On the field of education, the Centre is active in various projects, one of them being the master’s specialisation Peace, Trauma, and Religion, which was initiated in cooperation with the parties mentioned above. Part of this programme is a non-obligatory study trip to a country or region where questions relevant to our focus can be addressed from interreligious and interdisciplinary perspectives. This year’s student trip was to Israel-Palestine, during which our students were presented to the current situation in the region and the interpretations of various parties and stakeholders – both from the Israeli as well as the Palestinian perspective.
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In this conflict, it seems almost impossible to imagine peace with justice in a context of human rights violations, terror attacks, occupation, and discrimination. The complexity of this context involves historical trauma, land issues, economic interests, international law issues, even war, and many other aspects – but last but not least religion. There is hardly any conflict in which it seems obvious that religion and different peoples of faith play a significant role: Jews, Christians, and Muslims.
The study trip, therefore, was well fitted in the objectives of both the Centre and the master’s specialisation. All but one of the students participated in this insightful journey.
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The intent of this journey was to be able to:
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identify historical claims, memories and trauma of religious groups;
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describe religious identities, and their interconnectedness;
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gain clarity of the instrumentalisation of religion in the given context;
Furthermore, the Centre yearly hosts a series of public lectures; these are accessible to anyone interested in the subjects to be addressed and of no charge for the participants. Considering the continuous relevance of the conflict in Israel-Palestine, we decided to link the study trip to this year’s series of lectures.
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