A Participatory Dictionary

Dugnad [Norwegian]

Talkoot [Finnish]

Mutirão or Puxirum [Portuguese]

Kaláka [Hungarian]

Communal work or an activity when a collective comes together for a common cause. In rural settings, this used to happen e.g. during harvest season, when neighbors came together to fetch the hay on each others’ farms or to build a community dance hall. Today, in urban settings, it can also be a voluntary activity for a community cause such as participating in a cleaning day in the shared apartments gardens.

The words can have slightly different connotations in the different languages, ranging from focusing on construction of communal infrastructure to collectively helping community members in need – but they all emphasize reciprocity and responsibility to care for each other in the communities we are part of.

Listen to the Soundbite “2. Creating shared understanding through an embodied experience” for reflections on this concept.

Hembygdskänsla [Swedish]

Place attachment and feelings of connectedness and belonging to the area where a person has their home or grew up. The term also has connotations of cultural heritage and local history.

Listen to the Soundbite “4. Making community with the communities we’re working with” for reflections on this concept.

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