Recognizing Narratives – Expressing Identity – Putting Dialogue into Practice

The juxtaposition of alienation and inclusion is one of the biggest political, social, and cultural challenges that diverse societies like Germany and Israel face today. This is especially true for museum education as well as for group processes in educational work. The project “Recognizing Narratives – Expressing Identity – Putting Dialogue into Practice” is a program that brings its participants together to work on theoretical and methodological approaches to facilitate an active learning dialogue. The program’s focus has three perspectives: the individual, between individuals, and between groups. And the “big” questions are asked such as: What is identity? How is identity mediated?

The project itself is a place of learning. When three organizations from two different countries meet to discuss the theory and everyday praxis of multidimensional learning, this is already an interdisciplinary dialogue. Its very existence testifies to diversity in practice. Certainly, it is not only about the exchange of expertise, but also the opportunity for the participants to enrich other sets of skills that they can take back to their respective jobs. The individuals profit as do organizations and, in turn, the broader public given the nature of organizations’ work. One vision of the project is to take the first concrete steps toward a joint publication that will allow for others to reap the benefits of the program as an example of multidimensional educational approaches.

 

From February to December 2011, the organization “Gesicht Zeigen! Für ein weltoffenes Deutschland,” the Art and Culture Educational Center of Museums in Nuremberg, and the Center for Humanistic Education at the Ghetto Fighters’ House Museum in the Western Galilee will design a bilateral exchange of expertise in the area of educational pedagogy. Seven participants from each organization are involved in the project, which includes two five-day seminars in Germany and Israel respectively.