Welcome to the page of the Collective Memories, Collective Lives project.
Brief Description
Using Participatory Action Research, the project reaches out to older people in day care centres together with the African and Filippino community. Participants actively engage in dialogue and collaborative ongoing analysis. Workshops encourage recollection and reminiscence through memory boxes generating oral histories, and also serve as a tool to share memories: of those who have lived in Malta all their lives, and new members of the Maltese community. This will generate new memories, and a shared Maltese narrative.
The project provides spaces for the creative development of different communities, with the aim to develop a collective identity, one that celebrates ethnic diversity and different memories. Working closely with partners, Integra Foundation and Theatre Anon, Older Maltese people will engage with different ethnic minorities to produce a community-based analysis of intercultural belonging. The research tools include interviews, participant observation and a series of theatre workshops to encourage creative thinking and dialogue. Using texts, artifacts and images put together in memory boxes, the participants will be encouraged to recount and share their memories together.
Oral testimonies will be made available online, and the memory boxes and photos from sessions exhibited to generate ongoing intercultural dialogue and community development. The oral histories and memory boxes will also be exhibited at the end of the project, thus reaching out to a broader audience. The research process and outcomes (including photos and oral testimonies) will be compiled in a report and displayed online and in an exhibition, bringing these communities closer to the arts, contributing to community development, and ensuring continuity through an open debate and research to be taken up by others.
Our Approach
The project makes use of key artistic (Theatre Anon), intercultural (Integra) and academic/research skills (TCI) in unprecedented ways to bring communities together and to produce high quality research and artistic output. Artistic input is strong, making use of specialised theatre skills, cultural knowledge and facilitation, and research skills, working in coordination while participants bring their own cultural knowledge and creative expressions to the project.
The Partners
The project is being led by The Critical Institute in collaboration with Integra, Malta and Theatre Anon
Funding
The project is funded by the Creative Communities fund provided by Arts Council Malta.
