Let's Meet the Three Cultures
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Let’s meet the three cultures EDITO In November 2001, the Spanish National Agency for the Youth Programme, INJUVE, organized a Euromed Seminar in Molina (Malaga, Spain). On this occasion, I visited Granada’s milestones, the Alhambra where I was imbued by its legendary architecture and its history, then I went to the Cathedral. Imagine an edifice built with extraordinary norms and, suddenly a magical soundtrack was played and sounded inside these walls as a revelation. The music is entitled “the three cultures”. An idea occurred then to me as to giving the opportunity to motivate partners in the youth field to work together on the three cultures theme with the primary concern of promoting knowledge about and from each other’s cultures. The Spanish National Agency was immediately won over and eagerly welcomed the proposal. Thus, after reflecting, we have chosen as a place Cordoba and its Mezquita which represents, embodies the presence of the three cultures related to the three monotheistic religions during a considerable span of its history offering to the city of Cordoba today an invaluable heritage and a unique significance. The first edition of the Training Course (2004) was the opportunity to reflect on the deep-rooted connexions between the three cultures with a particular focus on the Andalusian 1 period and to explore through time and history the following questions: how was it then? How is it today? and what are the possibilities for the future? One of the participants at the Cordoba edition, Francoise Cafri2, was working at the international exchange division of the Jerusalem municipality. Moved by this experience, she offered to renew it in the city of Jerusalem; again a city with a high symbolic potential and value to worshippers in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The holy city of Jerusalem stands at the heart of ongoing passions and constant fights that cross time and faith. This highly spiritual dimension brought into the second edition of the Training Course (2005) an obvious concern with Religion as a mainstream issue. I remember a scene which is one of the strongest moments I have ever known, the visit to the Wailing Wall where a Jewish, a Christian and a Muslim girl, head to the Wailing Wall, hand in hand and with tear sin their eyes… In the following year, the Flemish community in Belgium expressed its wish to host the Training Course. After a series of fruitful negotiations, it was settled that the 2006 edition would take place in Antwerp that enjoys a high number of religious communities. That was definitely not the only criterion. The year witnessed as well a major event on the political field. The local elections were planned in October 2006 with the extreme right wing Vlaams Belang growing scores. Moreover, the religious calendars for the Jewish and the Muslim communities made it possible for Ramadan and Succoth to coincide. Having in this perspective politics crossed by religion and bringing the youth workers to closely explore the three cultures reality in a European context increased the inherent stakes of the project. In 2007, the demand came from the French National Agency to organize the fourth edition of the Training Course. The concept of Laïcité as it is defined and put into practice in everyday life in France offered a new approach to the Three Cultures issue. The course shed some new lights on the way the three cultures are lived, practiced and expressed in a European democracy where no state religion is promoted. Seen from the outside, the concept of Laïcite often appears paradoxical to a certain extent. That is why concept clarification was required right from the outset. Close and full immersion came progressively to build up a better understanding of “laicité à la française”. The three cultures vis-à-vis laïcité inspired for the 2007 edition the pedagogical content of the course with again a privileged status granted to the city of Paris; cosmopolitan, diverse and strongly rooted in its tradition. This report, through a very ambitious title, aims to share with you all these experiences and to help you to develop partnerships dealing on the specificity of the 3 Cultures with a better understanding, respect and acceptance. Bernard Abrignani Coordinator of SALTO-YOUTH EuroMed RC 1. Andalusia is a historic region in southern western Spain. The Arabic name Al-Andalus was originally coined by Muslims (Moors), who occupied Spain in the 8th Century. It was a reference to the Germanic tribes who settled in the Peninsula in the 5th century. In the 11th century when the Christians begun to reconquer the peninsula, Al-Andalus came to mean the area still under Muslim control. 2. Françoise Cafri produced an article on her experience from a participant to an organizer’s point of view on the 7th edition of Meet in Euromed, the Salto Youth Euromed Quarterly magazine, July 2006, pp. 9-10. Contents Team members....................................................................................... 4 Introduction ........................................................................................... 6 The Three cultures key values ................................................................................. 6 The educational philosophy of SALTO .......................................................................... 6 Examples................................................................................................... 7 Presentation ................................................................................................. 7 Organizational framework ....................................................................................... 7 Aim....................................................................................................... 7 Goals and Objectives .......................................................................................... 7 Main Features ............................................................................................... 7 Participants’ profile ............................................................................................ 7 What does it mean to be a trainer? ................................................................................ 8 What does it mean to be a trainer and a coordinator? .................................................................. 8 Expected outcomes . .......................................................................................... 8 Methodology ................................................................................................ 8 Focus and main resources ...................................................................................... 8 Context...................................................................................................... 8 Why Cordoba? .............................................................................................. 8 Why Jerusalem? ............................................................................................. 9 Why Antwerp? ............................................................................................... 10 Why Paris? ................................................................................................. 11 Contents of the programme ................................................................................... 12 Part 1. Let’s understand… Religion and culture or culture and religion? ............................. 15 Part 2. Let’s discover… What do the three cultures within Judaism, Christianity and Islam mean in the hosting cities? ......................................................................................... 16 Pedagogical itineraries in Cordoba: “The five senses” ............................................................ 16 Jerusalem: The Journey....................................................................................... 17 Antwerp’s Mosaic ............................................................................................ 18 Active discovery of Paris ...................................................................................... 19 Part 3. Let’s meet the people .................................................................. 25 1st activity: The Flower of Identity............................................................................... 25 2nd Activity: Rudder of Identity ................................................................................. 26 3rd activity: Bistrot of Identity ................................................................................... 26 Part 4. Let’s build… A common ground: Culture, Multicultural and intercultural ......................... 28 Some concepts clarifications made in Antwerp.................................................................. 28 ■ 1 ■ ■ Sommaire Part 5. Let’S Understand Euromed Historical Framework .......................... 30 Cordoba ..................................................................................................... 30 The Wall of History ............................................................................................ 30 The quiz on Religion ........................................................................................... 31 Antwerp ..................................................................................................... 32 Historical EuroMed framework.................................................................................... 32 Paris .......................................................................................................