Culture guides for Active Ageing

Interfolk was partner in the Nordplus development project: “Life Stories and narrative methods in liberal adult education” (LIFE STORIES), 2009 - 2012 that was coordinated by the     Association of Latvian Oral History Researchers "Life Story"

• Presentation of the seminar about liberal adult education and Popular Bildung
• A renewed paradigm of enlightenment, Presentation by Vodsgaard at the seminar

The partnership circle

included 8 partners from the Baltic and Nordic countries , representing a transnational sum of varied expertises and experiences in the field of life stories and liberal adult education, , which we could not find in just one of the participating countries.

1. Association of Latvian Oral History Researchers "Life-Story" (LV)
2. Latvian Diaspora museum in Latvia "Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Center” (LV)
3. Estonian Life Histories Association in Tartu (EE)
4. Centre for Baltic and East European Studies in Södertörns högskola, University College (SE)
5. Finnish Literature Society (FI)
6. Norsk Utvandrermuseum/The Norwegian Emigrant Museum (NO)
7. Högskolan på Gotland (SE)
8. Interfolk - Institute for Civil Society (DK)

Background and need
Oral history is history-from-below and a kind of social research using biographical interviews and written memoirs as sources. It results in the collection of life stories and representations of them.

The life story opens the door for a democratic means of understanding history and society. It is not limited by class nor race: it includes the poor and the rich, the civil servant and the drifter, the young and the old.

The life story approach is of great significance in highlighting non-documented fields of history and turning attention to subaltern and peripheral social groups – to those groups whose experiences are poorly represented.

In East European countries such as Latvia and Estonia, biographies and life stories presented by people themselves (in oral or written form) hold a high moral value. They form the fundamental criteria of how society sees its history that has undergone changes of a broad political amplitude within a relatively short period of time.

At present it is impossible to write the history of the Latvian State from one or another
dominant view. The documents collected over the course of many years held by the State Archives represent methods and approaches of diametrically opposed political regimes.

Archival documents and the press can give the most misleading impression about recent history if they are not related to the lives of witnesses (participants, active or passive actors) of the regime. The experiences of particular groups such as refugees, exiles, the repressed and those deported are either not usually represented in documents, or this is done in rather biased manner.

Memories of living witnesses and explanations of events in their personal lives facilitate the broader understanding of social history:

• as necessary moral criterion in the evaluation of any historical event;
• for disclosing different viewpoints and visions;
• for confirming the social polarity of society and the difference in opinion;
• for a democratic approach in interpreting the events and realities of the recent past.

Purpose and aim

The purpose of the project is to involve communities in the biographical research process through the stimulation of adult learning and the communication of researchers with society.

The main aim of the project is to promote the skills and competence of volunteers for the creation of biographical resources and to develop an education program for expanding life history research methodology in society.

The objectives

During the project we will research different approaches and learn how the community might be involved in collecting people's memories, testimonies and everyday accounts in the Baltic and Nordic countries.

A special adult educational module will be developed as a result. For this purpose, cooperative links between Baltic and Nordic countries will be established including joint workshops and fieldwork to learn, evaluate and introduce various approaches to biographical studies.

Network cooperation between biographical researchers will allow for investigation of different methods of interpreting the results of fieldwork and different ways of returning this to the community.

Cooperation with various organizations will provide a networking experience within the adult
educational programme and help to develop the educational structure of adult interest groups.

As a result, it will allow the qualifications of teachers to be developed. They will receive an educational module which provides the opportunity to attract more volunteers to biographical studies, thus enhancing the dissemination of skills of how to present life stories. The process of education and involving more members of the community in the research experience will have an effect on the further democratization of the understanding historical processes and the role of individuals in society.

Key activities
The activities of the project include participation in workshops, seminars, field-work, observation and expert interviews.

The courses and workshops, enriched by fieldwork experience and training provided by biographical researchers, will also demonstrate ways to promote, present, publish and actualize various kinds of life stories.

The result of the activities will be summarized in the educational module which will present the expertise of Baltic-Nordic network participants. The result will be the exchange of knowledge and a reversal of the effect of life story research - returning it back to society.

More information

• LIFE STORIES, the application