On Monday January 23rd was held the first day of workshops of the European project Val.UE.s (Valuing Lives & Understanding European (hi)Stories), funded by the European CERV program.
Val.UE.s aims to raise awareness among the younger generation on the issue of discrimination, with a look back to the past and the sad events that took place in Europe in the 1930s and 1940s, and to stimulate reflection on discrimination nowadays. The project is being run in partnership with the Sapienza Innovation Consortium of Rome (Lead Partner), the Sturzo Institute of Rome, and three European universities (Hungary, Romania and Lithuania).
The final product of the project will be the creation of a traveling exhibition on the theme of discrimination, created in collaboration with the MUFOCO Museum of Contemporary Photography and a high school class in the area, involved thanks to a dedicated PCTO. Within the exhibition, which will open March 25 at Pertini, there will be images, texts and video interviews on the theme of discrimination, treated from historical and contemporary perspectives.
During the first day of the workshop, conducted by a complex staff consisting of employees of the municipal administration, Mufoco and Civil Service volunteers, students were involved in non-formal education activities aimed at reflecting on the theme, developing personal elaborations and creating materials that will be used in the creation of the project exhibition.
After an initial "Ice Breaking" activity to get into the mood of the day, this was followed by a short interactive quiz on an historical topic, on the events of the Holocaust and discrimination in the 20th century.
Next, students were involved in the "Seeing is Feeling" activity, in which they analyzed various photos and wrote their own texts - an activity aimed at raising students’ awareness of critical reading of images.
The afternoon activity focused on identification. Through a workshop activity, the students tried to identify themselves with people who were victims of discrimination. Divided into groups, the students described what they thought these people might "feel" and "think," and what they thought about it. Following this, the groups shared their work with each other in a time of discussion and, from the activities done, hypothesized a set of questions to be asked during the video interviews.
The students were well predisposed toward the activities and interested in the project and its important issues.
