The Place and Conditions for Democratic Education in Interreligious Encounters

Abstract

This paper explores the spatial and environmental conditions for democratic education in an interreligious project. The interreligious project provides a case for applying Dewey's concepts of experience and environment. Four kinds of experiences are presented: invited places-being a guest, common meeting points-shaping an interreligious “we”, nomadic places-sharing everyday life and school as a secular public place-acting in public. It is concluded that educational experience is shaped by acting in a variety of environments. However, dimensions of power are also present in the context of civil life and should be taken into consideration.

About the author

Johan Liljestrand is Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education and Buisness Studies, University of Gävle, Sweden. E-mail: [email protected]

Notes

1 The Deweyan relationship between democratic activity, aesthetic, and religious experience is also discussed by McKenna (2013).

2 English: “The Cold Store,” due to its former function as a storage place for frozen meat.

3 A qualitative survey (Liljestrand 2015) shows that learning is a prominent motive for engaging in TFS. Another prominent motive is to participate in building a community.

4 Something that contributed to making the synagogue a different and somewhat separate place was the entrance and the procedure associated with it. Before entering the synagogue, all the participants had to announce their arrival to the gatekeeper (field note November 21, 2013).

5 One field visit showed that the religious environment was not adapted for the sharing of a meal. Members of the church provided tea, coffee, and ham sandwiches, which is the custom in the Swedish church.

Additional information

Funding

Religion and dialogue in modern society (University of Hamburg).