From the Periphery to the Centre and Back
From the Periphery to the Centre and Back is a historical research pilot action by cultural centre Malý Berlín, which aimed to reconstruct the local cultural and social history of the city of Trnava within the period between 1945 and 1989 and partly with the post-socialist transformation around the themes of the physical and social mobility of Roma between the ‘periphery’ and the ‘centre’.
Specifically, the research project focused on the reconstruction of topography (the urban habitat of Roma communities and its boundaries), social spaces (places of cultural and interethnic interaction vs. places created by and for Roma), activities, practices and events that make up Roma cultural life or that involve Roma.
Within the research, we managed to record how the memory of arrival and settlment in Trnava is orally preserved in families, as well as to find out how Roma families lived, how their cultural life and social contacts with the majority took place and, finally, the research reflected on the Roma’s own cultural life, but also their involvement in the cultural life of the majority.
The research was based on oral-history, archival research and crowdsourcing in archival research. The research was carried out by two researchers – Emília Rigová and Daniela Kováčová. Emília Rigová, or rather her family, is also a direct part of the Roma community in Trnava and the surrounding area. Her involvement in the project was crucial in providing access to the respondents. A direct result of the pilot action is the production of a study that maps the research itself, its respondents and the research findings (second jobs, artistic activities, social connections). It also presents the most interesting oral history statements of the respondents and, as an accompanying material, maps of the Roma settlement in the centre of Trnava and of the villages in the surrounding area.