RETURN – Active Remembrance for Forced Labour

Seminar held at the Department of Communication and Media, University of Pécs, and at the Student Organisation of Social Theory, Eötvös Lóránd University Budapest.

Course description:

Our aim is to get acquainted with and understand the geographical and emotional difficulties of homecoming from forced labour and concentration camps through personal life stories. Besides mastering the methodology we intend to gain knowledge through the biographical analysis of the interviews and then transmit this knowledge to high-school students.

Syllabus:

I. block

1-7. Introduction into the methodological uses of narratives (biography analysis, thematic field analysis, fine-tune text analysis)

8-12. Introduction to the collection of Dokumentation Zwangsarbeit (Forced Labour Documentation); selecting the interviews, introducing the didactical plan

Continuous seminar work: each week’s activities will be organised around an analytical task

13. reconstructing biographies

14-15. biography analysis

16, sequentiality

17-18. thematic field analysis

19. selecting parts for fine-tune text analysis

20-21 fine-tune text analysis

22. conclusion

II. block

23-30. Processing return-narratives collectively

31-34. How would they tell/present these stories to high-school students? Brainstorming and planning