3 QUESTIONS | 3 MINUTES
Caroline has spent considerable time in Tirana in the late 1990s, and we’re thrilled she agreed to answer some questions for us. She will give us a glimpse into the festival preparations, explain why Tirana and share what you can expect at this year’s NECE Festival 2024: BORDERS.
1. Why was Albania chosen as the host country for this year’s NECE Festival in Tirana?
“Since its foundation around 20 years ago NECE, as a European platform for civic education, has been organising events all over Europe, but never in Albania. We wanted to make up for it and therefore decided to bring this year’s NECE Festival to Tirana. With BORDERS as festival theme, Albania is an ideal spot: as a vibrant borderland where continental and maritime cultures overlap, where languages, ethnicities, geographies, and political regimes have historically crossed and transformed through contact, friction and transgression. In such environment Albanians have … or had to develop a kind of expertise when it comes to dealing with borders, last but not least through the most extreme experience of isolation during communism, of “walling-off” – not only physically, but spiritually, culturally, aesthetically. It is not surprising that in the light and under the condition of such historical experience an extraordinarily pronounced sense of freedom has emerged as well. Lea Ypi, the keynote speaker of the NECE Festival opening, has told that story in her book titled “FREE”.”
2. The theme BORDERS is both philosophical and practical, encompassing physical boundaries and imaginative ideas. What key aspects will the NECE Festival highlight and why?
“Borders are essentially ambiguous, and they are pivotal for social relations: what is limiting for some is enabling for others, what appears as suppressive at the same time might be protective, depending on the perspective – clearly, borders are contested, a matter of negotiation, and thus constitutive for any political system, be it democratic, autocratic, or else. As much as borders stand for division, exclusion and separation, they provoke contact, connection, or confrontation. Borders present contact zones – and such are interesting arenas for civic education practice. The NECE Festival 2024 is going to capture the double-sidedness of borders, and it invites to a deep dive into four thematic fields or areas that are crucial for civic education today. We are thrilled about a mise en scène in the Pyramid of Tirana, where four cubes provide the setting, or: the aquarium for the divers.
CUBE 1 | Climate change & green literacy deals with the tipping points and required limitations to prevent climate change-induced catastrophe. It inspires to engage in cross-border initiatives for climate action. CUBE 2 | Digital & media literacy investigates the challenges of digitalisation, regulatory mechanisms, and criteria that are essential to distinguish truth from misinformation. CUBE 3 | Geographies of division, diversity & community work examines the complex intersections of geographical divisions, cultural diversity, and social cohesion. It delves into contact zones, at border areas in (post-) conflict societies, in divided cities, or polarised communities where strategies for building common ground emerge. Finally, CUBE 4 | Migration regimes, civic education & governance probes contemporary migration patterns, push-and-pull factors, and migration policies, to foster a comprehensive, human-rights based approach to migration realities and governance.”
3. In practical terms, what do you hope participants will gain from attending NECE 2024: BORDERS in Tirana for their work as civic educators?
“To get a glimpse into current Albania is worth the travel for whoever comes from all around Europe and beyond, to learn about and from local history and experience. NECE Festival 2024 is about unsettling assumptions and misconceptions around climate change, digitalisation, social and cultural division, and migration, in our community of civic education. The festival invites to take a critical stance, to share new approaches and to reflect current civic education practice. We hope to foster comprehension of the complexities that are addressed in the cube sessions, and then to identify actionable strategies, policies and practices to address these complexities at local, regional, and global levels. Finally, we are excited about the vibrancy of our field, providing and receiving inspiration, enjoying each other’s company, and boosting our European community of civic educators.”
THE CIVICS would like to thank Caroline Hornstein Tomić for her time and valuable insights!
Image: ©EFA Andrei Pungovschi