Meeting: “Neighbourhood, or the Roma in Nowa Huta”

2 March 2023, 6 pm

From the very beginning of its existence, the Roma have had strong ties with Nowa Huta. They do not just live there. They built it, but few people remember it today.

Apart from Poles, also Greeks, Macedonians, and Ukrainians co-created the community of this great socialist project. Nowa Huta became a place where different traditions came to intersect.

Why did the Roma decide to leave the Carpathian landscape and move to the city? What did they find? What happened to the places where their ancestors lived for generations?

We invited you to join our guests to reflect together on the effects of this great modernisation project, on the people associated with it, on the promise of a new beginning. The meeting with Dr. Jarosław Klaś and Monika Szewczyk was hosted by Katarzyna Kubisiowska on March 2 at 6 pm.


Guests:
Dr. Jarosław Klaś
Monika Szewczyk

Host:
Katarzyna Kubisiowska

Venue:
The International Cultural Centre, Rynek Główny 25, “The Ravens” Hall

For those who were not able to come to the meeting, the event was streamed on the ICC Facebook page.

The meeting was interpreted into Polish Sign Lanuage.





The International Cultural Centre implements the grant project “Hear the ICC. Adjusting the institution’s infrastructure and programming to the needs of people with hearing disabilities”. It is financed by the PFRON project “Culture without barriers”.





Biographical notes:
Dr. Jarosław Klaś – cultural scholar, researcher, cultural animator and manager. Doctor of Management and Quality Sciences. Director of the C. K. Norwid Cultural Centre in Krakow. Member of the Institute for Research on the Organisation of Culture - IBOK, Forum Kraków, the Culture and Media Management Committee of the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the Council of the Home Army Museum. He works with various cultural institutions, non-governmental organisations, and universities. Initiator and coordinator of numerous projects concerning Nowa Huta. Main research interests: cultural animation, management of cultural institutions and cultural heritage (especially in Nowa Huta).


Monika Szewczyk – PhD candidate at the Doctoral School of Social Sciences of the Jagiellonian University. She works for the Centre of Migration Research at the University of Warsaw. Member of the Polish Oral History Society. Her research interests include Roma migration, issues of national and ethnic minorities, and the role of oral history in identity politics. The focus of her work is to preserve the culture, traditions, oral traditions, including the Romani language as a medium of intangible cultural heritage of the Roma. Author of the book “O Romach w Nowej Hucie słów kilka” ["A few words about the Roma in Nowa Huta"] and of the documentary film “Byli kowale, byli…”. Co-author of the book “Prosto z garnka. Tradycje kulinarne Romów” [“Straight from the pot. Culinary Traditions of the Roma”], as well as of the report “Krakowscy Romowie – przeszłość, teraźniejszość, przyszłość” [“Kraków Roma Report – Past, Present, Future”].

Katarzyna Kubisiowska – journalist at “Tygodnika Powszechny”. Author of biographies:
i.a. of Jerzy Pilch, Danuta Szaflarska and Jerzy Vetulani.

Please be advised that during the event, photos may be taken for the purposes of the International Cultural Centre in Krakow (e.g. for documentation and posting information on the ICC website and on the ICC profiles on Facebook and Instagram). If you do not agree to this, please inform us in advance. Photos may contain images of people participating in the event. Lack of information provided in writing or orally to an ICC staff member before the event is tantamount to consent for the International Cultural Centre in Krakow to use the photos referred to above.