BREATHE! is an Erasmus+ project aiming to develop pedagogical tools for socio-cultural actors to enable them to bring young people, often from underprivileged backgrounds, to speak out about the colonial history that links Europe and Africa, as well as the history of the acquisition of African objects in European museums. In collaboration with British, Belgian, German, Austrian and Senegalese partners, this project will take place over 2 years with a first phase dedicated to the elaboration of pedagogical tools (1 textbook on the history of colonization that links the member countries of the partnership to Africa, 1 textbook on the history of the acquisition of African objects present in their national museums, 1 pedagogical kit to allow socio-cultural workers to work on these issues with the youth). These intellectual outputs will then be bilaterally tested with groups of young people in the partner countries. During a 10-day workshop, these young people will have the opportunity to travel to one of the European countries of the consortium and to host another group of young people to work on these stories through participative methods and to produce a creative output (video, exhibition, performance) linked to the African collection of a national museum and the current social realities and debates. This co-production will then be promoted during a dissemination event. All the co-productions made locally will be presented at a final dissemination event that will take place in Paris with all the partners and young participants of the consortium as well as a wider public.
The aims of the project were : - To establish a network of socio-cultural and popular education players around the history of the colonisation of Africa by Europe and the acquisition of African objects by European museums. - Equip socio-educational and socio-cultural workers with knowledge and teaching tools on these subjects, in order to develop creative and innovative educational solutions. - Provide young people in vulnerable situations with the tools and skills they need to become ambassadors for these stories and agents of change for a more resilient and peaceful European citizenship. - Improving social inclusion through the arts by promoting cross-sector collaboration between stakeholders
In the wake of "Black Lives Matter" movements that echoed around the world, and the growing social fractures during the pandemic, we have identified a growing need among young racialized people from working-class neighborhoods to understand the links between police violence, systemic racism and colonial Heritage. The colonization of Africa was a European responsibility, and led to a great deal of cultural looting to fill Europe's museums. Yet there were no tools to enable the educational players accompanying these young people to understand these histories and to build projects with them in museums that would lead them to investigate and speak out about these objects. Moreover, there was no European network or reflection on these issues among youth workers.