New project: Narratives of Injustice and a Quilt of Hope
Students from Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (Germany), Universidad Nacional de La Plata (Argentina) and the University of Connecticut (USA) engaged in an Intercultural Citizenship Education project that centers around the question of how the exploration of trauma and suffering associated with experiences of injustice in education can become a site of hope with transformative potential.
10.03.2022
Intercultural Project Argentina, Germany, USA - Narratives of Injustice and a Quilt of Hope
In the winter semester 2021/22, students based in Argentina (Universidad Nacional de La Plata), Germany (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität), and the USA (University of Connecticut) collaboratively explored the research question of how trauma and suffering associated with experiences of injustice in higher education become a site of hope with transformative potential.
In this virtual exchange project, students met on Zoom and shared information via WhatsApp and Google Docs. The project started with each student writing a self-reflection of their own injustice experience in school, which was then shared with other classmates, so that students could engage with each other’s narratives of injustice to gain a deeper understanding of the concept of injustice and its influence on students. At the research stage, students were divided into small groups to conduct research, discuss the findings and learn more about the topic. After becoming better acquainted with the causes and effects of injustices, students set out to look for solutions. Solutions were later presented as a quilt of hope using various artistic forms (drawing, painting, collage, video, etc.). In the end, students took different actions (social media, presentations to pre-service teachers, website post, etc.) to disseminate the quilt of hope to a large audience.
The goal of the project was to shed light on the impact of injustices in higher education and taking action to address them. Students' competencies related to cultural diversity, intercultural communication, multimodality, openness and curiosity, human rights, and democratic values were greatly promoted throughout the project.
This project was conducted in close collaboration by Dr. Petra Rauschert (LMU),
Prof. Melina Porto (UNLP), Prof. Manuela Wagner and Asst. Prof. Sandra Sirota (UConn).
Links to the digital book with the narratives and the quilt:
Narratives of Injustice and a Quilt of Hope