RePAST - findings and lessons learned
ABSTRACT
RePAST investigated how European societies deal with their troubled pasts in the present through the analysis of conflict discourses rooted in those pasts. The project also explored the impact of those discourses on European integration, and focused on four fundamental spaces of civil society and sources of informal education: oral and official history; journalistic and citizen-led media; arts and culture; and formal and informal politics. Eight countries were selected as cases: Cyprus, Germany, Poland, Greece, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ireland and Spain. RePAST interdisciplinary approach involved cross-country comparative analysis and innovative actions for citizens’ engagement with troubled pasts. UiA led a work package on professional media, cutting across all countries under study.
The talk will focus on three main findings:
The respondents with indirect conflict experience (e.g. those who fled conflict or are part of families who directly experienced conflict) are less likely to reconcile with the troubled past than those with direct experience in conflict. For those with indirect experience, media, family and social context provide an amplified view of the conflict, whereas those who experienced the conflict troubles during their life time, are more likely to move on.
Narratives from the troubled past have an influence on what is going on today. Narratives of past injustice and improper dealing with the troubled past do influence the present, as manifested with the decrease in trust in political and justice institutions but also in media.
There is a need for more history teaching. The formal curriculum should include oral history, alternative sources and other sources of information, so that a broader range of views are represented in historical accounts. This should be done with technology and digital means such as games and other innovative tools (RePAST-NOR)
RePAST investigated how European societies deal with their troubled pasts in the present through the analysis of conflict discourses rooted in those pasts. The project also explored the impact of those discourses on European integration, and focused on four fundamental spaces of civil society and sources of informal education: oral and official history; journalistic and citizen-led media; arts and culture; and formal and informal politics. Eight countries were selected as cases: Cyprus, Germany, Poland, Greece, Bosnia, Kosovo, Ireland and Spain. RePAST interdisciplinary approach involved cross-country comparative analysis and innovative actions for citizens’ engagement with troubled pasts. UiA led a work package on professional media, cutting across all countries under study.
The talk will focus on three main findings:
The respondents with indirect conflict experience (e.g. those who fled conflict or are part of families who directly experienced conflict) are less likely to reconcile with the troubled past than those with direct experience in conflict. For those with indirect experience, media, family and social context provide an amplified view of the conflict, whereas those who experienced the conflict troubles during their life time, are more likely to move on.
Narratives from the troubled past have an influence on what is going on today. Narratives of past injustice and improper dealing with the troubled past do influence the present, as manifested with the decrease in trust in political and justice institutions but also in media.
There is a need for more history teaching. The formal curriculum should include oral history, alternative sources and other sources of information, so that a broader range of views are represented in historical accounts. This should be done with technology and digital means such as games and other innovative tools (RePAST-NOR)
Publisert i Strengthening European integration through the analysis of conflict discourses_ findings from the RePAST project, 2022
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