Plural memories

Epistemic interest and research question:

In social, academic and media debates on migration and flight, pluralization processes in the interpretation of history and in memory culture(s) are insufficiently addressed. However, the plurality of society is reflected in numerous and heterogeneous historical references. Global migration movements and diverse historical narratives challenge a collective memory of a majority society that is imagined to be uniform and nationalistic.

The question arises of a contemporary (re)design of Holocaust education in the context of adult education that takes into account the plurality of people as well as their experiences, histories, pasts and narratives in the migration society.

The central thesis of the project is: Current political and educational representations of the past(s) only do justice to the reality of a migration society to a limited extent, because in educational work, the factors of past, memory, nation, identity and belonging are imagined and constantly (re)constructed as a unity.

The project conducts research on perspectives in historical-political adult and continuing education on the Holocaust and National Socialism in the migration society. It researches the perspectives of education providers and adult educators.
 

Project design and method:

The research project uses methods of empirical social research to gather the perspectives of education providers and adult educators: A document analysis is carried out on publicly available offers, e.g. programs and websites. Problem-centered, qualitative interviews with experts are used to capture the subjective perspective of the parties involved in the field. Collected data is then evaluated by content analyses.
 

Project duration:

08/2021 - 12/2023