DVV International has published an online accessible book, which they call a toolbox, for working on reconciliation in adult education, titled “Speaking to One Another”. DVV international is a partner organisation of EuroClio with whom they worked on the Sharing History – Cultural Dialogues project.
The toolbox was created by DVV International in collaboration with a number of Turkish and Armenian partner organisations and institutions. It resulted from a series of dialogue projects from the last eight years, which dealt with Turkish-Armenian relations. The developers hope that the toolbox, which focuses on the lessons that were learned in these projects, contributes to the field of Adult Education and Lifelong Learning, and specifically to more and better reconciliation projects in adult education. Because, in their words, “[i]n a world full of conflicts and divisions such an endeavor is needed more than ever.”
Then, what exactly is in this toolbox? Instead of an evaluation of what happened in the past, it is a collection of tools that allows people to question and critically evaluate historical narratives, and that provokes critical analysis. The toolbox consists of both these tools and articles, which are direct results from project experiences and for example discuss the tools used during the projects.
In the section of approaches, the toolbox provides valuable writings on things like target groups, neutrality, and thinking outside the box. Methods that are discussed include traveling exhibitions and study visits, while in the latter part of the book, helpful tools, indicated with the word “Focus”, on for example gender and oral history and visual sources are offered. The photos in the toolbox are a nice addition to illustrate the various methods and approaches.
If this toolbox by DVV International sounds like something you would like to use or look into, you can find the toolbox online in PDF format. Apart from this online version, a printed version will come soon.
