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.