Seventeenth International Conference on New Directions in the Humanities

Abstract

The Religious Toleration and Peace (RETOPEA) Project investigates the history of peace treaties and conflict resolution agreements, as well as contemporary representations of religious pluralism in political discourse. This project promotes the longue durée historical analysis by claiming the social and educational function of history as an instrument of knowledge and as a critical tool for the transformation of society through the use of new technologies and the involvement of young people in this process. Teenagers are the agent of their knowledge production throughout ‘docutubes’. Docutubes are short documentary films produced using existing technology widely available (such as smartphones), which then can be made available on a website, you-tube channel or via our servers. The students use material drawn from the historical research to produce docutubes that address issues of religious coexistence. The process requires the teenagers to engage with the historical research and thus to encounter different ways of understanding religious coexistence. Both the historical research and the docutubes produce new understandings of religious coexistence by examining key concepts, practical issues, and processes related to interreligious dialogue and coexistence. At the same time, the process of producing the docutubes provides insights into how teenagers learn about religion, and about religious coexistence in particular.