"Dark Moments" and "Golden Times" - The Fate of European Cities. Three Case Studies

This project consists of an innovative transnational textbook project to be conducted in collaboration with the publisher. It involves the presentation of European culture as an object for teaching on the basis of a kaleidoscopic selection of cities. The project should thereby respond to the call for a ‘European textbook’ without falling into the familiar didactic traps associated with it.

Each city is presented didactically in two situations: in one of its ‘darkest moments’, and in more ‘golden times’. The planners of the project are well aware that these labels are clichés. They therefore adopt a multiperspectival approach in order to break down these dichotomous patterns and reveal how blurred the boundaries between and understanding of centres and margins have always been. The topoi ‘lightness’ and ‘darkness’ provide a further point of reference which should make young people receptive to fine distinctions, conflicting interests and ambiguities. The case studies focus on the following European Capitals of Culture: Cracau (2000), Vilnius (2009), and Essen (2010).

Duration: Case studies: January-December 2008
(Entire project: 2008-2011)

Cooperation partners:          
Krystyna Zaufal / Halina Wesołowska, Małopolskie Centrum Doskonalenia Nauczycieli (MCDN) with a group of students from the University of Cracau
Prof. Arunas Vysniauskas, Department of History of the University of Vilnius, with a group of students from the University of Vilnius

This case studies project is sponsored by the Foundation Erinnerung, Verantwortung und Zukunft.