Project’s aim
The aim of the project was to continue a broad debate on the opposing narratives on the question “What has gone wrong since the end of the cold war”, which must be discussed primarily by civil society actors. The project built on the preceding dialogue project “A Joint History Book looking back from 2019” (2019) implemented by Ideas for Change in cooperation with inmedio peace consult and Institute for Law and Public Policy (ILPP).
The subject of the present project idea is to extend the scope of the project impact and to continue the dialogue on the conflict narratives between German, Ukrainian, and Russian relevant actors in pre-political space by engaging more sections of the societies. Therefore, the results of the previous publication “Gaps and Overlaps – Navigating through contested German-Russian-Ukrainian narratives” (2019) was used to initiate dialogue amongst stakeholders in a way that contributes to depolarization and objectification of social debates on conflict narratives in Ukraine, Germany, and Russia. The main target audience was dialogue-skeptical sections of society and stakeholders who influence public and political discourses in our countries. The aim was to increase their sensitivity to a differentiated view on historical narratives and their willingness and confidence to engage in dialogue.
Project term
May 2020 – January 2021
Activities
The project started with a series of joint kick-off workshops on Zoom from July to September. Thereafter, the participants organized and facilitated joint outreach activities in Ukraine, Germany, and Russia. So far, these were a number of online events in cooperation with relevant civil society organizations. In these workshops, the stakeholders mentioned above participated and discussed the dialogue topics, findings, and methodology.
Platform for mediative dialogue on contested narratives
The platform provides information on the directions and results of the project.
Mediation (mediative dialogue) as a way of exploring contested narratives in the public history creates a space for discussion aimed at a deep understanding of the points of view of its participants. In contrast to the discussions, the contents of which is reducing to the exchange of views and factual information, the purpose of a mediation dialogue is different because its base on the idea of the value of all points of view and the right of each to speak and be heard.
The methodology of conducting mediation dialogue was developed as part of the project. The project experts welcome and support the spread of mediation dialogue to other contexts and areas of humanitarian knowledge.
Podcasts
In Ukrainian
In German