The COURAGE project has created an open-access e-database that collected new sources, summarized new knowledge and created new narratives about a hitherto divided European cultural heritage: the legacy of dissent under the communist dictatorships in Eastern Europe. This database focuses on collections, public and private, which include a wide variety of items, ranging from art works to everyday objects, from visual images to written documents, from memorabilia to musical records.
The Romanian COURAGE team has highlighted a new sense of being European, which was experienced by many ordinary individuals who created everyday meanings and cultural practices as if they lived in a free country. This identification with Europe is reflected in previously unknown private collections created by those who envisaged strategies of opposing the communist dictatorships, which rejected the fundamental values on which the European Union was founded: rule-of-law, human rights, civil liberties, etc. The opposite values are reflected in the collections created by the communist secret police, which remind of a non-democratic European past and warn against the danger of forgetting it.
Addressing target audiences and expressing needs
- Collaboration
The COURAGE database can be used for further research, for selecting teaching materials or drafting policies of preserving the European cultural heritage. We are looking for partners to apply for funding to continue research on the making of European identity and/or further develop digital resources for teaching and learning about the common European heritage. Last but not least, we seek to attract the interest of those who devise e-heritage policies to provide expert advice for drafting policy recommendations based on our experience of interacting with stakeholders.
- Academia/ Universities
Result submitted to Horizon Results Platform by UNIVERSITATEA DIN BUCURESTI
