What kind of diversity?
Danilo Kiš, a famous writer born in Subotica, used the followings words to talk about the city: “Subotica : Kosztolanyi, the Synagogue, the Baroque style Town Hall… multilingualism”.
Indeed, there are three official languages in Subotica: Serbian, Hungarian and Croatian, whereas more than 20 national communities are represented : Hungarian, Croats, Bunjevacs, German, Roms ... among others (based on the last census of 2002)
What are we talking about?
The concept of national community means here a group of people with common characteristics, either ethnic, cultural, religious or linguistic. To get to understand the specific context of Subotica, we have to highlight the difference between nationality and citizenship. Nationality represents the fact of belonging to a national community, either majority or minority, that would be the one given for a census for example. On the other hand, citizenship refers to the fact of being affiliated to a State, in that case the Serbian State. Thus, the notion of nationality differs from the one used in countries like France where it is closely linked to citizenship. Yet, in Vojvodina everyone has his or her own nationality which can differ from his or her citizenship. In practical terms, a Hungarian living in Subotica has a Hungarian nationality and a Serbian citizenship - possibly a Hungarian one also. That is where it becomes interesting...
If you consider that a multicultural city brings together various cultures (ethnics, religious, linguistics...) then Subotica is definitely one. As for the intercultural aspect - understood as the existence of interactions between different communities - it is also part of Subotica's identity. That is when we are wondering - how much intercultural is it in reality?
If you consider that a multicultural city brings together various cultures (ethnics, religious, linguistics...) then Subotica is definitely one. As for the intercultural aspect - understood as the existence of interactions between different communities - it is also part of Subotica's identity. That is when we are wondering - how much intercultural is it in reality?
Why this project?
Through this website, we would like to explore the multicultural context of Subotica to get to understand better the nature of interculturalism. The idea is to compare the official picture of Subotica being an intercultural city - for example, it is part of the network defined by the Council of Europe of 'Intercultural Cities' - to the reality lived on a daily basis by its inhabitants. Having said that, it seems important to specify that we are talking here from our own point of view - young French people coming from a country with a very distinct structure of national identity. The fact is, it will necessarily get an impact on our study. Still, we think that it contributes to make it quite unusual.
Our approach is determined and guided by several questions that are the following :
What are the factors allowing us to say that Subotica is an intercultural city? Is that a shared point of view? Finally, what makes the example of Subotica so specific compared to others in the region of Vojvodina, in Serbia and maybe in Europe?
Our approach is determined and guided by several questions that are the following :
What are the factors allowing us to say that Subotica is an intercultural city? Is that a shared point of view? Finally, what makes the example of Subotica so specific compared to others in the region of Vojvodina, in Serbia and maybe in Europe?
How are we working?
Our method does not pretend to be strictly scientific but based on the results of both our exploration and our personal experience as EVS volunteers for 10 months. We hope bringing a look as much external and innovative as possible at the question of cultural diversity in Subotica.
- The first step has been searching for already existing resources on the subject, such as books, online resources, articles.
- Then we have organised a range of interviews to ask to some local people about languages, national community feelings, diversity and interactions. Without being representative given the limited sample population, we have decided to focus on quality interviews seeking to represent diversity of nationalities, ages, genders, occupations, etc.
- Putting together the results on a new website aims both at promoting the specific context of Subotica to a broader audience as well as contributing to and encouraging dialog between the different persons being interviewed. We have also created a specific place in this website for ideas (see ideas' square).
- We have promoted this website by organising a press conference in Media Center of Subotica (have a look at the video) and spreading the word through our network in Subotica, in France and elsewhere. An event gathering all people involved has been held on 14 July in Open University to present the results of our project, showing a short movie and discussing the diversity of Subotica from different points of view.