Spółdzielnia/Cooperative: an experiment in longitudinal visual ethnography of migrant activism

Abstract

Spółdzielnia/Cooperative is an ethnographic documentary portraying the everyday work of a socially engaged cooperative in Manchester, UK, which is run mainly by Polish migrants. This short essay locates the film in a broader context and looks at the potential of longitudinal visual ethnography to investigate the activism of migrants and ethnic minorities outside of their community organisations. The essay follows the film in exploring three key themes. Firstly, it focuses on everyday activism – one that happens not in NGOs or protest movements but rather in everyday engagements, including in social businesses where the balance between activism and moneymaking is continuously confronted and negotiated. Secondly, it looks at migrant activism for causes detached from migrant-group advocacy and at a small community in the process of developing and constituting itself outside of the well-known diasporic ‘community structures’. Finally, the essay delves into the opportunities and challenges of longitudinal visual ethnography. Recorded over five years of participant observation, Spółdzielnia/Cooperative is a story of placemaking, belonging and affirming social citizenship in a new country – this essay revisits the process of telling this story through ethnographic film.

Keywords: Migrant activism, Everyday activism, Longitudinal visual ethnography