| Author: Tomek Grząślewicz |
Integration of scientists from various disciplines, cultural border studies, promotion of Upper Silesia and Zagłębie Dąbrowskie in the international arena – these are just some of the tasks performed by the recently opened The Silesian Centre for the Study of Regional and Transborder Memory. Prof. Leszek Drong, Director of the Centre, tells us about the duties of the newly established unit. He also explains where the concept of the centre came from.
‘The original idea appeared with the end of the Centre for the Study of Smaller Cultures,’ says Prof. L. Drong. ‘It ceased to exist in 2019, due to the change of the organisational structure of the whole university. However, the main impulse for the establishment of the Centre was the willingness to cooperate on the part of scientists representing three faculties of our University: Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Law and Administration.
Just like a majority of research centres, the Silesian Centre for the Study of Regional and Transborder Memory will carry out research projects financed from external sources. The researcher from the University of Silesia emphasizes that the crossing of borders between disciplines will be the key thing in these activities.
‘Interdisciplinarity is the real value of modern science,’ notices Prof. L. Drong. ‘To use football terms: it’s a team sport, in which a sociologist, political scientist, literary scholar and cultural expert will be involved in a single project.’
The presence of representatives of different disciplines is to contribute to creating an expert environment, which will support politicians and media interested in a thorough analysis of what is happening in the region. The Centre will also aim to make the University more international by signing bilateral agreements for scientific cooperation and inviting foreign guests. The June seminar, which inaugurated the activity of the unit, was attended by Dr Frank Ferguson from the Ulster University.
‘Dr F. Ferguson told us how one city, such as Belfast, can be divided by walls,’ comments the literary scholar from the University of Silesia. ‘In Upper Silesia we don’t see these walls, but there are political, social and cultural divisions, resulting from the history of the region, from a certain sense of separateness, which perhaps can be traced back to the period of Upper Silesian autonomy when it was divided into German and Polish parts back in 1922.’
The seminar with participation of Prof. Eve Patten from Trinity College Dublin is planned for October. Prof. E. Patten also specialises in the Irish border, but from the perspective of the southern part of the island. Work on the organisation of further meetings, including with non-academics, is currently in progress. Cooperation with the centres which deal with cultural border studies adds the comparative element, providing a slightly different perspective on the separateness and cultural heritage of Upper Silesia as a memory region.
The adjective “Silesian” in the name not only refers to the unit’s location within the structure of the University of Silesia.
‘For example, we could create a transdisciplinary textbook for Silesian studies in English. Many people, including the Silesian Language Council, do a lot to promote the idea of separateness of Silesian as a regional language, but also of Silesians as a regional community. We could fill the gap abroad in this respect. Whenever I told about Upper Silesia, whether at Sorbonne University in Paris or in Dublin, it always enjoyed great interest,’ claims Prof. L. Drong.
Area around the Silesian Museum in Katowice | Photo: Daniel from Unsplash
Seminar inaugurating the activity of the Silesian Centre for the Study of Regional and Transborder Memory. In the photo from the left: Prof. Leszek Drong and Dr Frank Ferguson from Ulster University | photo by Kaja Strużyk-Wanat
Members of the Centre carry out interdisciplinary research | photo by Kaja Strużyk-Wanat
Scientists from three faculties of the University of Silesia: Faculty of Humanities, Faculty of Social Sciences and Faculty of Law and Administration cooperate within the Centre.
Participants of the seminar inaugurating the activity of the Silesian Centre for the Study of Regional and Transborder Memory | photo by Kaja Strużyk-Wanat