Proposal: Remembering Colonialism at Schools: Acknowledging the European Past to Combat Hate Speech
Implementation: 2025 to 2026
Call: CERV-2024-CITIZENS-REM – European Remembrance – 2024
Type of Action: CERV-LS – CERV Lump Sum Grants
Proposed Budget: 214 070,00€
Keywords: Decolonization, Historical memory, education, hate speech, remembrance
Objective: The goal of the project is to study remember and educate about the European colonial past to combat current discourses of hate speech. Overall, this goal is twofold: on the one hand, it focuses on research-associated activities whereas, on the other hand, highlights the importance of implementing educational programs and promoting active participation of stakeholders and the target groups.
The project will maintain a gender perspective, both to ensure parity in the project participation and to understand how the colonial past has had different consequences on people depending on their gender. The project will develop a methodology based on non-formal education to remember European colonial experiences in schools in Spain, Portugal, Belgium and The Netherlands, directed to students of secondary education, teachers and future teachers.
This project will contribute to the EU Anti-Racism Strategy 2020-2025 as the theory of change at the basis, and implies that finding new ways of remembering and educating about a history of violations that took place during colonial rule allows societies to become better equipped to respond to current discourses of hate speech, as well as better integrate migrant communities and marginalized minority groups that are often victims of discrimination.
Altogether, by intervening in the education sector, the project is to deliver short-term impacts such as raising awareness of how colonialism has shaped European history and identity and how its victims are still negatively affected, especially women, besides giving tools to teachers to adequately incorporate colonialism in history teaching. Finally, long-term impacts include raising a more conscious and tolerant youth that understands the basis of today’s European states as rooted in the colonial period and contributing to a more tolerant society.
Partners:
- Fundacio Blanquerna
- European Institute for Human Rights (Young Educators)
- Euroclio-De Europese Vereniging Voor Geschiedenis Onderwijsgevenden
- Associació Catesco/Catalonia For Education, Science And Culture Organization
- Ahead – Associació D’educadors En Drets Humans
- University Of Victoria
- Studio Globo