Encountering the Past in the Present: An Exploratory Study of Educational Heritage Tourism

Autor/inn/en	Gross, Magdalena H.; Kelman, Ari Y.
Titel	Encountering the Past in the Present: An Exploratory Study of Educational Heritage Tourism
Quelle	In: International Review of Education, 63 (2017) 1, S.51-70 (20 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0020-8566
DOI	10.1007/s11159-017-9622-9
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; History Instruction; Jews; Experiential Learning; European History; Lecture Method; Tourism; Heritage Education; Program Effectiveness; Poland + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; History lessons; Geschichtsunterricht; Jew; Jude; Jüdin; Juden; Experiental learning; Erfahrungsorientiertes Lernen; Tourismus; Polen
Abstract	This article presents an educational programme designed to explore the multicultural history of Poland. Targeting Jewish and non-Jewish students of Polish heritage, the "Polonia Programme" (PP) was conceptualised with the aim of applying the tools of experiential education to initiate a new approach to examining one of the world's most challenging and fraught historical narratives. The programme, piloted in the summer of 2014, takes two groups of young people from the United States to Poland each year. It features a combination of formal lectures and interactive tours, complemented by structured and semi-structured discussions. The destination of this particular tour, with these particular participants, both challenges and reinforces accepted notions of "heritage tourism" within an experiential educational framework. This framework enables a sense of group connectivity which allows students to be, perhaps, more open to alternative narratives about the past. The authors of this article, who were involved in evaluating the pilot launch of the "Polonia Programme", found that the programme's experiential approach succeeded in encouraging participants in the pilot cohort to challenge ideas about their definitions of and preconceptions about "who and what counts as Polish". For many, the experience shifted their understanding of Poland towards one which took its multi-ethnic and multicultural history into account. Several discovered new perspectives on their own identity and heritage, while others reached a new understanding of the shared histories of Poles and Jews. The experiential nature of this programme also allowed students to encounter difficult histories: experience, then, became a vehicle for more challenging conversations and deeper learning. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01