Language & Democracy

Dimensions and Meanings of Language

Munich, April 1999

The Working Group "Language & Democracy" met at the Castle of Wendgräben (Konrad Adenauer Foundation) in order to continue the workshop project "Language and Democracy". An intercultural subgroup consisting of Eva Füssinger (IFOR, Switzerland), David Grant (IFOR, Netherlands), Saber Rabi (ADAM, Israel) and Lucia McGeady (Center for the Study of Conflict, Northern Ireland) had prepared a workshop and materials (Video etc.) on the issue of "Body-language, Power and Democracy".

For two days the members of the network themselves slipped into the roles of participants in order to engage in the suggested exercises. Afterwards the activities underwent a critical and detailed debriefing. Following the composed materials of the previous workshops in Belfast and Kreisau, the group worked on modifications and adaptations of the exercises taking into account the respective cultural backgrounds.

In addition the theoretical introduction of the trainer manual on "Language and Democracy" was discussed an pre-structured. The group spent a full day at the world exhibition in Hannover following an invitation by the Bertelsmann Foundation.