A Role-Play Aimed at Promoting Tolerance

Delicate Balance A role-play aimed at promoting tolerance and acceptance of the other’

The project offers a personal experience which is a “travel in the tunnel of time”, allowing for perspective and contemplation, which contribute to the resolution of complicated situations. The experience is based on the unique phenomenon of vast and prolific cooperation among Jews, Moslems and Christians in Medieval Spain.

This distancing plays an important part in activating observation and in encouraging positions of openness and tolerance due to the psychological distancing from the actual time and place.

Each participant assumes the role of an inhabitant of Toledo that has become the symbol of intercultural dialogue and multicultural cooperation in the history of mankind. All the participants together are faced with a hypothetical dilemma. They embark on a journey in which they develop a mature perception of the complexity of coexistence: difficulties and obstacles alongside possibilities for conflict resolution. At the end of the process the participants might arrive at a better understanding of complex situations and willingly commit themselves to constructive activities conducive of a culture of peace.

Produced by UNESCO Chair in Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue, Haifa University with the assistance of UNESCO, Paris In the framework of the program of Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue

Prof. Aviva Doron, University of Haifa E. Mail: [email protected].