Center for Languages and Cultures of National Minorities
Characteristics of the workplace

Scientific research and pedagogical activities focused on specific regional problems and national minorities have a long tradition in Prešov. However, new possibilities opened up after the establishment of the Prešov self-governing region and the University of Prešov in 1997. From the beginning, the projects were oriented towards the analysis of historical contexts and perspectives of regional development. New interdisciplinary work teams and scientific workplaces were created, which were systematically devoted to the social, ethnic and religious specificities of northeastern Slovakia.

The university workplace was established by the rector of the university on December 1, 2015, following the approval of the Academic Senate of the University of Prešov in Prešov, with the intention of more effectively coordinating the activities of already existing scientific and pedagogical teams.

The Center for Languages and Cultures of National Minorities was created by the merger of three originally separate university departments: the Institute of Ruthenian Language and Culture, the Institute of Roma Studies and the Institute of Hungarian Language and Culture. The center has a specific mission in regional, national and transnational sessions. It is based on the ethnic and social specifics of the East Slovak region, which it examines and presents in national and international programs.

Main objectives of the workplace:

1/ Scientific area
a/ interdisciplinary synchronous and diachronic research of minority cultures.
b/ preparation of grant projects on the methodological basis of philology, cultural history, cultural anthropology and biomedical analyses.
c/ research carried out in intercultural penetrations and interferences of minority cultures and the culture of the majority nation in domestic and international contexts.

2/ Pedagogical field
a/ participation in the education and training of teachers, especially for national schools in the Slovak Republic, as well as translators, interpreters and cultural-educational workers in the framework of intercultural communication between minorities and the majority nation.
b/ preparation of study plans, curricula, textbooks, teaching aids and other scientific and pedagogical materials for the implementation of study programs focused on the language and culture of national minorities.
c/ preparation and implementation of study programs in cooperation with other faculties of the university. preparation of other educational projects with a focus on the languages, literature and culture of minority groups, primarily in Central Europe and in accordance with the requirements of the national policy of the Slovak Republic and the European Union.

For more details, see also the statute of the CJKNM and the websites of individual institutes.