Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations

Project Information

SO-CLOSE

Grant agreement ID: 870939

DOI

10.3030/870939

Project closed

EC signature date 13 November 2019

Start date 1 January 2020

End date 31 December 2022

Funded under

• SOCIETAL CHALLENGES - Europe In A Changing World - Inclusive, Innovative And Reflective Societies

Total cost

€ 3 040 282,97

EU contribution

€ 3 040 282,97

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT AUTONOMA DE BARCELONA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - SO-CLOSE (Enhancing Social Cohesion through Sharing the Cultural Heritage of Forced Migrations)

Reporting period: 2021-01-01 to 2022-12-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

SO-CLOSE had the central goal of contributing to the integration of refugees and asylum seekers while combating stigmatization and the rhetoric of hate in Europe. The consortium included academics, representatives of cultural institutions, NGOs, and businesspeople in the creative technology sector from 9 institutions in 5 European nations: Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain, and Sweden. We were united by the conviction that the so-called ‘Refugee Crisis’ of 2012-2015 should be regarded as a possibility for recognition of Europe's plurality and that connecting past and present experiences of forced migrations could be an opportunity to foster social cohesion.SO-CLOSE intended to promote mutual understanding between refugees and local communities through encounters where cultural heritage and narratives played a central role.
Past and present go hand in hand in SO-CLOSE. Reshaping elements of the European past and present has allowed us to revisit the continent as a territory of refugees and forced displacements. By acknowledging that part of our history, we can better understand the complexities of the present. Europeans have experienced exile, forced migration and refuge, just as other people from Africa, Latin America, Asia or Europe experience today. SO-CLOSE has contributed to the visibility and the meeting of experiences, narratives and identities.
Refugees and asylum seekers, who have been central in our research, have experienced situations of expulsion, forced migration, and danger, both in their places of origin as well as, frequently, in transit or in the host countries. SO-CLOSE aimed to raise awareness about their stories, memories, and cultural heritage. To do so, SO-CLOSE relied on storytelling and personal narratives, with co-creation serving as its primary methodology. In this way, SO-CLOSE contributed to the empowerment of the project participants, especially the refugees and asylum seekers who collaborated with us. Women and men that fled from war, persecution, armed conflict or the effects of climate change in search of a better present participated through the co-creation of educational, cultural, and artistic digital tools that provide answers to their own needs. Their agency was crucial to design, develop and disseminate SO-CLOSE Toolbox, which includes digital tools such as StoryMaps, WebDocs and Virtual Exhibitions that are available to the general public through the Memory Center Platform (https://mcpwebstart.net/Home). We intend to preserve this performative value as a sustainable mean to uphold SO-CLOSE values.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Providing an inclusive and participative access to digital cultural heritage, SO-CLOSE has fostered mutual understanding between refugees and the receiving European societies, thus contributing to social cohesion and ultimately to integration. The project achieved this aim through the creation and implementation of innovations in three fields: methodology (participatory and collaborative design), technology (digital cultural heritage applications) and content (locally-created narratives that mix past and present experiences of forced migration).
SO-CLOSE was divided into three major phases.
The first one (WP1, WP2, 2020), included 200 qualitative interviews and 15 focus groups with refugees and asylum seekers, NGOs, cultural institutions, academics and policy makers to identify their needs in terms of integration, recognition of cultural heritage, knowledge of the narratives of the host societies and potential solutions.
The second phase (WP3, 2021), started from the previous results to develop digital tools to promote exchanges between refugees and asylum seekers and their host societies. User requests were transformed by technology partners into a series of accessible, sustainable and attractive digital tools that could then be used by cultural institutions.
The las phase (WP4, 2021 and 2022) implemented and validated the results through the deployment of a series of pilot experiences: 4 Open Days and over 10 joined events, with over 100 visitors testing the Tools in Italy, Greece, Poland and Spain. In addition, communication and dissemination also included a wide campaign Cultural Institutions, Museums and other interested agents, networking with over 200 institutions and 9 Horizon2020 Projects. SO-CLOSE also contributed to the organization of Inclusive Europe 2022, a joint event in Brussels (March 2022) between European Projects, Policy Makers and Stakeholders the result of which was a series of shared recommendations to promote the inclusion of groups at risk of exclusion in Europe, including refugees.
After 3 years, SO-CLOSE has made results available for the use of future researchers, policy-makers and end-users. Datasets collecting the results of the fieldwork, Software components, including The Memory Center Platform (MCP) and the tools (storymap, webdoc and participatory virtual exhinbition); the SOCIAL, SEMANTIC and WEB search software services and other documents (Methodological documents, Policy papers, etc).

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

Combating anti-immigration and anti-refugee attitudes and facilitating mutual knowledge and understanding have been primary concerns in recent projects in the Horizon 2020 programme. A distinguishing feature of our project was the fact that it placed the voices of refugees and asylum seekers at the centre of historical and contemporary narratives. The war in Ukraine and the flow of refugees to countries like Poland implied a new challenges for the project, since it placed its objectives and methodologies in the face of a changing scenario -in particular, for the Polish partners, who turned their center into a shelter for women and children.
One of the most immediate results of SO-CLOSE has been the creation of new digital tools for the deployment of educational and awareness-raising methodologies in European cultural institutions. SO-CLOSE Toolbox includes three digital tools – Story Maps, Web Docs and Participatory Virtual Exhibitions- and the Memory Center Platform, aimed at sharing the tools and become a repository specialized in the preservation of cultural heritage of forced displacements in Europe. The goal is to facilitate and recognition between refugees and local communities in three main areas: research, education, and culture. SO-CLOSE created digital tools to contribute to the long-standing debate about public uses of the past and analysed the results in top-level scientific publications, from the work methodology to semantic analysis, including historical content.
Research on social identity construction and the contact between groups shows that when people are given the opportunity to discover each other’s life stories in unthreatening, peaceful environments and under the mediation of neutral, trustworthy parties, they will be able to overcome prejudice and connect experiences, which becomes a resource to transform negative heritage of forced migration into the positive experience of solidarity upon which new shared narratives may emerge.

Leaflet Toolbox- page 1

Kick-Off meeting

Leaflet Toolbox- page 2