Events descriptions
ACTION 1 – WORKSHOPS of Storytelling with Schools
The WORKSHOPS with Schools involved 205 citizens, including 57 from the city of Almada/Monte da Caparica (PT), 24 from the city of Cacém (PT), 22 from the city of Loures/Sacavém (PT), 28 from the city of Lisbon (PT), 29 from the city of Bordeaux (FR), 45 from the city of Berlin (DE).
Venues / Dates: Events took place in Caparica, city of Almada (PT), on the 25th May 2018 and 20st March 2019; in Cacém (PT), on the 12th December 2018 and 12th March 2019; in the city of Loures/Sacavém on 29 May 2019; in the city of Berlin on 17th-18th December 2018 and on the 23rd May 2019; in the city of Lisbon (PT) on 30st January 2019, 13th-17th and 21st May 2019; in the city of Bordeaux 2nd – 30st April 2019.
Description: The aim of these workshops was the gathering of stories about the links of young European citizens with African countries and cultures: stories about African origin, diaspora and Afrodescendance, about colonial post-memory, post-colonial identities and the interplay of African and European cultures in today’s Europe. The contributive web platform developed by the project offers teachers and students in every European school the possibility to relate family and collective memory, to approach historical knowledge about colonialism and African diaspora as well as contemporary phenomena of migration through the lens of real stories as a way to fight hate discourse and discrimination, and to relate digital literacy to active citizenship and creative practices.
These workshops have also offered the possibility to underline the similarity of stories across European countries, to approach the subject of European citizenship and foster transnational bonds among scholar communities across Europe. To this end, the project promoted several distinctions for the best stories and invited the winning authors to come together in the Closing Event of the project at NOVA University in Lisbon.
ACTION 2 – ENCOUNTERS with Afrodescendants in Europe
The ENCOUNTERS with Afrodescendants in Europe involved 87 citizens, including 10 from the city of Viena (AT), 10 from the city of Bonn (DE), 6 from the city of Bordeaux (FR), 61 Portugal (Lisbon, Almada, Porto, Coimbra, Setúbal).
Venues /Dates: Events took place in Viena, Bonn, Bordeaux, Almada and Lisbon between the 6th April and the 15th June.
Description: The aim of these Encounters was the in-depth discussion about the challenges and opportunities of European citizenship with young people of African descent (in seminars, meetings and other forums of discussion) and the involvement of Afrodescendant participants with the goals and methodology of the project. Trough the partnership with social organisations and cultural associations working with the African diaspora in Europe, we could approach specific difficulties concerning social inclusion and the building of a sense of belonging: questions of identity, colonial post-memory, social discrimination, education, cultural and linguistic diversity and representation. Through the dialogue with these participants, we could better prepare some of the public discussions carried out by the project (in the Debate Series), make the project itself present in other forums and, most importantly, open up paths of transnational relationship and intercultural dialogue and fight the political ghettoisation of discourse and practices. In parallel the project also gathered key testimonies from relevant voices within the interplay of African and European cultures.
ACTION 3 – AUDIOVISUAL Stories and Participatory Documentary
The AUDIOVISUAL production of stories and participatory documentar involved 32 citizens, including 10 from the cities of Amadora (Cacém), Alamada (Monte da Caparica) and Sacavém (PT), 2 from the city of Lisbon (PT), 10 from the city of Bordeaux (FR), 10 from the city of Berlin (DE).
Venues /Dates: Activities related to audiovisual production took place in Lisbon, in Cacém/Amadora, Caparica/Almada and Sacavém (PT) from 25th May 2018 to 29th May 2019 in School Ferreira Dias, School Monte da Caparica and School of Sacavém; in Berlin, namely at SAVVY Contemporary (DE), from 17-19 December 2018; in Bordeaux, namely at Université Bordeaux-Montaigne (FR) from 2-30 April 2019,
Description: The Audiovisual Production aimed to support participants in telling their stories in images and/or sound and therefore exercising their look and using their voices to represent themselves and the world around them. This was a focal point of the Digital Storytelling workshops carried out by the project team in Lisbon and the partner team at Bordeaux, under the guidance of 3 young researchers and creators in the field of Communication and filmmaking. These audiovisual, narratives and other stories in texts and illustrations, constituted the base of a central piece – the participatory documentary “Stories from Here and There” – put together through the casting of 30 participants and the content produced by them.
This methodology was particularly important to promote the self-representation of Afrodescendant participants, allowing them to oppose stereotypes about Black identity and culture, often served in the objectivation of ethnical difference, approach their intercultural condition and assess issues concerning their origin communities. The use of image and sound also challenged the creative and digital skills of participants, extended the multimedia nature of the archive an enriched its imaginary expression.
Audiovisual production also served the registration of the projects main public activities.
ACTION 4 – GLOSSARY: Afro-Euroepan Cartography of Culture, Language and Arts
The publication of the GLOSSARY involved 40 citizens, including an Editorial Board of 11 participants (8 from the city of Lisbon (PT), 2 from the city of London (UK), 1 from the city of Berlin (DE), and a Scientific Boardof 25 participants (17 participants from the cities of Lisbon and Coimbra (PT), 2 from the city London (UK), 1 from the city of Bordeaux (FR), 1 from the city of Basel (CH), 2 from the city of Johanesburg (ZA) and 1 from the city of Luanda (AO).
Venues/Dates: The development of this editorial project was carried out throuhg a series of meetings and remote contatacts. The the kick off meeting took place in Lisbon on the 29th May, with the presence of the French partner (Chair UNESCO, Université Bordeaux-Montainge) 2018 and the gathering of articles proceed from there to the 30st June 2019.
Description: The Afro-European Cartography of Culture, Language and Arts is a progressive Multidisciplinar Glossary ot Terms, open to contributions, with the aim to promoting collaborative research on Afro European culture and knowledge sharing for an informed citizenship. The members of the Editorial and the Scientific Boards were also the contributing authors of the first set of articles published by the Glossary. This editorial project will proceed through open calls and peer review of submitted articles.
ACTION 5 – DISSEMINATION of Ideas and Communication
The DISSEMINATION of the project Ideas through Debates, Talks and the Communication campaign involved 80 citizens, including 71 from the city of Lisbon (PT), 1 from the city of Coimbra (PT), 1 from the city of Beja (PT), 1 from the city of Setúbal (PT) one 1 from the city of London (UK), 3 from the city of Bordeaux (FR), and 2 from the city of Berlin (DE).
Venues/Dates: The overall communication campaign and main dissemination events took place from the 25th may 2018 to the 3rd June 2019, in Lisbon, Bordeaux, Berlin and London. The Detate Series took place in Lisbon (PT), at NOVA University on 25th May 2018; 30st January, 18th March, 28th March, 10th April, 13th May and 3rd June 2019. The main digital dissemination campaigns took place through the Portuguese platform BUALA.org from january to June 2019 and through the British platform AFROPEAN on May and June 2019. In Berlin (DE) the communication and visibility of the project took place particularly in December 2018 and in April-May 2019 and in Bordeaux (PT).
Short description: The primary aim of the dissemination activities was to involve citizens in the public discussion of the project’s themes either in public events or through media and digital networks. For this purpose, the project created a coherent communication campaign, established partnerships with platforms that relate to Afrodescendants in Europe, carried out presentations, organised talks and designed a Debate Series to tackle the concerns of citizens situated in the Afro-European interculturality. Most of these events and the official communication campaign took place between the Day of Africa 2018 and the Day of Portugal 2019, representing the centrality of the relation to the African continent present in several European countries. This journey was used to assess Portugal’s post-colonial condition and to underline the crucial role of the European Commission in mediating conflicting national narratives and offering a new sense of belonging to European citizens independently of their different cultural origins.