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Cultural Café #1: Are historical ‘sins’ ever to be forgiven?

History teaches us of the many great things mankind has achieved but can also show us the big mistakes made over and over again in time.

Depending on how you were taught it in school you most likely either love it or hate it and that has a lot to do with how it was presented and what way you engage with the past. This video by ‘The School of Life‘ gives a good intro to ‘History’ as a subject and the problems in the way it is taught.

Through time many things change including consensus over certain topics and behaviours which brought us to discussing if moral behaviours committed by people in the past should be judged by today’s standards. We listened to some extracts of BBC Radio 4’s programme ‘The Philosopher’s Arms’, originally aired in 2013 and available online via BBC Sound.

During the discussions, the participants shared a lot of interesting suggestions on things to read about connected to the topic. We listed some of them here:

Books:

  • “Enlightenment Now” by Steven Pinker
  • “Erst kommt das Fressen, dann kommt die Moral.” by Bertolt Brecht
  • ”Årstafruns dagbok” a dairy by Mrs Märta  Helena Renstierna 
  • “The World of Yesterday” by Stefan Zweig

Originally the event was scheduled to last approximately an hour but ended up lasting almost two hours. We sent out a survey to all the participants to get their feedback and see what can be done to improve the format before our next event which we expect will take place towards the end of July / beginning of August. More info coming soon!

Our first digital cultural café was presented by Alexander Maxia and Tove Ljung from Base10 startup hub in Uppsala. It took place on Thursday, July 2nd and people joined from four different countries. More events will follow, keep following us on social media and sign up to our mailing list here!

Big thanks to Jason Dainter, CEO of Base10 for kindly lending us the space to broadcast; Joakim Fichtel from Almi Uppsala for the support and advice leading up to the event and James Maxia for additional research into the topic presented.

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Coming up: Our First Digital Cultural Café!

As most of the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we work and after halting our operation in planning events for several months we decided to go digital.

This will be our first ‘cultural café’ event in digital format (our second ever!) and even though we will not be physically in the same coffee house we will do our best to re-create that atmosphere via Zoom.

Yeah I know what you are thinking.. You have had enough lectures, seminars and meetings over the internet and the only thought might give you shudders. But fear not, we’ve got you covered! This will be different from your average Zoom event as we will combine parts in which we are all together – to smaller, more cozy discussions with groups of 4 to 5 people, just as if you were sitting with them at the same table in a café!

The key questions for this event’s topic:

  • Are historical sins ever to be forgiven?
  • Do we give focus to the right figures in history?
  • How do we re-evaluate actions and behaviours from the recent past within today’s society?

This Thursday, the 2:nd of July, we are going to discuss how we learn from history and how we reflect on historical events in today’s climate. We are going to question how actions and behaviors from the recent past fit within today’s society and whether we give focus to the right figures in history. Are historical sins ever to be forgiven? Let’s discuss!

The Cultural café is going to be held like this:

  1. You sign-up via the form (link below) and we will then email you a zoom-link so you can access.
  2. At the event – our hosts will welcome you and guide you through the topic
  3. At a later stage they will split you into smaller groups where you will get the chance to share your thoughts about given questions with 3 or 4 others.
  4. Towards the end of the event, we gather together once again and open to a floor discussion where we can share our thoughts with all the other participants.

We are not here to debate. We are here to have discussions and challenge our mindset. No answers are right or wrong, and the point of the events isn’t to come up with the right answers or test your knowledge. We are just here to discuss in a friendly atmosphere and question our assumptions.

Book yourself a spot for the event by signing up here!

As this is our very first event of the kind, we really encourage feedback on how we can make future cultural cafés even better.

  • When: 2nd July 2020 @ 20:00 (Central European Time)
  • Location: Zoom (link will be sent via email to those who signed up)
  • Discussions will be held in English
  • Presenters: Alexander Maxia and Tove Ljung

Any Questions? Contact us!

See you then!!

Don’t forget to invite your family, friends and colleagues; the more, the better! Share the event via social media:

Facebook Event

LinkedIn Event