Miejskie „laboratorium” wielokulturowości. Socjologiczno-fotograficzna próba obserwacji relacji międzykulturowych w przestrzeni publicznej Białegostoku

Abstract

Bialystok is a culturally diversified city. This fact results in the presence of different cultural groups in the city public space, which at the same time becomes a field for manifestation of cultural identities, and meeting (or even clashing) of these groups. Resorting to documentary photography, the authoress attempts at observing the instances of multiculturalism in the space of Bialystok in order to create a typology of local intercultural relations. The laboratory metaphor used in the article reflects the dynamic quality of the observed phenomena: diverse cultural groups, reacting one with another as chemical components in a laboratory, constitute the local community with its particular symbols, practices, and problems. The public space they occupy and make use of is a place of a natural social experiment – the creation of a multicultural social order within the city boundaries.