Transnational approaches and multi-perspective methods in history teaching Erasmus Project

Project Title

Transnational approaches and multi-perspective methods in history teaching

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for adult education

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

The project ‘Transnational Approaches and Multi-Perspective Methods in History Education’ investigates transnational, multi-perspective approaches to European history and aims at fostering history learning in Europe by comparing different views of the shared experience of European development and events.
The project will promote transnational presentations of history that include multiple identity constructs or indeed make them possible for the first time. The European Union is a historical ‘transnational’ idea. The project will develop best-practice models and make them available for history teaching in schools and adult education so as to open up a multi-perspective approach to complex historical events. The aim is to work towards a narrative of our common European history that retains unified and differing memories but allows a re-interpretation in particular of the ‘winner/loser’ dichotomies, given the central role of this and the perpetrator/victim perspective in history teaching.
There is an increasing tendency, not only in Europe, to return to nationalistic ideas, which have an impact on democratic principles, attitudes to participation and integration, anti-discrimination and antisemitism. The project looks at how sociopolitical events in European history are presented from different national perspectives but also from the perspective of ethnic minorities and investigates new multidimensional forms of communication.
But how can history be interpreted in a transnational network like the European Union? How can the stories of minorities, persons with a migration or refugee background and with limited potential for participation, be incorporated into a European narrative? How can an understanding for a transnational view of history be fostered in persons who are focused on nationalistic narratives and images?
As we believe that an open approach to history is a better reflection of the context of many people in Europe, we would like to develop academic methods, formal, non-formal and informal approaches to education and artistic expression into a diverse portfolio of teaching and learning materials for adult education, education theory, initial and advanced teacher training and the teaching of art and culture.
We will study historical narratives by the majority society, for example in schoolbooks, and compare them with the narratives of eyewitnesses from different nationalities, ethnic minorities or marginalised groups in society. As history is conveyed not only through written and oral narratives but also through pictures and other visual media, the focus is on visual forms of communication – a documentary play that will enrich the theatre world of Timisoara, an exhibition in Konavle and a video documentary.
All best-practice examples, detailed descriptions of all methods and all other products of the strategic partnership will be clearly described and available on the digital method platform.
The project language is English. The project partners come from Austria (2), Germany, Belgium, Romania, Sweden, Poland and Croatia.

The partner organizations are:
University of Klagenfurt, AT (coordination)
Research Centre for the History of Minorities, AT
Sprachendienst Konstanz, DE
EU WAREHOUSE, BE
Asociatia Solidart, RO
Norrköpings Stadsmuseum, SE
Instytut Tolerancji w Łódźi, PL
Museums and Galleries of Konavle, HR

Project Website

http://www.transnationalhistory.eu/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 250658 Eur

Project Coordinator

UNIVERSITAET KLAGENFURT & Country: AT

Project Partners

• EU WAREHOUSE
• Asociatia Solidart
• Instytut Tolerancji w Łodzi
• Muzeji i galerije Konavala
• Sprachendienst Konstanz
• Forschungszentrum für historische Minderheiten
• Norrköpings stadsmuseum