Paper short abstract:

The new economic and social imaginaries are the driving force of a new Polish community in Manchester, UK. This paper, based on the experiences of making the ethnographic documentary "Spółdzielnia/Cooperative", will discuss the challenges of showing these imaginaries on film.

Paper long abstract:

Spółdzielnia/Cooperative is a visual ethnography portraying the everyday work of a socially engaged cooperative in Manchester, which is run mainly by Polish migrants. The film is, after "Active (citizen)", the second ethnographic documentary of the Visualising the Invisible Project, which looks at the activism of migrants and ethnic minorities outside of their community organisations. The film, focused on a group of young Polish migrants who create their own community that exists in parallel to the formal "Polish Community" epitomised by the Polish church, Saturday school, etc., is also a story of alternative future making. The new economic and social imaginaries are the driving force of this community. The paper, based on over five years of participant observation and the experiences of making the film, will discuss the challenges of showing on video these social and economic imaginaries as well as the day-to-day hard work of the involved activists.