G E T T I N G P O L I T C A L M E S S A G E S A C R O S S T O

T H E P U B L I C I N G E R M A N Y

Civic Education in Germany -Bundeszentrale für politische

Bildung

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

All rights by the author / contact: g.wolfram@macromedia.de

Introduction to the Lecturer

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� Member of the Team Europe of the European Commission in Germany

� Lecturer for the BpB since 2000

� Professor for Cultural Studies and Cultural Management (Macromedia University Berlin/FH Kufstein/Tyrol)

� For over 20 years citizen of Berlin

Starting with a view back…

�„Similar people are not able to build a city or a state.“

� Aristotle (384 – 322 BC)

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Political References

� Reference on ancient greek terms:

� polis, democracy, agora, europe…

� The body of the citizen represents political ideas (Sennett 2004)

� „Members and idiots“� Comp. Kristeva 1998, Sennett 2004

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Historical Questions

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� The politicians in the Weimar Republic tried to convince the germans of the necessity of democracy

without ‚anchoring‘ these new ideals in meaningful ways.

i.e. in ways that were tangible for the `common people ´

The chancellors of the Weimar Republic

Historical Questions

� According to the constitution of the Weimar Republic ‚Civic Education‘ (Staatsbürgerkunde) was part of school lessons (Art. 148)

� „Reichszentrale für Heimatdienst“ was looking for talented speakers and charismatic persons to convince people of the democratic system

� Foundation of „Volkshochschulen“

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

History

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� BpB (Federal Agency for Civic Education) was founded1952 as „Bundeszentrale für Heimatdienst“ (Federal Agency for Homeland Services)

� Since 1963 BpB� BpB is part of the Ministry of the Interior� Two Media Centers in Bonn and Berlin� Early aims were the „reorientation“ of the german peopleand information about democratic values of the newgerman society after 1945

� Historical links to the „Weimar Republic“ and itsattempts to convince people of the advantages of a democratic system

History

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� In the 1960s the BpB dealt initially with questions of the „dangers“ of communism

� A mixture of scientific approaches, ideological perspectives of the government and discussions about western values were present in many forums of the BpB

� 2003 Prof. Gudrun Hentges from the University Cologne examined the history of the BpB in a comprehensive research project and showed the problematic aspects of inherent propaganda in the early years of the BpB

Aims

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� The BpB is responsible today for many publications in the field of Civic Education. Newspapers, newsletters, online-publications and the youth magazine („Fluter“) are published regularly.

� Furthermore the BpB organises symposia, conventionsand congresses all over Germany

� Citizens can participate in these events and informthemselves about current discourses and politicalpositions

� The BpB supports Civic Education in Germany withparticular reference to awareness of the difficult germanhistory of the 20th Century.

Aims

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� The work of the BpB is strongly connected withscientific approaches.

� BpB regularly publish or distribute surveys regardingpolitical opinion and the voting behaviour ofgermans

Example of Survey from the BpB

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Digital Approaches

� Finding the right party for yourself…

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Other Players

� Foundations like Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, Friedrich Naumann Stiftung, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Heinrich Böll Stiftung etc.

� Alternative projects like „Zentrum für politische Schönheit“ (Centre for Political Beauty)

� Private initiatives

� NGO´s

� Federal countries and their school systems

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Positions and Developments

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� What are essential requirements for successful Civic Education in Germany?

� 1. Changing „felt opinions“ to fact orientation

� 2. Diversity/Controversial approaches

� 3. Competencies to act properly in the political fields

� 4. Internationalization

� 5. Transcultural competencies

� 6. Avoiding processes of overpowering

� 7. Scientific orientation

� 8. Digital approaches and media work

Civic Education and Cultural Education

� Political education is not

any longer thinkable without

cultural education

Cultural knowledge leads to

a comprehensive

understanding of political

processes

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Political Education and Cultural Education

� “We are forced to be citizens, and we are consumers in a market. The interfaces of modernity - the market, the state and the individual - unite very many of us in a system although we are geographically widely dispersed.

� Culture is being liberated, or severed, from places, and meanings flow in inter-cultural space. Although globalisation is a fact, the popular metaphor of the global village is fatally misleading: it mixes up the distinctive levels of inter-cultural space, made up by disembedded signs, and the local level, where these signs are pulled down and anchored in subjectively experienced worlds.”

� Thomas Hylland Eriksen (1993)� Lecture delivered at the symposium "Culture in the Global Village", Lund, Sweden, 14-16 January, 1993. Published in

Swedish in Oscar Hemer, ed., Kulturen i den globala byn, Ægis 1994

Data

� “But beyond that, culture as an enabler of public diplomacy, is a way of sharing our values, such as respect for human rights, diversity and equality, the independence of culture, and, ultimately, the creation of an inclusive society.

� In the EU, we are 'united in our diversity'. This is the measure of our ambition and our challenge to act together. As I said at a seminar at Harvard University last month: 'Europe's soft power in the 21st century should be about taking our expertise in managing our own cultural diversity to the global stage.”

� (Androulla Vassiliou, Speech The Role of Culture in EU External Relations – Final Conference, Palais des Beaux-Arts,Brussels, 7 April 2014)

Prof. Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Intercultural Knowledge

� „White Spaces“ between

countries and nations?

Survey

� 120 German and Austrian students ( between 20 – 28) had been asked: Could you mention three contemprorary artists from your neigbhor countries and from the USA?

� Only 4 % could give a proper answer concerning countries like Poland, Czech Republic, Slowakia etc.

� 91% could give proper answers concerning countries like the UK and the USA

� 5% could give no proper answer

� How would you see such a survey in your country?� (comp. Wolfram 2013, unpubl.)

Positions

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� I Assumption

� Civic Education in Germany today is not thinkable without discussing positions of sociology and cultural studies

� Example: Karl Mannheim (1893 - 1947), a jewish-hungarian sociologist

Positions

� “A modern theory of knowledge which takes account of the relational as distinct from the merely relative character of all historical knowledge must start with the assumption that there are spheres of thought in which it is impossible to conceive of absolute truth existing independently of the values and position of the subject and unrelated to the social context.”

� Karl Mannheim

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Positions

� Documentary Method (Garfinkel 1967; Bohnsack 2008)

� The social context of political actions reveal specific approaches of political education

� The actions of people are always readable as social and political documents of a certain sphere

� One should analyse precisely the verbal expressions of certain groups in the society

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Positions

� Jürgen Habermas (born 1929)

� Orientation on „patriotism for the

constitution of a democratic state“

as on being a ‚natural citizen of the state‘

= Especially in Eastern Europe again an

important issue within the debates right now

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Intervention Ukraine

� European confessions but very strong national discourses from the 19th century?

� Diversity or genuine national education?

� How would you create civic education in your country?

� What would you want to tell a new generation about the political values of your country?

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Structures in Germany

� Parties, Powers and Opinions…

� „Democracy is always a process of learning“ (Ahlheim 2012)

� Meaning: reflecting diversity…

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Assumptions

� Reasons:

� Problematic social cirumstances in their cities andvillages

� The lack of investment in infrastructural measures

� An often problematic aspect of civic education: thereal problems behind this radical developments arenot properly discussed

� The BpB works through programmes aiming tocounter such developments = young lecturers whospeak with these groups in a language they canunderstand

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Civic Education: Assumptions

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� II Assumption� To inform people about political developments and tostimulate their participation within the society means toknow something about the daily life of people and theircultural experiences.

� Example Prof. Dr. Jochen Hörisch (University Mannheim):

� „Media can simulate and stimulate thecultural, social and political preferencesof people. Modern media inventions arenot reflections of culture, they create culturalstandards of behaviour.“

Practical Interventions

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� Practical Interventions for Civic Education

� Workshops for Media Education

� Lectures with specialists from the media

� Workshops with foreign editing offices

Museum for Communication Berlin

Practical Interventions

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� Very important: The European Dimension

� Information offices, workshops, seminars, intercultural concerts, meetings with deputies from Brussels

� Discussion with politicians - for example about the

Treaty of Lisbon (2010)

Media and Arts

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� Projects and Publications about historical backgrounds of movies

� BpB publish brochures regarding movies for schools and universities („Filmheft“)

� To create a new „gaze“

„Voids“ and Spaces

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� III Assumption

� More interesting than the known aspects of politicalprocesses are the „voids“, the forgotten places andlost memories of history and political

developments.

Bruno Latour, sociologist (Paris):

„The empty spaces know at any time what

they once contained. They are present

and it is a matter of consienceness to see

them again in the emptiness.“

Berlin

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

� Berlin is a fascinating example to examine these „voids“, not only in the Jewish Museum, and to understand how useful they are for the field of Civic Education.

Berlin Castle, 1915Palace of the Republic, GDR, 1970 Areal 2010

Conclusion

� Spaces can reveal individual mindsets in confrontation with „real“ topographies

� Civic Education needs awareness for hidden places and the ‚untold stories‘ of history and current social and political phenomena (comp. Mannheim 1922)

� Learning processes need a new dialogue and awareness of media processes and public spaces with their specific implications

� This is an important access to sustainable civic education

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram

Conclusion

Prof.Dr. Gernot Wolfram