Project description
Unveiling identity through Polish Chicago’s time capsule
In the heart of Polish Chicago’s history lies an often-overlooked treasure trove: home movies and oral narratives from the pre-digital era. With the support of Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions, the Not-So-Ordinary project uncovers these hidden reels, aiming to trace the intricate tapestry of migrant and diaspora identities. By juxtaposing personal narratives with home movies, the project sheds light on the profound stories woven within seemingly mundane footage and empowers underrepresented communities. Despite being focused on the Polish diaspora's evolution in Chicago, this endeavour goes beyond boundaries. It delves into transnational micro-histories, media archaeology and cultural anthropology, while providing invaluable insights for researchers across social sciences and humanities. With collaborative expertise, the Not-So-Ordinary project redefines history, frame by frame.
Objective
This project explores home movies and related oral histories of Polish Chicago before the digital era (1960s–2000s) to challenge and broaden our understanding of evolving migrant and diaspora identities. Following critical archive studies’ call to empower communities underrepresented in historiography by developing and interrogating archival collections, the project juxtaposes home movies – “ordinary” motion pictures created for family and close friends – with interviews with their creators to uncover the “not-so-ordinary” capabilities of this underused data source for studying minority groups. The project investigates a specific case: the interplay of vernacular moving image practices and the transformations of Polish diaspora identity in Chicago; however, it leads to conclusions of wider significance. By creating a research collection of home movies and related oral histories, it demonstrates how to contextualize historical home movies. By showing how evolving analog home movie technology (shift from film to video) altered vernacular moving image practices of the Polish diaspora, it contributes to media archeology. By reconstructing transnational micro-histories of home movies circulating between countries, it expands the field of transnational history. By identifying the role of vernacular moving image practices in shaping identities, it contributes to cultural anthropology and migrant/diaspora studies. By providing guidance on home movies as a research source and by showing the use of the movie-interview analytical unit, it enhances the empirical toolbox for social sciences and the humanities. To go beyond the state of the art while ensuring mutually beneficial knowledge exchange, the project combines the complementary expertise of a postdoc (visual culture, identity, archives, qualitative methods) and supervisors from the University of Chicago (transnational history), Chicago Film Archives (archiving and digitalization), and KU Leuven (media and film studies).
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- social sciences sociology anthropology
- humanities arts modern and contemporary art cinematography
- humanities history and archaeology archaeology
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2022-PF-01
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
3000 Leuven
Belgium
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.