Societies in Southeast Europe remain divided by conflicting stories about the past, perpetrators, and victims, especially since the wars of the 1990s. These narratives are repeated in schools, politics, and the media, and are used to strengthen nationalism rather than to understand others and build a shared future. The "Shared Future: Youth for Dialogical and Inclusive Memory" program, implemented by the Institute for Philosophy and Social Theory at the University of Belgrade (IFDT) with the support of the British Council, aims to encourage dialogue about the past from different perspectives and thus contribute to reducing divisions.
The program focuses on collecting personal stories and visual materials, with a special emphasis on:
- Women's experiences during the war
- Positive stories of interethnic and interreligious cooperation and solidarity during the conflict and in peace
- Marginalized communities and victims of lesser-known crimes whose stories and suffering have not been sufficiently visible to the public so far
Participants receive training in memory studies and field research methodology. They will receive mentoring support during research, writing texts for a joint monograph, and preparing materials for the final exhibition. In addition, participants will contribute to the creation of the Digital Archive "Memory through Inclusion and Dialogue" (SID-ARH IFDT) and will present their work at the Summer School in Novi Pazar through a regional network of cooperation in the field of cultural memory.