Activities

The aim of the citizen panel on “Stories of a Possible Europe” is to work on the theme of inter-cultural dialogue in Europe, through cooperative and autobiographical methods.

The particularity of this project

The particularity of the work methodology of this panel is that it takes as its starting point the telling of stories by European citizens - both as individuals and as collective groups – as a form of participation and interaction in “constructing an ever closer Europe”. From our perspective, telling the life-stories of people is a way to explore and make known the different cultures which make up Europe, a contribution to a possible Europe “united in, and enriched through its cultural diversity”; moreover the stories can contribute to the knowledge of the values and representations which are the basis for building a sense of European identity. The storytelling method – as a form of active citizenship – in our view represents an effective bottom-up process, for building knowledge closer to the real experiences of European citizens.

The theme: intercultural dialogue in Europe…

The citizen panel on “Stories of a Possible Europe”, will focalize its attention on intercultural dialogue in particular, within the context of an increasingly multicultural European Union. Specific themes will be: “Experiences”: European citizens’ personal experiences of intercultural dialogue;“Know-how and methods”: experiences of projects in promoting intercultural dialogue in Europe, in order to gather the contribution of best practices; “Women”: the role of women from every European nation in promoting cultural dialogue in Europe.

The panel is thus based on the principle that through stories European citizens can contribute to the development and dissemination of knowledge and practices for building a possible Europe of intercultural dialogue. To this end, the groups, by learning from the use of storytelling and group investigation methodologies (a cooperative method here applied to participation) will become real citizen groups of research, gathering information and proposals capable of gleaning the multiple experiences and needs of their local area or nation in relation to the themes being addressed.