Project

Region	National coverage
Title of the Programme	Culture
Title of the Project	Tower of Babel, Literature of Ethnic Minorities in the Czech Republic and in Norway 2021/23
Number of the Project	KU-CA1-012
Project Promoter	Babylon, NGO
Project Partner from Donor State	The Association of Sami writers (NOR)
Czech Partner	Romea Viet Up, NGO Society of friends of Carpathian Ruthenia The Václav Havel Library
Status	Estimated project duration: 04/2021-03/2023
More Information	Target group: Students (any age) Other minorities Roma population Web pages: https://babylonrevue.cz/literatura-narodnostnich-mensin/
Total Eligible Costs	88 210 EUR
Grant	79 389 EUR

Project description:

The project Tower of Babel is devoted to literary production of minority cultures in the Czech Republic, Roma, Vietnamese, Ruthenian, and their position in the majority society. Co-operation with Norwegian minority literature associations will make it possible to compare the situation in the Czech Republic and Norway.

The project aims at promoting the culture of minorities in the Czech Republic which is an important factor in the social wellbeing of these minorities in society. At the same time, it is the objective to introduce this culture to the Czech public which has vague ideas about the life of minorities without realizing that beyond the horizon of its interests, there are distinctive cultures that can enrich the majority society. Through a series of literary evenings, literature works by authors from the cultural minorities associated with the Czech environment will be presented to the Czech public, with the overall topic being the reflection of the Czech majority in the minority cultures. Interdisciplinary art events – literary evenings – will be complemented with workshops, conference and discussions. The project will culminate at the Festival of Minority Cultures, where project creators will meet. The results of the activities will be published in five thematic issues of the literary magazine Babylon. Three issues will focus on the three minority literatures in the Czech Republic, while one issue will be devoted to the literary work of Norwegian minorities, Sami and Roma, and one will summarize the results of the project. The final output will be a book by writer Petr Placák which will be composed of interviews with minority authors living in the Czech Republic and revolve around their relationship with the majority society. The interviews will be supplemented with works by minority authors. The topic will be confronted with interviews and examples from works of Norwegian minority authors, including their relationship with the majority society.