“Social Laboratory” is a new initiative of the Passage of Dialogue (Przejście Dialogu) team at the Wrocław Centre for Social Development (WCRS). The project aims to give students of Wrocław’s universities the opportunity to test their knowledge in practice and to work on concrete solutions in the field of integration and intercultural activities in Wrocław. In the 2023/24 academic year, the Laboratory is attended by students of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Wrocław.
The Social Laboratory project is run in partnership with Wrocław’s academic centres, non-governmental organisations, institutions and individuals involved in intercultural dialogue. At its heart is creating opportunities for collaboration between the academic community – above all students – and practitioners who carry out intercultural activities in, among others, NGOs and local activity centres. The project is interdisciplinary by design, and students of all disciplines interested in intercultural issues can take part.
Courtyard culture in practice
In the first edition of the project, during the winter semester, cultural anthropology students from the University of Wrocław, supervised by Prof. Katarzyna Majbroda, are examining courtyard culture. As part of the course “Field Laboratory: Creating Urban Culture in the Non-Governmental Sector”, the young researchers are carrying out fieldwork and meeting practitioners of social action at the Passage of Dialogue and at the project partner, the Plac Grunwaldzki OD NOWA Local Activity Centre.
Both the Passage of Dialogue and the Local Activity Centre at ul. Skłodowskiej 63A are spaces for social action, supporting grassroots initiatives, organising volunteering and including people and groups – among them people with experience of migration or seeking refuge – in the life of the local community. Students have the opportunity to learn about the intercultural activities currently under way, which are often a response to the specific needs of these groups.
As part of the course, the students are to design and carry out a research process so that, by the end of the semester, they can address the set tasks, including:
– mapping and analysing the differences and similarities between the practices of co-creating courtyards, and the activities associated with them, in Wrocław and in the home cities of people with migrant and refugee experience;
– describing the behaviours in Wrocław’s courtyards and playgrounds that emerge from interactions between Wrocław residents and people arriving in the city from Ukraine.
The project will conclude with a presentation of the research findings at an open meeting at the Passage of Dialogue, planned for February 2024.
Who can take part in the Social Laboratory?
We invite students and academics from Wrocław’s universities to take part in the project. The project is open to all universities, not only to social science courses. Together we develop the project’s guiding theme, define research methods and work on putting it into practice.
If you are interested in working with us, write to us at: przejsciedialogu@wcrs.pl
More about the project: Social Laboratory: Courtyard Culture
