Activity 16: My Heritage, Your Heritage: Talking about Difference
Overview of the activity
The idea of this activity is to connect personal heritage to collective heritage, without determining what is authorized (recognized by experts) or unauthorized. The narrative aspect is key to this activity: What happens when you share stories about objects and practices that are important to you?
Objectives
The objective of this activity is to democratize heritage and to make participants aware of:
- The fact that they own their own heritage.
- The importance of personal narratives around heritage in forming identity.
| Duration (in minutes) | Min/max number of participants | Room/space requirements |
| 30 minutes |
|
Enough space to make circles of chairs of three or four people |
| Minimum knowledge requirements from participants | Materials needed | Preparation |
| No requirements | Smart phones of the participants and internet connection. | No preparation is needed, unless the participants do not have a smart phone with internet connection. In that case, ask them to bring an object that represents a heritage element that is dear to them and which is important to their identity construction. |
Instructions
- Create groups of four participants (three is also possible). If you are working with a group that has a diversity of cultural backgrounds and try to create a good mix.
- Ask everybody to look for a heritage object or practice they feel connected to. Take care that this request is open enough for the participants to choose whatever they consider heritage. Every object or practice will be accepted, regardless of it being ‘authorized’ or not.
- Invite one of the participants to introduce the object or practice they chose, while the other participants listen (the listeners). What is it? Why did they choose this specific practice or object? What is the meaning of the object or practice to the participant?
- Then invite the other participants to respond. Use the following structure:
- Ask the listeners to select something the participant said that was particularly meaningful to them (Identifying the Expression)
- Ask the listeners to say something about the image that this phrase or expression evoked for them (Identifying the Image)
- Ask the listeners to make connections between their own values or experiences and that of the participant (Embodying Responses)
- Ask the listeners to reflect on how they have been influenced by the participant’s story and what contribution it makes to their own story (Acknowledging Transfer)
5. Repeat this with the objects or practices of the other participants until everyone has made their presentations.
Learning outcomes / evidence collected
Evaluation
At the end of this activity, do a short debriefing with the entire group. You can ask the following questions:
- How was it to talk about things that are important to you?
- What did you learn from the stories of others?
- What did you most appreciate in the stories you heard?
- What touched you most in the stories you listened to?
- What did you learn about your own ‘heritage’?
- Do you consider yourself the owner of your heritage and your heritage stories?
Teaching tips, stories and experiences during piloting
Often the groups have to work on their own, as you might not have enough facilitators to join every group. In this case, take care that the groups follow the structure of the exercise by printing out or projecting the questions to be followed:
How to present your chosen object or practice:
- What is it?
- Why did you choose this specific practice or object?
- What is the meaning of the object or practice to you?
Reflect on the object or practice presented by your peer:
- What was meaningful to you in the story you just listened to? What touched you? Choose a specific phrase or moment.
- Why do you think it was meaningful to the teller in their story? What image does it evoke for you?
- Why was this moment/phrase meaningful to you? Did it remind you of another story in your life? If so, can you share that story?
- What would you like to give back to the teller of the story?
Questions for self-reflection in the teaching practice
One of the hidden dynamics of this exercise involves people moving from opinions to stories, as stories are multilayered and therefore capable of creating common ground, whereas opinions do not offer this
