The international interdisciplinary peace education project “New Odyssey of Peace” focuses on the creative implementation and visualization of stories told about active peace. The project will focus on working with students from the age of 15 to 18 years from three different countries, who will contribute to the peace study. The term “culture of remembrance” examines the biographies of european citizens, who have acted with courage and confidence in times of crises in order to preserve the ethical values of social interaction. The focus will be on social and educational values of the European cultural heritage in the sense of a history of peaceful coexistence, the culture of debate and resistance without heroism and glorification of war. The students will be presented with the idea that peace is more than just the absence of war, but rather “ a continuous process of diminishing violence and increasing justice” (Uni Jäger, peace educator). Based on historical biographies, the students will examine concrete examples of “peace acts”. This historically and biographically oriented method comes from peace and conflict research and makes it possible to grasp the concept of peace as active action. In addition, exercises on communication and participatory decision-making skills are offered on escalation and de-escalation mechanisms. The findings from biographical research are continuously documented and artistically processed. The project is in partnership with the national secondary school of applied arts"Sveti Luka", Sofia as well as students from the secondary school “Die Elisabeth-Selber Gesamtschule”, Bonn and students from “Höhere Lehranstalt für wirtschaftliche Berufe” vocational school, St. Pölten, Austria. The three countries have been purposely chosen for this project, as there were and still are many ethical actions that have repeatedly been prevented against violence or social injustice. The school in Sofia will focus on visual and applied arts and plays an important role in the artistic implementation and in the presentation of the work at the end of the project. Another interesting aspect of our project is researching peace work in an Eastern European city. “Die Elisabeth-Selber Gesamtschule” in Bonn has shown a remarkable experience with projects on peace issues. The HLW-vocational school in St. Pölten will play a central role in this project with it’s already established social, IT and business departments. The student in the three schools will conduct qualitative research on their school ground, but will be able to present the results internationally. Exchange and documentation will be presented in English language written and oral form as well as on digital media. In the course of the project, the language as a means of expression and construction will generally take central stage. Throughout the project a promotion of a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning languages is reflected in the conscious use of the mother tongue, in addition to the practice of English as a foreign language. The method of storytelling provides a good access to peace building. These stories of active peace are not just informative, they also address the emotional level. The knowledge gained should find its way into image metaphors or reflect on artistic works. The students should understand art as a way of space for new communication and change. The implementation will take place in all art fields (analog and digital). The participants will express themselves creatively on the topic of peace and approach the concept of peace using artistic means. For the development of the artistic works, contacts to artists should be made and cultural sites will be identified in order to get ideas and inspiration. In addition, a visual documentation of the creative process is created, which is shown at a traveling exhibition. The final work of art will initially be used for the closer networking of the partner institutions and subsequently for the dissemination of the project idea. Cooperation with local peace institution “ Conflict Culture” as well as the “Institute for Jewish History” in Austria and the “Women's Network for Peace” in Bonn are planned as part of the project. This new understanding of history will be reflected in mutual exchange and will be used as an offer for individual identification. The students should be aware that the "headings of justice" are the same in every country and that the term peace is an active process. The epic writing about the classic hero Odysseus continues to influence our understanding of conflict. With this project we are trying to create a new, cross-national and cross-sectional form of narrative that should encourage and enable people to recognize and promote peace.
The international interdisciplinary peace education project “New Odyssey of Peace” focused on the creative implementation and visualization of stories told about active peace. The project focused on working with students aged 15 to 18 years from three different countries, who contributed to the peace study. The term “culture of remembrance” examines the biographies of European citizens who acted with courage and confidence in times of crises in order to preserve the ethical values of social interaction. The focus of the project was on social and educational values of the European cultural heritage in the sense of a history of peaceful coexistence, the culture of debate and resistance without heroism and glorification of war. The students were presented with the idea that peace is more than just the absence of war, but rather “a continuous process of diminishing violence and increasing justice” (Uni Jäger, peace educator). Based on historical biographies, the students examined concrete examples of “peace acts”. This historically and biographically oriented method comes from peace and conflict research and makes it possible to grasp the concept of peace as active action. In addition, exercises on communication and participatory decision-making skills on escalation and de-escalation mechanisms were offered. The findings from biographical research were continuously documented and artistically processed. The project was carried out in partnership with the national secondary school of applied arts "Sveti Luka", Sofia, as well as students from the secondary school “Die Elisabeth-Selbert Gesamtschule”, Bonn, and students from “Höhere Lehranstalt für wirtschaftliche Berufe” vocational school, St. Pölten, Austria. The three countries were purposely chosen for this project, as there were and still are many ethical actions that have repeatedly prevented acts of violence or social injustice. The school in Sofia focussed on visual and applied arts and played an important role in the artistic implementation and in the presentation of the work at the end of the project. Another interesting aspect of our project was researching peace work in an Eastern European city. “Die Elisabeth-Selbert Gesamtschule” in Bonn showed a remarkable experience with projects on peace issues. The HLW-vocational school in St. Pölten played a central role in this project with its already established social, IT and business branches. The students in the three schools conducted qualitative research on their school ground, but were able to present the results internationally. Exchange and documentation was presented in English language in written and oral form as well as on digital media. In the course of the project, the language as a means of expression and construction generally took central stage. Throughout the project a promotion of a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning languages was reflected in the conscious use of the mother tongue, in addition to the practice of English as a foreign language. The method of storytelling provided a good access to peace building. These stories of active peace were not just informative, they also addressed the emotional level. The knowledge gained has found its way into image metaphors or reflect on artistic works. The students now understand art as a way of space for new communication and change. The implementation took place in all art fields (analogue and digital). The participants expressed themselves creatively on the topic of peace and approached the concept of peace using artistic means. For the development of the artistic works, contacts to artists were made and cultural sites were identified in order to get ideas and inspiration. In addition, a visual documentation of the creative process was created, which is shown at a exhibition. The final work of art was initially used for the closer networking of the partner institutions and subsequently for the dissemination of the project idea. Cooperation with local peace institution “Conflict Culture” as well as the “Institute for Jewish History” in Austria and the “Women's Network for Peace” in Bonn were intensified as part of the project. This new understanding of history was reflected in mutual exchange and used as an offer for individual identification. The students have become aware that the "headings of justice" are the same in every country and that the term peace is an active process. The epic writing about the classic hero Odysseus continues to influence our understanding of conflict. With this project we tried to create a new, cross-national and cross-sectional form of narrative that should encourage and enable people to recognize and promote peace.