Active observation

While Geschichtswerkstatt Europa considers and scrutinises memorials, museums and other spaces as cultural texts, other aspects of their significance often only arise through discussion with involved parties at the site. Field studies offer a particularly revealing way of exploring the relationship with the remembrance culture in stone.

Fundamental to this is the expectation that the participants of Geschichtswerkstatt Europa become active observers who participate in commemorative days, organising events and communicating knowledge, while asking what significance these events have for those involved. Methods from anthropology are thus becoming more important for Geschichtswerkstatt Europa, such as scrutinising your own role in the field and applying the tools of close description.