As 2016 comes towards an end, it is time for an update on how our exciting project on Silencing Citizens Through Censorship (SCC) is going. As of December 2016, more than 570 people have been directly reached through this project, with many more expected in 2017. This project update will take you on a quick ride through the project description, the learning activities that were piloted in 2016, and the future plans for the SCC-project.
Project description
The project involves a transnational group of history and citizenship educators from EuroClio’s member Associations in France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Macedonia, Poland, and Spain in the development and implementation of students-driven projects on censorship in Europe’s 20th century dictatorial and totalitarian regimes. The focus will be on the history of Franco’s Spain (1936 – 1975), Vichy France (1940 – 1945), Nazi Germany (1933-1945), Mussolini’s Italy (1922 – 1943), the post-1945 Hungarian ( – 1990) and Polish Republics (1944 – 1989) and the Republic of Macedonia as part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under Tito (1945 – 1980). During the project the team members have developed engaging and thought-provoking resources on striking historical examples of censorship with their students through the collection, compilation and analysis of multi-perspective sources.
The busy and productive year of 2016
This year has been an intense and busy year for the team of the SCC project. The first development meeting in Bologna in January, the second development meeting in Budapest in June, and the concluding final development meeting in Skopje in December has required hard work and perseverance from the team members and EuroClio alike. In between these development meetings, the team has had frequent online meetings, and organised workshops and piloting events in their respective countries. SCC Project manager Aysel Gojayeva has been delighted with how the team has come together;
This team is quite unique. The way that they have come together and worked hard despite strict deadlines and busy professional and personal lives has been very impressive. I am also impressed with how well the team dynamics have played out, and how they all seem to get along exceptionally well whenever we held meetings and worked on materials. As a cherry on the top, the quality of the materials that have been developed has been great to witness, and I am especially happy with the level of trans-nationality of the sources in the materials that have been developed, and how eager the team members have been to pilot both their own and other team member’s materials.
Learning activities piloted
Above you can see an overview of what, when, and where the learning activities of the SCC project has been piloted this year. Reporting on these piloted events are available in the right column “latest news” on the project site.
In addition, two source collections (When Books Burn and State Security Knows Best) and two teaching strategies (Archives and Messages of the monumentals) are currently being developed in their final stages.
Plans for 2017
As the project moves into its final phase, the team members are working hard on incorporating the feedback received from piloting and reviewing the materials. In addition, more piloting is expected in the beginning of 2017, as the team finalizes and prepares for the full project launch and workshop at EuroClio’s annual conference in San Sebastian.
Keeping up with the developments
If you want to follow the developments of the Silencing Citizens Through Censorship project, you can keep up through our Facebook group and Facebook page where news articles are shared, by signing up for our newsletter, and frequently checking the project page below, where all news relating to the project are shared.
