Case Studies of International Projects

Many of the case studies below are a result of the UNESCO ASPnet Transatlantic Slave Trade (TST) Education Project, ‘Breaking the Silence’. Schools in Africa, the Caribbean, Americas and Europe have signed up to become ‘TST’ schools, and have become involved in joint projects.

A True Triangular Exchange
This exciting project brought together three schools in Ghana, Norway and Trinidad. Students from El Dorado Secondary Comprehensive school in Trinidad, Achimoto School in Ghana and Saltdal Upper Secondary School in Norway developed their understanding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by looking at how the declaration is put into practice in each of their countries. ‘We will not stop this project until all the articles have been covered!’ says Jon Moller, project coordinator. And it looks like the schools will plan more work together in the future, Jon is enthusiastic, ‘this is just the first of many TST-related projects to come in our little triangle of partnership.’

Regional TST Youth Encounters…

The Caribbean and Americas
Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 6-10 August 2000
‘Ancestral Memory as Living Legacy’ was the theme of this Transatlantic Slave Trade Regional Youth Encounter, which celebrated the survival of African heritage in the Diaspora, and the endurance of the African spirit through centuries of enslavement. Teachers and students from the three regions participated. There were presentations on African influences in religion, music, carnival, folktales and art, and the contributions of the African Diaspora to culture, sport, medicine, politics, science and entertainment were celebrated. A musical about African concepts of divinity and a demonstration of influence on contemporary Caribbean dance brought the presentations alive.
Field trips to places of memory in Trinidad relating to the Slave Trade included St. Helena Orisa Shrine and Moruga. Students attended workshops, while teachers explored approaches to teaching the Slave Trade in the classroom.

The closing ceremony was a chance for students to share what they had learnt during the week, and they presented a banner they had made, with images of the Triangular Trade and its’ effects on the three regions. The encounter brought together people from diverse backgrounds in a spirit of sharing and learning, and was considered a success by everyone involved.

Europe
Bristol, United Kingdom, 29 November-3 December 2000
Over 60 students and teachers, cultural educators, musicians, performers, filmmakers and photographers from Europe, Africa and the Caribbean came together for five days in Bristol, the United Kingdom for the second of the three regional encounters. Bristol was a busy port during the Slave Trade, and the city benefited greatly from profits generated through the trade.

Cultural educators brought passion and energy to the event whose theme was ‘Commemorate and Celebrate’, and took participants on a journey through time and across cultures and identities, to commemorate the Transatlantic Slave Trade and celebrate the contributions of the African Diaspora. Students took part in workshops that explored the significance of Carnival and modern forms of slavery. They worked with artists to create wooden masks, paintings and an eight-foot mural and saw performances by African drumming and dance groups.

Participants performed songs, exhibited artwork and talked about their experiences of the week at a public event on 2 December, to commemorate the UN International Day for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.

The reactions were powerful: ‘Now I know the difference between ignorance and innocence… I will carry great memories and inspiration with me through my life. I feel enriched.’, one young person said. Another quoted the words of human rights educator Paul O’Brien, ‘I hear – I forget, I see – I remember, I do – I understand’.

Africa
Badagry, Nigeria, 26-30 March 2001
The third and last in the series of regional youth encounters was held in the former slave port of Badagry, Nigeria. About one hundred teachers and students from African schools (in Benin, Gambia, Ghana, Mozambique, Senegal and Nigeria), along with students from Jamaica, Norway and the United Kingdom, participated in the week-long meeting. Participants attended lectures, took part in creative workshops, visited places of memory and learned about the rich culture and history of their host country. The teachers made the most of the rich networking opportunities.

A Triangle of Technical Schools
A trio of technical schools in France, Senegal and Martinique launched an ambitious three-year triangular project based on the Transatlantic Slave Trade. It embraces concepts of environment, population and sustainable development. Students take part in workshop about culture, world heritage, choreography, visual arts, sustainable development and intercultural dialogue. Shorter, more targeted workshops will take place at five different Youth Fora.

Two of the schools - one Martinican school (Lycée Professionel Joseph Pernock, Martinique) and one French school (Lycée Professional Louis Garnier, Audincourt) - have planned to meet at five separate Youth Fora in the coming four years. The first took place in May 2001, in Sainte Marie, Martinique. The next two are planned for 2002, one in Audincourt, France and the third in Dakar, Senegal. The event then returns to Audincourt, France. The final event will take place in 2004 in Paris, France.

On the Airwaves
Pupils in a TST school in Galicia, Spain, reached other TST students in Spain, Portugal, Angola, Brazil and Mozambique, through a radio show. The project, called Ponte Nas Ondas, provided a wonderful opportunity for students to share their thoughts with young people in other countries.

A Storyline Project
TST schools in Ghana, Trinidad and Tobago, Denmark, Italy, Portugal and Norway (so far…) are planning a TST storyline project. The frame of the storyline is the last journey of the Norwegian slave ship ‘Fredensborg’. The main object is to develop and evaluate the storyline concept as a platform for international educational cooperation.
Those interested in learning more about the storyline concept may find useful information at: www.storyline.org

A Short Visit
A group of Dutch TST students from Berlage Lyceum, Netherlands, visited the United Kingdom in May. They worked alongside TST students at St George Community College in Bristol, and had some first hand experience of the British school system.

A Trip to Africa
In July 2001 three students from a TST school in London (Deptford Green), travelled to Ghana to explore the themes of child labour, the slave trade and fair trade. They used creative approaches to do their research, travelling to Accra, the Cape Coast and Kumasi, and developing a play, which they performed to their local community on return.

TST Art on the Move
The powerful artwork created by TST students at the Regional Youth Encounter in Bristol, United Kingdom, was entered into a youth art competition organised by the United Nations Information Centre. Two of the pieces were selected for exhibition at venues in countries around the world, including the UN Headquarters in New York, USA and then at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa.

Nigeria: A Re-Enactment
Lagos State Model College documented a visit to an important Nigerian place of memory: the slave port of Badagry, which flourished from the 16th to the 18th centuries. The students visited the slave relics museum and took part in re-enactments of scenes from the past, from labour on a coconut plantation to transport down the ‘river of no return’ in pirogues.

Trinidad and Tobago: A Working Plantation
After visiting Richmond Great House, a former plantation owner’s house in Tobago, students of TST School El Dorado, visited a working sugar farm. Here they were able to see how sugar cane is processed.

The TST/World Heritage Youth Forum
Senegal, 21-27 August 2001
Students and teachers from each TST country took part in the youth forum in Dakar. Activities included a field trip to the historic Gorée Island, where enslaved Africans were held before being shipped to the Americas and Caribbean.

When Dakar Came to Tenerife
A fruitful exchange between Senegal and the Canary Islands (Spain), took place between students and teachers from the Kalla Paye School in Dakar and the Tenerife Montessori School, who shared their work on the theme of slavery.

The Spanish students performed a play on the tragedy of slavery. Other cultural activities during the exchange visit included a fashion show of Senegalese designs and a demonstration of Senegalese sand pictures, made with tree sap and sand of different colours from around the country. The pictures, representing everyday life and places of memory of the slave trade, such as Gorée Island, were offered as gifts to the Spanish hosts. Participants visited local places of interest and shared traditional Senegalese meals. This was an example of intercultural dialogue at its best, and the laughing faces on the video of the encounter illustrated the Senegalese proverb that, ‘there can be no peace without understanding’.

Teachers Produce a New Exhibition
A local teachers’ collective, together with the Centre National de Documentation Pédagogique of La Rochelle, France, organised an exhibition on ‘Educational Approaches to the Slave Trade in La Rochelle’, for teachers, students and the general public. This was an initiative of the Benin Delegation to UNESCO, and the exhibition looks at La Rochelle, the second slave port in France after Nantes, and includes work produced by TST students.

Learning from Community Elders
TST students in Brazil and Zimbabwe took the opportunity to find out about local history. They met and talked with community elders, traditional keepers of oral history handed down from generation to generation.