The only Collective Short Term Mobility organised in Opole by the FORTHEM alliance this academic year will take place from the 18^th to the 22^nd of July 2022 at the Faculty of Philology of the University of Opole. 

The event, entitled Symbolic Boundaries and Multidisciplinary Perspectives:  A Summer School on Diversity, Distinction and Difference - Frontières Symboliques et Perspectives Multidisciplinaires. Une Université d'Été sur la Diversité, la Distinction et la Différence, will bring together PhD students, graduates, and employees from the alliance universities: the University of Valencia, the University of Burgundy in Dijon, the University of Palermo, the University of Latvia in Riga, as well as colleagues from partner universities (Erasmus+ Key Action 107) in Australia (Edith Cowan), the United States (the University of Central Missouri), Israel (Kaye College), Albania (the University of Vlora), Iran (Mazandaran University) and Indonesia (Airlangga University).  In total, dozens of participants from Europe and other parts of the world will take part in the event.  The Summer School will be conducted in two languages - English and (for some participants) French.

The students and postgraduates will spend five days intensively reflecting on the concept of symbolic borders.  A detailed programme can be found here.

On the first day, in the conference room of the Opole University Museum, the opening lecture will be presented by Benno Herzog, professor of sociology at the University of Valencia, who specialises in the study of discourse. The lecture, open to all those interested, will be followed by an interdisciplinary discussion, while in the afternoon participants will take part in a 'sociological' walk around Opole.  In the evening, the Meduza cinema will host a screening of a documentary on post-World War 2 resettlement, and a final discussion of the day.

The second day will have the form of a symposium.  Over the course of four sessions, lecturers will share with participants the results of their research activities, closely linked to the theoretical framework of the school, carried out in various disciplines:  literary studies, cultural studies, postcolonial studies, linguistics, sociology and educational studies.  The sessions at the Collegium Maius are open to those willing to listen to lectures and participate in discussions.

On the third day, participants will take part in a history workshop at the Central Museum of Prisoners-of-War in Łambinowice, where the history of the POW camp and the fate of representatives of various prisoner groups will serve as a pretext and research material for their work.

On the fourth day of the Summer School, participants will move to the Contemporary Art Gallery, where they will take part in a workshop based on the work of Dr Natalia Krawczyk of the Institute of Visual Arts with 'invisible' American artists.  After viewing a graduation exhibition prepared by students from the Faculty of Art, participants will discuss their own master's or doctoral projects at work tables with lecturers, experimenting with art-based methods and inspirations from the field of contemporary art.

On the final day, students will present the results of their project work in a concluding session at the Collegium Maius.  The events of the Summer School will also be accompanied by less formal meetings and outings.

The Summer School is organised by Dr Anna Ledwina, Assoc. Prof. (Chair of French and Francophone Literature) and Dr Michał Wanke (Chair of Cultural and Religious Studies) with the participation of colleagues from the FORTHEM Diversity and Migration Lab, and the organisational support of Halina Palmer-Piestrak responsible for the KA107 Erasmus+ action and Paulina Panic working for the FORTHEM alliance.