemelyi
Peter Pazmany Catholic University
Piliscsaba, Hungary
Introduction
When we analyze countries in practically any aspect – from economic growth opportunities through crime and living standards to environment protection and sustainable utility system –, it turns out that the number and proportion of skilled workers is a crucial success factor to the country. Not surprisingly we can take this to the level of cities, the relation between success and skilled workers remains the same, for in any country most skilled workers are employed in big cities.
While the emigration of highly qualified people is a problem more or less all across Europe, it is worth noting that there are two important differences between Eastern and Western countries. Western Europe has long been challenged by the threat of their professionals moving to the USA as the latter is often considered by them offer an almost unmatched mix of money, research personnel concentration and meritocracy. However if we look at Eastern Europe and in this case Slovakia, apparently not only the USA seems to have this kind of pulling attractiveness but also some Western European countries, predominately the Benelux states, UK, Germany and Austria.
Secondly, most Western European countries trying to fill holes in skilled labor force can rely to some extent on historically related countries providing immigrants with proper skills as a heritage of colonialism. In Eastern Europe this source of brain gain is practically absent. Very few skilled immigrants could be described as coming from a country which has been historically dependent on the country of the immigrant’s destination. An example of this kind of immigration source can be the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries. Another example could be the case of Poland, the borders of which having been changed so many times in history.
Research goals
Having touched upon the special circumstances in Eastern Europe under which its skilled migration situation is forming, we should note the fact that the emotional side of migration is at least so important as the economical. Though when we ask skilled migrants about their motivation, income perspectives is by far the most important factor, if we turn to those who decided not to relocate from their home country mention mostly personal reasons like family, friends and culture. No surprise that in case of an emigration in the country of destination the alien environment and the language problems often make the emigrants seek the company of their fellow countrymen.
The question is: are skilled migrants an exception? Is ethnicity, if we define it as forming national migrant communities separated to a large extent from communities of the majority as well as from other national migrant communities, absolutely typical amongst them? And if not, can we note any relation between their ‘skilled nature’ (more educated, having good fix job and consequently higher living standards, possibly more open to higher culture) and their openness to other communities or the openness of the majority to them?
Due to the nature of the problem it is wise not trying to do a survey and decide about skilled migrant ethnicity upon quantitative results. It is much worthwhile doing interviews with them to be able to grasp the shades of community membership, activities and openness to other communities. I plan to talk to skilled immigrants in Bratislava about their view of the communities in the city and their participation in them. I also try to find out how important they think this part of migrant life is and how crucial this aspect was in their decision to relocate to Bratislava.
Research impact
If a city or a country wants to be successful, it has to solve the problem of keeping existing skilled workers, educating more and possibly attracting more from abroad. It is impossible to reach this goal without knowing the motivation of these people affecting their decisions on staying or moving, learning or not, choosing one city or another. My research will help city leaders understand how skilled immigrants view their public relations and what is the possible effect of this on their future location. In addition, this research will show if any ethnic problems are related to the skilled immigrants and what is their opinion about it.
Peter Pazmany Catholic University
Piliscsaba, Hungary
Introduction
When we analyze countries in practically any aspect – from economic growth opportunities through crime and living standards to environment protection and sustainable utility system –, it turns out that the number and proportion of skilled workers is a crucial success factor to the country. Not surprisingly we can take this to the level of cities, the relation between success and skilled workers remains the same, for in any country most skilled workers are employed in big cities.
While the emigration of highly qualified people is a problem more or less all across Europe, it is worth noting that there are two important differences between Eastern and Western countries. Western Europe has long been challenged by the threat of their professionals moving to the USA as the latter is often considered by them offer an almost unmatched mix of money, research personnel concentration and meritocracy. However if we look at Eastern Europe and in this case Slovakia, apparently not only the USA seems to have this kind of pulling attractiveness but also some Western European countries, predominately the Benelux states, UK, Germany and Austria.
Secondly, most Western European countries trying to fill holes in skilled labor force can rely to some extent on historically related countries providing immigrants with proper skills as a heritage of colonialism. In Eastern Europe this source of brain gain is practically absent. Very few skilled immigrants could be described as coming from a country which has been historically dependent on the country of the immigrant’s destination. An example of this kind of immigration source can be the Hungarian diaspora in the neighboring countries. Another example could be the case of Poland, the borders of which having been changed so many times in history.
Research goals
Having touched upon the special circumstances in Eastern Europe under which its skilled migration situation is forming, we should note the fact that the emotional side of migration is at least so important as the economical. Though when we ask skilled migrants about their motivation, income perspectives is by far the most important factor, if we turn to those who decided not to relocate from their home country mention mostly personal reasons like family, friends and culture. No surprise that in case of an emigration in the country of destination the alien environment and the language problems often make the emigrants seek the company of their fellow countrymen.
The question is: are skilled migrants an exception? Is ethnicity, if we define it as forming national migrant communities separated to a large extent from communities of the majority as well as from other national migrant communities, absolutely typical amongst them? And if not, can we note any relation between their ‘skilled nature’ (more educated, having good fix job and consequently higher living standards, possibly more open to higher culture) and their openness to other communities or the openness of the majority to them?
Due to the nature of the problem it is wise not trying to do a survey and decide about skilled migrant ethnicity upon quantitative results. It is much worthwhile doing interviews with them to be able to grasp the shades of community membership, activities and openness to other communities. I plan to talk to skilled immigrants in Bratislava about their view of the communities in the city and their participation in them. I also try to find out how important they think this part of migrant life is and how crucial this aspect was in their decision to relocate to Bratislava.
Research impact
If a city or a country wants to be successful, it has to solve the problem of keeping existing skilled workers, educating more and possibly attracting more from abroad. It is impossible to reach this goal without knowing the motivation of these people affecting their decisions on staying or moving, learning or not, choosing one city or another. My research will help city leaders understand how skilled immigrants view their public relations and what is the possible effect of this on their future location. In addition, this research will show if any ethnic problems are related to the skilled immigrants and what is their opinion about it.
European City Seminars 2010 - Ethnicity in the City
1) Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Krakow (Poland), 16 – 21 April 2010.
2) Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria), 14 – 18 May 2010.
3) Berlin (Germany), 18 – 21 June 2010
Historically, European cities always faced the challenge of dealing with migration; the urban much more than the rural spaces thus became the realm in which the ability to integrate, accommodate and include diverse and changing populations had to be negotiated. Any talk of inclusion should, however take note underlying power structures, and question who defines the rules of integration. How are the chances of this model´s survival in a changing economic and demographic environment, characterized by the influx of new migrants, the rising power of developers and investors, and the spread of urban areas beyond its historic borders? The uncertainty about the future of the “European city” model is maybe most visible in case of the cities of Central and Eastern Europe, which experience a process of rapid changes that affects the cities´ social and built fabric and the political steering of its development.
With these statements in mind Multicultural Centre Prague (website European City), Insitute for Public Affairs, Villa Decius Association and Rejs e.V. (magazine Plotki) invite researchers, journalists and artists to participate in a unique project that will deal with ethnic themes in central European cities. The outcome of this project will contain several case studies and media material as photo series, audiovisual recordings etc.
Selected participants will participate at the following research seminars:
1) A six day-long 'travelling' research seminar in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Krakow (Poland), 16 – 21 April 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the two cities of Ostrava and Krakow, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Ostrava and Krakow.
and/or
2) A five day-long 'travelling' research seminar in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria), 14 – 18 May 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the two cities of Bratislava and Vienna, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Bratislava and Vienna.
and/or
3) A four day-long research seminar in Berlin (Germany), 18 – 21 June 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the city of Berlin, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Berlin.
The programme is open for everyone living in a EU member state with good knowledge of English. Researchers (senior researchers, PHD and MA students in the widest range of social science including but not limited to sociology, geography, anthropology, history, cultural studies), journalists and artists (photographers and film-makers) are especially encouraged to apply.
2) Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria), 14 – 18 May 2010.
3) Berlin (Germany), 18 – 21 June 2010
Historically, European cities always faced the challenge of dealing with migration; the urban much more than the rural spaces thus became the realm in which the ability to integrate, accommodate and include diverse and changing populations had to be negotiated. Any talk of inclusion should, however take note underlying power structures, and question who defines the rules of integration. How are the chances of this model´s survival in a changing economic and demographic environment, characterized by the influx of new migrants, the rising power of developers and investors, and the spread of urban areas beyond its historic borders? The uncertainty about the future of the “European city” model is maybe most visible in case of the cities of Central and Eastern Europe, which experience a process of rapid changes that affects the cities´ social and built fabric and the political steering of its development.
With these statements in mind Multicultural Centre Prague (website European City), Insitute for Public Affairs, Villa Decius Association and Rejs e.V. (magazine Plotki) invite researchers, journalists and artists to participate in a unique project that will deal with ethnic themes in central European cities. The outcome of this project will contain several case studies and media material as photo series, audiovisual recordings etc.
Selected participants will participate at the following research seminars:
1) A six day-long 'travelling' research seminar in Ostrava (Czech Republic) and Krakow (Poland), 16 – 21 April 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the two cities of Ostrava and Krakow, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Ostrava and Krakow.
and/or
2) A five day-long 'travelling' research seminar in Bratislava (Slovakia) and Vienna (Austria), 14 – 18 May 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the two cities of Bratislava and Vienna, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Bratislava and Vienna.
and/or
3) A four day-long research seminar in Berlin (Germany), 18 – 21 June 2010. Focusing mostly but not exclusively on the city of Berlin, the participants will present and discuss their own contributions and conduct the field research in and around Berlin.
The programme is open for everyone living in a EU member state with good knowledge of English. Researchers (senior researchers, PHD and MA students in the widest range of social science including but not limited to sociology, geography, anthropology, history, cultural studies), journalists and artists (photographers and film-makers) are especially encouraged to apply.
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