Photo: © 2013, Peace Dialogue, the History-Theatre Workshop in Tbilisi. Author: Edgar Khachatryan. In the framework of the project, participants of the workshop had a chance to visit the Museum of the Soviet Occupation in Tbilisi.
Collective memory gives people a sense of belonging. History helps to explain the world. A shared view of history can motivate people to take action that changes the future. These were the main massages that the organizers intended to pass to the participants of the History-Theatre workshop, held in Tbilisi from 17-24 of November, 2013. The workshop was the last joint activity in the framework of Peace Dialogue’s three year project Let’s See… Let’s Choose… Let’s Change. This year the project’s activities were mainly focused at developing a critical historical consciousness and the understanding among the youth involved in the project that people themselves are actors in history and play the most active role in constructing collective historical memories.
The History-Theatre methodology that was used during the workshop was developed by the implementing team based on A. Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed, P. Freire’s pedagogical concepts, and the team’s experience working with the historical insights of representatives of conflict-affected societies.
“History is subjective. It’s open to different interpretations. Each country and every generation has to deal with their own past, but this should not be done by promoting myths or by using politically motivated interpretations of history to attack opponents.” – said Marina Grasse during one of the discussions held in the framework of the History-Theatre workshop. Using the theatre and theatrical techniques as a mean for creating a safe space for young participants from the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict involved societies, the trainer Harald Hahn and the project’s German coordinator Marina Grasse tried to help the participants to see and recognize their own role in the history creation processes. Apart from that, the organizers intended to break the existing stereotypical perceptions on the history consisting of narratives of heroism and stories of nations’ victimhood only.
“I never thought about the power of the history” – says one of the participants Kara. “I realized now that having a concrete aim or a political agenda, through the compilation and presenting the same facts in a specific order, one can make societies greatest friends or the worst enemies ever.”
The Project՛s German Partners are – OWEN – Mobile Akademie für Geschlechterdemokratie und Friedensförderung e.V.
and
«La Paloma Documentaries» Production (La Paloma Documentaries)
The purchase of the shooting materials was done with the support of a Finnish NGO «CMI (Conflict Management Initiative) within the Peaceful Settlement of the Conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh (EPNK-2) project.
The project “Let՛s See… Let՛s Choose… Let՛s Change…” is supported by the zivik(Civil Conflict Resolution) programme of the Institute for Foreign Cultural Relations (ifa) with means from the German Federal Foreign Office.
