Engagement research meets literature, dance and cinema

Closing event of the project "ENKOR - Engagement Constellations in Rural Areas" on April 18, 2024

What characterizes civic engagement in rural areas today? Who is involved? In what forms and constellations? Are there regional differences? Where does the shoe pinch? And where should the engagement journey go? The ENKOR team  celebrated the conclusion of the three-year research project together with guests on April 18, 2024. Results from the field research were presented, reflected upon and discussed in the light of literature, art and cinema.

• Around 70 interested people from all over Germany accepted the ENKOR team's invitation to the Babylon cinema in Berlin. The guests were welcomed with coffee and cake in the cinema's hall of mirrors. The ENKOR team, consisting of representatives from the Georg August University of Göttingen, the Thünen Institute for Regional Development and the TRAWOS Institute of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences, kicked off the event with their presentation of the project results in the form of an entertaining mutual survey. Ljubica Nikolic, André Knabe and Susanne Lerche presented key research results and methods. Quotes and anecdotes from the research process were also used to illustrate this. Engagement research is just as inspiring as the engagement itself is for those involved - that could be one conclusion of the presentation. You can find a brief summary of the key findings here.
• Afterwards, the guests were taken to one of the location's cinemas, where they were treated to a film about a dance project by choreographer Be van Vark, who was then available for a panel discussion on participation projects in rural areas. The sociologist Andreas Willisch and the representative of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Elisa Manukjan, also took part in the discussion. The discussion was moderated by Prof. Claudia Neu (University of Göttingen), head of the ENKOR team in Göttingen.
• After a breather with drinks and snacks, Prof. Claudia Neu invited the guests to a reading with the author Andreas Maier. He first presented his autofictional novel project "Ortsumgehung", read excerpts from it and then discussed the concept of home with the other attendees. The discussion was moderated by literary scholar Marc Weiland.
• With plenty to discuss and in the best of moods, the team and guests rounded off the evening with an inviting buffet accompanied by lounge music from a Berlin DJ team.