Challenge History Summer School Prizren

After the successful first edition in Mostar in the summer of 2017 and several local follow-up events, the second edition of the summer school for high-school students was organized under the title “Challenge History 2 -REACT for the Future” (meaning Reflection, Education, Action, Commitment, Together). The goals of the summer school were to enable participants to actively reflect on historical narratives, particularly those related to the recent wars/conflicts in the Balkans, as well as to increase their regional network and strengthen cross-country relations.

The program of the summer school was carefully tailored for the high-school students and included interesting lectures and workshops on intercultural dialogue and learning, legacies of the past, social activism and regional indispensability and ways to promote and develop it. Overall the program was divided into 5 modules and 13 workshops with experienced trainers and experts in the field.

Special interest was shown by the participants to important aspects of remembrance, such as the representation of women in history of the Western Balkans, what social elements influence the construction of our identities, the role of transitional justice in the EU integration process of the region, what an inclusive culture of remembrance is, the different narratives on the history of the region in history textbooks etc.

As it was the case with the first edition in Mostar, special attention was put on a field trips, where participants had the chance to visit Prizren, Prishtina, Štrpce and Gračanica Monastery. The program was concluded with a workshop on follow-up activities, since participants were encouraged to take up the knowledge they received during the summer school and share it in their local communities. During the fall of 2018 at least four follow-up activities were organized throughout the region.

A TV report in B/H/S of the summer school in Prizren can be found here. The summer school will have a third edition in the summer of 2019, most probably in Ohrid, Macedonia.