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Montag, 5. Dezember 2005
peacecamps: Identities unsolved?
A Hadassah Austria Project with youth from the Middle East and from Europe
Evelyn Böhmer-Laufer
A Hadassah Austria Project with youth from the Middle East and from Europe
Evelyn Böhmer-Laufer
peacecamp, 23:33h
Since 2004 encounters of Jewish and Arab Israeli youth and Austrian as well as Slovenian youth have taken place in Austria and in Israel.
In a 10 days' workshop in the midst of a magnificently secluded Austrian landscape, they have worked on aspects of their personal, national, religious and historic identities and shared collections of documents assembled in their home countries in preparation of the encounter.
A second reunion of the group has taken place in Israel, where the adolescents toured the country together with the accompanying team of adults, and learned about the diverse and complex groups, nations and religions that live in this country.
Searching and establishing their identities as well as sharing their identities with each other were main elements though the phases of preparation as well as on the camps.
During the encounters, thrilling and creative in- and outdoor-activities, as well as psychoanalytic group work offered various opportunities to explore aspects of people's and groups' identities, which do sometimes separate, but may also connect people with each other.
The project is designed to make groups of adolescents meet and get to know each other, to learn about their respective cultural, religious, national, personal and other identities, to question and overcome prejudice and xenophobia and to bridge the gaps of group's and people's different identities.
The adolescents and a team of teachers, artists, psychologists and group psychoanalysts meet twice a year, once in Austria and once in Israel. The project foresees the active participation of all, adolescents as well as adults, in all activities of the workshop
An accompanying study is being conducted to assess the outcome of these encounters, the results of which will be published in the course of the year.
The project "peacecamps: Identities unsolved?" is a Hadassah Austria project, sponsored by the European Union, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, and the Karl Kahane Foundation.
In a 10 days' workshop in the midst of a magnificently secluded Austrian landscape, they have worked on aspects of their personal, national, religious and historic identities and shared collections of documents assembled in their home countries in preparation of the encounter.
A second reunion of the group has taken place in Israel, where the adolescents toured the country together with the accompanying team of adults, and learned about the diverse and complex groups, nations and religions that live in this country.
Searching and establishing their identities as well as sharing their identities with each other were main elements though the phases of preparation as well as on the camps.
During the encounters, thrilling and creative in- and outdoor-activities, as well as psychoanalytic group work offered various opportunities to explore aspects of people's and groups' identities, which do sometimes separate, but may also connect people with each other.
The project is designed to make groups of adolescents meet and get to know each other, to learn about their respective cultural, religious, national, personal and other identities, to question and overcome prejudice and xenophobia and to bridge the gaps of group's and people's different identities.
The adolescents and a team of teachers, artists, psychologists and group psychoanalysts meet twice a year, once in Austria and once in Israel. The project foresees the active participation of all, adolescents as well as adults, in all activities of the workshop
An accompanying study is being conducted to assess the outcome of these encounters, the results of which will be published in the course of the year.
The project "peacecamps: Identities unsolved?" is a Hadassah Austria project, sponsored by the European Union, the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Science and Culture, and the Karl Kahane Foundation.
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