In 2015, Europe was in a tense debate on the topic of so-called refugee crisis: accept them, what are the limits, or should we not accept the incoming migrants from Syria and other countries? The borders of the European Union in the Balkan and Mediterranean were “gridlocked” and many volunteers from various faculties of Charles University went to help this region. Amongst them was Jakub Múčka, now a PhD student at the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at CU FA. Around him emerged a team that has been building the online Atlas of the Current World.
In 2017, they have launched the online Encyclopedia of Migration that aims to create a digital platform where the academics along with students can pass to the general public a comprehensive and in the form of short encyclopaedic entries their knowledge of the long-term situation in the Middle East and the migration of people in the current world.
Petr Felčer, who teaches Arabic at CU FA, comments that there was a lack of a relevant information tool – even in the world – allowing a deeper reflection of the situation of individual communities in regions. “Therefore, we have been working for the second year in a row on the development of the Atlas of the Current World as an interactive map – we call it “Political Google Maps.” We want selected experts chosen from the universities around the world to piece together an image of the current political-social situation in the world from a mosaic of individual countries – for anyone on the planet with internet access who speaks English and with a motivation to look beyond the horizon of their own country,” Felčer describes the project.
You may access the Encyclopaedia HERE. Currently, the website is both in Czech and English.
