Wilamowice. Participatory Research in Practice 3700-ISSC-23-WPRP
The aim of the course is to prepare its participants to independently conduct fieldwork based on the principles of Participatory Action Research. Students will be familiarized with the methodological and ethical aspects of field research. The concept of participatory research will be introduced. A special emphasis will be placed on cooperation with small communities and aspects of interdisciplinarity in research practice.
Participants of the course will learn about the history and culture of Wilamowice. During the course, the basics of the Wymysorys language will be taught. Part of the classes will be devoted to issues in the field of anthropology of things, museology, and revitalization of endangered languages, thanks to which students will acquire basic competencies preparing them to help the local community of Wilamowice with issues which currently are of the big importance to them.
The second part of the course will be devoted to the preparation of original projects related to cultural revitalization by course participants. They will correspond to their personal scientific interests and meet the criterion of interdisciplinarity. The projects will be regularly consulted and refined. During the individual meetings, the lecturers will discuss their content, but also will provide some practical tips, which will help to successfully carry out the projects. An individual approach in this phase of the course will allow for the best possible preparation of students for research in Wilamowice. The culmination of this phase will be a class during which refined ideas of the projects will be presented to other participants and possibly to representatives of the community of Wilamowice.
The scope of projects is not limited as long as it is approved by the local community. Thus, the projects may concern really various issues, for example, human-nature relations in local epistemology, relations between biodiversity and multilingualism; usage of theater and art as tools of cultural and linguistic revitalization; creation of digital humanities tools supporting documentation and teaching of Wymysorys language; methods of dealing with trauma and work on identity; edition of historical, archival documents on Wilamowice; designing and exhibiting a museum exhibition, etc. The last activity will be especially promoted as the museum in Wilamowice is going to start operating in 2024.
At the end of the semester, fieldwork in Wilamowice will take place. This phase of the course will take approximately three days (21 hours), including weekend. During the stay in Wilamowice, participants of the course, in cooperation with the local community and supervised by the lecturers will conduct their projects, developed throughout the semester. The effects of this work will constitute a basis for the final grading. Alternatively, students may carry out an individual project, which scope will be discussed and agreed upon by the lecturers and representatives of the local community during remote meetings.
In principle, the projects should be related to the personal research interests of students, be consistent with the research fields of the Faculty of "Artes Liberales” and respond to the needs of the local community of Wilamowice.
The lecturers will do their best to acquire funding for a complete or at least partially covering the costs of staying in Wilamowice
Type of course
Mode
Prerequisites (description)
Course coordinators
Learning outcomes
Because of the freedom in designing research projects by the participants of the course, and its individualization, the course may result in various effects. The following list contains effects, which seem to be the most possible to happen:
Knowledge: the graduate
K_W02 - Understands the relationships between the various dimensions of social change, especially with regard to small communities and knows the approaches to this process related to many scientific fields and disciplines.
K_W04 - Knows the terminology of social and cultural anthropology and understands their role in culture; understands the interdependencies between different social disciplines, as well as their applicability within Participatory Action Research framework.
K_W08 - Knows the advanced new methods of analysis and interpretation used in social research and knows the ethical dimension of its use.
K_W09 - Knows the most important methods of interdisciplinary research and understands the limitation of monodisciplinary approaches.
Abilities: the graduate is able to
K_U01 - Is able to select and make a critical assessment of information regarding Wilamowice coming from various scientific, popular science, journalistic and other sources.
K_U02 - Is able to use basic numerical methods in order to organize, interpret and present data with regards to small communities; is aware of the existence of innovative data sources, including the so-called big data, is able to find and use the necessary data for scientific work. Is also able to comprehend that usage of quantitative data is connected with big responsibility, as if they are used by not accompanied by the thorough knowledge of the phenomenon to which they refer altogether with their context they may lead to erroneous or even harmful results.
K_U06 - Is able to present the results of individual and team academic work in an appropriate form: in the form of a structured and argued statement, both in the form of a written study and an oral presentation (conference talk or voice in a discussion). Is able to choose adequate form with regard to publicity. During the course special attention will be put on presenting the results of work to the local community involved in the research process. At the same time, adhere to all ethical principles, including those related to copyrights. Knows the rules of using data sources, including digital sources.
K_U08 - Is able to prepare written and oral works of a popular science and other, addressing to a wide audience (journalistic, popular science, local community) and with functional characteristics (design applications)
K_U11 - Is able to plan and organize individual and group work (defining goals, stages, roles, selection of methods) developed within the framework of Participatory Action Research. Is able to take part in teamwork in various roles.
Social competences: the graduate is ready to
K_K02 - Is ready to take up teamwork - also in a research team including members of the local community which is involved in the research process.
Assessment criteria
The final grade will be based on an assessment on three phases of work on research projects of participants:
• its design and preparation during the semester
• fieldwork in Wilamowice
• presentation of the projects
Two unexcused absences are allowed. More than 4 unexcused absences make it impossible to pass the course
Bibliography
• Andrason Alexander, Tymoteusz Król, A fuzzy model of the Vilamovicean language, “Sorbian Review”, 48: 265:292, 2014.
• Andrason Alexander, Tymoteusz Król, A Grammar of Wymysorys, Duke University, 2016.
• Baum Fran, Colin MacDougall, Danielle Smith, Participatory action research, “Journal of epidemiology and community health” 60.10: 854, 2006.
• Chromik Bartłomiej, What Herder could have learned in Wilamowice, 2013. http://www.revitalization.al.uw.edu.pl/eng/Wymysorys?view=35
• Chromik, Bartłomiej, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, Wymysorys / Wilamowicean, [In:] Dziedzictwo językowe Rzeczypospolitej. Baza dokumentacji zagrożonych języków, 2013. http://www.inne-jezyki.amu.edu.pl/Frontend/Language/Details/10/
• fum Dökter Tiöma, Wymysiöejer ibnana, Wymysoü 2014.
• fum Dökter Tiöma, Wymysiöejer kistiöeryjgyśihta, Wymysoü 2014.
• fum Dökter Tiöma, Wymysiöejer wjytynibnana, Wymysoü 2014
• Hammersley Martyn, Paul Atkinson, Ethnography: Principles in Practice, Routhledge, 2019.
• Kleczkowski Adam, Dialekt Wilamowic w zachodniej Galicji. Składnia (szyk wyrazów). Gebethner i Wolff, Poznań, 1921.
• McIntyre Alice. Participatory action research, Sage Publications, 2007.
• Majerska Justyna 2014, Wymysiöejer fibl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Wydział „Artes Liberales”, Warszawa 2014.
• Majerska Justyna, Słownik obrazkowy języka wilamowskiego, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Wydział „Artes Liberales”, Warszawa, 2015.
• Mojmir Hermann, Wörterbuch der deutschen Mundart von Wilamowice [Słownik niemieckiego dialektu z Wilamowic], Polska Akademia Umiejętności, Kraków, 1930-1936.
• Olko Justyna, Tomasz Wicherkiewicz, Robert Borges, Integral Strategies for Language Revitalization, Uniwersytet Warsawski, Wydział „Artes Liberales”, Warszawa 2016.
• Ritchie Carlo, Some Considerations on the Origins of Wymysorys, The University of Sydney, Sydney, 2012.
• Ritchie Carlo, Ynzer boümmüter, Uniwersytet Warszawski, Wydział „Artes Liberales”, Warszawa 2014.
• Wicherkiewicz Tomasz, Pochodzenie języka wilamowskiego – poglądy i badania, 2013
http://www.revitalization.al.uw.edu.pl/eng/Wilamowicean?view=8
Additional information
Additional information (registration calendar, class conductors, localization and schedules of classes), might be available in the USOSweb system: