Proposal: Decolonize and deconstruct narratives by building an inclusive educational history
Implementation: 2025 to 2027
Call: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2024
Topic: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM-HISTMIGRATION
Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants
Proposed Budget: 192 915,00€
Keywords: Decolonization, Colonialism, Equality, Inter-cultural dialogue, Minorities, Migration, collection of testimonies, digital storytelling, raising awareness, uncovering the colonial narratives, historical roots of racism, anti-racist education; deconstruct narratives, inclusive society.
Objective: This project addresses the historical silence surrounding colonial legacies in Portugal, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France, with the aim to confront their influence in contemporary structural racism. As such, this project tackles the 3rd priority of the 2024 CERV call: Migration, decolonization and multicultural European societies, as it focuses on exploring the enduring effects of colonialism and decolonization processes.
The collection of testimonies of first, second and third generation African immigrants amplifies the power of their voices and illustrates the impacts of decolonisation processes felt today. This entails the use of digital storytelling into a documentary to bring together the narratives of African immigrants across generations. Through this, the project promotes an inclusive understanding of colonial history, as the power of testimony is seen as a tool for raising awareness on the experiences of African immigrants in a culturally sensitive way. In this sense, the project aims to uncover the colonial narratives intertwined with the historical roots of racism, which fuel today’s inequalities and discrimination.
At its core, the project promotes anti-racist education to deconstruct these narratives and contribute to a more inclusive society. Through transnational workshops and memory forums, it raises awareness and empowers various target groups (parent’s associations and school communities, high school students, civil society organisations, current teachers at the secondary level and university students who are pursuing their career in Teaching History) to challenge personal biases and advocate for anti-racism within their communities. In the case of the memory forums, there is an emphasis on a gender-based approach to further explore the specific experiences of women. In general, the project bridges the gap between past colonial narratives and present-day manifestations of racism, advocating for anti-racist education.
Partners:
- IM Cultural Institute
- Universidade Do Minho
- Multikulti Media
- Público-Comunicação Social Sa
- Djass-Associação de Afrodescendentes
- Eekhout Academy
- Stichting Caat Projects