What is the etnotank?

What is the etnotank?

The Kashubian etnotank is a project carried out by the Kashubian Institute, an association of academics, operating since 1996 and based in Gdańsk. Since our association’s inception, in addition to typical academic activities (research projects, conferences, publications), we have also played an important expert role, supporting the educational community, local governments, cultural institutions, businesses, and others, with our knowledge and experience.

Within the etnotank, we want to develop this form of activity, drawing not only on the expertise of the Institute’s members but also on a broad range of people who care about Kashubia and Pomerania.

What are the goals of the etnotank?

Our project aims to create publicly useful knowledge in the form of reports and analyses, organize debates and workshops, provide advice, and provide opinions on important public documents, etc. Through this type of public activity, we want to influence knowledge about and social attitudes towards Kashubia and Pomerania, influence perceptions of our community and region, and strengthen Kashubian identity. Above all, we want to support decision-making processes in the public sphere and inspire and initiate serious debate on issues that are important to us, so that we can find appropriate solutions.

Therefore, an important goal is to influence the creation of action plans for broadly understood Kashubian issues and provide tools for solving problems (hence the importance of recommendations). This means diagnosing and raising public debate on issues that are underestimated, silenced, ignored, that people are unaware of, etc.

What are the rules which we apply to our activities?

The etnotank’s activities are guided by several principles:

• adherence to the principles of independence, absence of selfinterest, and criticism, as only in such conditions can reliable knowledge be created and open discussions, including those addressing difficult and controversial topics, take place;
• the widest possible sharing of the etnotank’s work and openness to collaboration;
• seeking synergies between the academic community and other spheres of social life interested in creating, disseminating, and utilizing knowledge;
• framing Kashubian issues in a broad context, particularly with regard to the situation in Pomerania and with reference to the situation of other similar communities and ethnic/national minorities, as only in this way can we understand what is happening in Kashubia and among the Kashubs.

Who are our activities addressed to?

The target group for these activities are primarily opinion leaders who influence the social attitudes, beliefs, and identity of the Kashubs:

• groups involved in regional development (local government officials, entrepreneurs, the business community, etc.),
• academics,
• regional teachers,
• animators and individuals associated with cultural institutions,
• regional and non-governmental activists,
• media professionals.

Main problem areas

We want to focus specifically on the following issues:

• development challenges of Kashubia in the context of Pomerania and the Baltic region (economic, demographic, ecological, etc.),
• civic and ethnic empowerment,
• legal status of Kashubs,
• Kashubian education and learning,
• identity dilemmas and the situation of the Kashubian community in the increasingly multicultural Pomeranian society (partly as a result of intensive migration),
• social memory and other factors influencing attitudes and intergroup relations,
• the dynamics of cultural change in Kashubia and among Kashubs,
• spatial changes in the context of development challenges,
• the image of Kashubia and Pomerania.