Course : MOBILITY-BORDERS HERITAGE AND RESILIENCE THROUGH STORY-TELLING

Welcome to the digital showcase of the Blended Intensive Programme (BIP) Mobility, Borders, Heritage and Resilience through Storytelling.

This blog presents the creative projects developed by students from different countries and academic backgrounds who came together to explore how people experience, remember, and narrate movement, borders, belonging, and cultural heritage.

Drawing on ethnographic methods such as participant observation, oral histories, sensory documentation, walking ethnographies, and digital storytelling, students engaged with the city, its communities, and one another to reflect on the complexities of mobility in contemporary societies. Through encounters, conversations, and collaborative fieldwork, they examined how stories reveal experiences of resilience, displacement, identity, memory, and connection.

The works presented here take diverse digital forms—including short films, podcasts, photo essays, zines, and multimedia projects. Rather than academic essays, they are creative interpretations of lived experiences, demonstrating how storytelling can make visible voices, places, and perspectives that are often overlooked. Together, these projects invite us to reflect on the ways mobility, borders, and heritage shape everyday life and how ethnographic storytelling can foster understanding across cultures and communities.

The projects submitted are the following:

1. Crossiing Border, Despina Androulidaki Sara Fatsa Ceren Akbulut Arda Koray Ozmen
2. Women Mobility in Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, Andreea Bratosin (Burdujanu) Vanessa Nikolaeva Vencislava Manova
3. Life and Resilience in Urban Condition, Diana Mălău, Elena Lefter, Kristina Veselinova Ilova. Burak Dikilitaş Ο.
4. Old Ruins for Modern CIty & Τhe Film Ana Maria Gaga, Ileana Stanciu Scripcariu, Galateia Kondi, Ipek Mayıs Oguz
5. Boder Zine, Eleni Kolozof, Valentini Lazaridou, Denisa Avram, Archim Sturzu
6. Steki Scrapbook, Yoana Boncheva Maria Vasileiadou Eirini Mylona Konstantinos Chekimoglou
7. Urban Traces, Memory and Graffiti,  ÖZGE ARSLAN, MANTZARI MAGDA, ROBERTO STOQNOV and MELİS ÖZYUR 

The programme also resulted in the creation of a photographic album inspired by the BAUHAUS NOVA 2026 photography competition, alongside a collection of mind maps produced during the educational walking ethnographies carried out throughout the city of Thessaloniki. These outputs further reflect the programme's emphasis on multimodal learning, observation, and creative engagement with urban space.

Photographic Album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/53KM6jinZDYnx5Ai6

Mind Maps of the Walking Ethnographies: https://photos.app.goo.gl/RJES4cSreMsdwjy56

The projects were supervised by Derya Firat, Miman Sinan FIne Arts; Ana Luleva, South-West  University in Blagoevgrad, 'Neofit Rilski', Monica Stroe, National University of Political Sciences and Public Administration; Ioannis Manos and Eleni Sideri, University oF Macedonia 

We are all grateful to the ERASMUS+ Blended Intensive Program