MUZEJSKA PEDAGOGIKA
EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES
WHEN THE TEACHER BECOMES A LANDLORD
Jergen Skaastrup
Experiences from museum teaching, using fiction
as a method
In this article I shall introduce the reader to some considerations and
experiences made during five years of experimental teaching at the Agricultural
Museum in Denmark and ten years of publishing books dealing with historical
topics for children in the primary school. I shall refer also to some of my sources
of inspiration and put these into connection with the main content of the current
discussions during the last fifteen years about the character of history. This
discussion was deeply involved in the actual political development in Europe
and therefore it tended to seek the general true character of history and the
fundamental basics of history as a science referring to the practical development
of the different European societies after the Second World War.
The character of history
The dominating opinion among students and a great part of the scientists at
the universities and different high schools in Denmark - and in West Europe -
during the 1970's was based on criticism of ideologies. The political
development worldwide contributed to this critical attitude, amongother things
the resistance against the Vietnam War. A result of this was not only a critical
attitude to the development in society in general, but it also created new claims
concerning the content of science, the tasks of scientific institutions and, of
course, demands for changing the structures of the educational system based on
a quite different contents compared to previous times. You could consider it
ironical that the critical attitude appeared to end up as an ideology itself.
Nevertheless it happened and the basic ideology was marxism.
Among historians marxism developed into a great variation, and the
dominating item in scientific and historical discussions was how to avoid
dogmatism. The communist attitude and the bourgeois attitude therefore
became the main targets for the non-dogmatic critics. While the communists
were fighting in society, taking practical part in the class struggle, and the
bourgeois parties were fighting to overthrow the social-democratical
governments in most West European countries, the non-dogmatic marxists
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tended more and more to isolate themselves and the discussions inside the
institutions. The criticism lost its power to change, entered into an empty defence
of values that were being ticked over by the development in the societies from
the beginning of the 1980's.
All over Western Europe a right-wing movement was successful from the
beginning of the 1980's. Socialist and social-democratical regimes were over-
thrown in one country after another. What you might have expected - that the
bourgeois regimes would start ideological campaigns - did not happen.
Surprisingly the new bourgeois governments proclaimed that ideology was
"crap". Compared even to the social-democratical policy the new right-wing
movements were extremely pragmatic. The bourgeois policy after 1980
however, lost its orientation - first of all the social orientation - at first because
innovation in side the parties was not possible, thereafter because of the
breakdown of communism in Eastern Europe. The non-dogmatic critical
movement was more or less already lost on the threshold of the 1980's.
The discussion about the character of history during this period exposed
serious problems: the non-dogmatic critical historians never succeeded to
understand the sense of solidarity with the working masses as the unification of
practice and scientific theory. The communists declared the lies about their
societies tobe the only truth and solidarity with the working masses was realized
as dictatorship of the party instead of the proletariat. The bourgeois historians
ended up in pragmatism that justified the social decline of society claiming that the
tme character of history was to be fou nd in the successful results of the policy of the
free eainomy. The paxess here described left the discussion about the character of
history in a strange situation: it was as if history had disappeared. Among the more
serious and negative consequences of this situation in my country was that history
for about ten years was not an obligatory subject in primary schcxils. Still history
as an ever and still going strong process existed. History was there however,
but apparently as something hidden that the historians could not agree to find.
I have never believed in the attempts to reconstruct history. I do, however,
believe that there are rules determining the development of history, and I do
state that history as science is based on specific rules and laws - and that these
laws, as far as their general value is concerned, are very much like the laws of
e.g. the exact sciences. The methods however are quite different. The historian
is not in the same convenient position as the physicist. He cannot use e.g.
experiments to find explanations for development patterns, incidents or
phenomena. As a historian you cannot have Caesar assassinated once more, to
find out the reasons for the killing, not in other ways repeat elements of a process
to prove, why he was killed. However - as a hidden theatre/history we know
that the assassination of Caesar was not a coincidence - as little as the fact that
gravitation makes material objects stick to the ground is a coincidence. The most
obvious difference between the character of history and the character of nature
- and between history and natural sciences as scientific disciplines - is that the
historical "truth" is influenced by the fact that for every person taking part in
history, there are unknown factors covering up the clearness of the act and
making it difficult to reach a scientific statement - about what happened and
why. Furthennore, different scientific statements will be influenced by motives
of the scientists, who introduce statements about the true character of historical
acts.
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_Jargen Skaastrup, When the teacher becomes a landlord
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Hidden theatre
Some years ago I happened to get acquainted with a South-American
dramaturgist. Augusto Boa . I read about some experiments he carried through
as a leader of the Arena Theatre in Sao Paolo. In the period between 1956 and
1972, when he was the leader of the theatre he developed different new kinds of
theatre, and to me the so-called "hidden theatre" was especially interesting. This
was among other things due to the fact that the frustration among historians
gave birth to the statement that history was made up by the historians.
It occurred to me that history actually seemed to be a kind of hidden theatre,
and that my task as a historian could be defined as discovering this hidden
theatre, in order to bring back history to the audience by interpreting it in new
ways.
To improve the understanding of this thesis, I shall introduce the principles
and the defined purposes of the hidden theatre of Augusto Boal and the Arena
Theatre. First of all the purpose of the hidden theatre was defined as
emancipation in order to achieve action. Secondly the principles were based on
using a method that made people become as well audience as actors, excluding
them however from having any kind of knowledge about this.
The political circumstances in South-America in general at the time when
Boal developed the hidden theatre were basically mental, political an physical
exploitation and suppression of the people. The continent was suffering from
military regimes based on fascist implementation in practical ruling. Because
fear was the basic implement in the suppression of the population, the hidden
theatre, among other things, therefore had to deal with methods and contents
that could overcome fear, change it into anger, knowledge, courage and
will-power to act for changes and improvement of the conditions for personal
life and development of society in general.
As an example I shall mention the following:
A hidden play is planned to provoke a discussion about the phenomenon
that people, after being arrested by the security police, disappear. The
background for this play is, that even though everybody in Brazi knew that
prisoners disappeared, because they got killed by the regime, the item still
remained a taboo among people - even among the relatives of the disappeared
prisoners. The reason for the taboo was that you could get killed simply by
mentioning it.
A play of hidden theatre is getting planned by the actors of the Arena Theatre
in a way that all "possible variations of what might happen" are discussed and
examined. A strategy how to achieve the goal of the theatre is worked out. The
goal in this case is to make groups of passengers in trains in Brazil enter a
discussion about the di.sappearance of prisoners. The general strategy is being
built up as a discussion between two actors, each of them reading a newspaper
- for the purpose to enter a discussion that would engage the passengers - make
them part of the discussion, make them aware of the possibility and need for
action, political struggle, a way out under the suppression by fighting it.
Later on Augusto Boal developed the hidden theatre, so that it was relevant
for topics and methods in different kinds of societies, among other the bourgeois
democratic system. Taking part in theatre festivals the Arena Theatre performed
Muzejska pedagogika
Pogled v eno izmed dveh muzejskih delavnic Danskega kmetijskega muzeja, v tisto s štedilnikom,
na katerem otroci med svojim "bivanjem" v preteklosti kuhajo. (Foto I. Smerdel, 1991) ¦ View of
one of the two museum vj^orkshops of the Danish Agricultural Museum, showing the kitchen
range on which the children prepare their meals during their "stay" in the past. (Photo by I.
Smerdel, 1991) t
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Jorgen Skaastrup, When the teacher becomes a landlord
unexpected hidden plays. In the Paris Metro the Arena actors performed a play
which put the "audience" as audience and as actors in the current discussion
about the liberation of women and views upon the male and female character.
Through the acts of playing whore, male chauvinists, offended and deceived
wives, betrayed husbands, priests etc., interacting with each other, the actors'
purpose was to provoke not only a discussion but also direct engagement of the
passengers. How?
A male actor starts to annoy an actress dressed very provocatively and even
starts to paw her. She protest of course and doing so she starts the next incident:
an actor dressed like a priest interferes, stating that the woman is dressed in a
way that invites men to paw her - even a man in the service of God. Another
actor shouts "All women are like that!" - Before long the whole wagon is involved
in the discussion, which is getting renewed constantly by prepared acts from the
actors.
What actually happens in the hidden plays of the Arena Theatre is that
groups of people, without knowing it, are being pushed and forced into fictive
universes of relevant conflicts.
The fictive universe as implementation
Reading about the experiments of the Arena Theatre, I decided that I would
try to develop a kind of proinotion in the educational programs of the
Agricultural Museum, which could contribute to solve the problem about
history being something hidden. So I defined history as a kind of hidden theatre.
The task set up was - through the use of fictive universes - to make history visible,
present and existing, to force the pupils into history. What I wanted to achieve
was not a reconstruction of historical incidents, but rather situations of possible
thinking and decision-making.
I had at this time already built up workshops at the Agricultural Museum
dealing with practical work, using copies of historical implements as flails,
spinning wheels, butter chums, different flax-implements etc. The practical
work, making bread out of corn, butter from milk, clothes from wool etc. tended
to give the pupils an understanding of the hard working life, the patience and
skill needed to survive in previous times in history. Even though this was
something quite new in the teaching at the museum, and even though the
practical occupation of the pupils was extremely popular among teachers as well
as pupils, I was not satisfied. This was due to the profound question that I
constantly asked myself: What do you want to achieve in your programs? Do
the pupils actually learn anything about history and about what it was like e.g.
300 years ago in the countryside? Being frank and honest to myself, I could not
even be sure that the pupils learnt to use the flail in a proper way - and if they
did, what could they use it for?
Therefore I decided to make the circumstances laying behind the hard life
visible and still use the practical work as an entrance into history.
For this purpose I created fictive universes into which I forced pupils being
educated in agricultural history. One of these fictive universes was a village 250
years ago. The fiction was there in a double sense. First of all, there were no
visible farms or houses, no visible village etc. Secondly, the character of teaching
changed when I did not present myself as a museologist but as a landlord.
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Arriving at the museum the pupils were told that they were peasants, living in
a village and that I was the landlord, who owned everything and who set the
conditions for their life. The only task of the pupils/peasants was to work with
the implements they find in their fictive homes. In these homes they also found
contracts with the conditions for renting the house or the farm, descriptions of
their families with name, sex and age of each member and badges they had to
wear, so that everybody would know what role they played. From being
children with the entire identity of primary school pupils they changed into
peasants, agricultural labourers, peasant housewives, orphans etc. In the fictive
homes they also found different implements and to some extent raw materials
for production. Through the work they had to survive. They could sell the
products of their work either to other peasants or to the landlord. They were also
entitled to work either for themselves or for others and be paid for it. The
implements they needed for specific kinds of work and which they did not
possess, could be rented by from the landlord - against payment of course. In
the same way raw materials needed for production were available from the
landlord. Survival was under constant stress because of the interference of the
landlord, who put up claims of historical character, e.g. claiming payment of
taxes, rent, villeinage, duty in the peasant military forces etc.. At the same time
different, from outside coming incidents, interfered with the play. e.g. reforms
that we know were carried through in real history. Among these was the law
about the vassalage of the peasantry. In the play this law meant that male
persons were not allowed to leave the scene of the play without the permission
of the landlord.
From the very start of the play the pupils were forced into the fictive
universe. They could not contact the museologist, only the landlord. They were
never treated as pupils, but only as peasants. Their task was to obey and work,
and the goal put in front of them was to survive through hard work or, if they
had enough skill, to climb the social system, i.e. to reach better conditions,
becoming land-owning instead of renting farmers.
A similar play was made about the big changes in Danish agriculture
towards the end of the 19.th century. Form the middle of the 1880's agriculture
was in a deep crisis. The main production in Danish agriculture was com.
However, from around 1960 Europe was not able to produce enough com to
feed its own increasing populations, and as a result import of corn from U.S.A.,
Russia, Central Europe and South-America started. Denmark mainly imported
corn from the U.S.A. The American com was not only of a high quality, it was
also very cheap because of the modern conditions of American agriculture. The
result very quickly showed : a decrease of com prices and a wave of bankmptcies
of Danish fanners. It became obvious that a changes had to take place in
Denmark's agriculture. After 1880 reforms were carried through. Agriculture
was renewed and based on cattle-breeding and industrialization of agricultural
production. Thousands of diaries, slaughterhouses and other kinds of
manufacturing industries were founded between 1880 and 1910. Not only a
profound change of production was made, but the renewal of agriculture was
also based on quite new financial principles: cooperative financing and shared
ownership of manufacturing industries.
The play that was made about this process pushed the pupils into the fictive
universe of threatened farnis, each of them based on different products well
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Jargen Skaastrup, When the teacher becomes a landlord
known from the period. By confronting the pupils/farmers with economical
facts and demands, they were forced to find solutions to solve the crisis of their
own farm. Planned incidents, similar to the changes and cooperative activities
of real history, took place during the play. New agricultural farms were founded,
diaries, slaughterhouses were founded and their boards elected, industries
established, migration from the countryside to the city to find work took place
and emigration to America started etc. Finally, all of them organized in political
parties in order to secure the benefits, influence, power etc. they had achieved
during the process of playing.
A third play was about the peasant riot in 1534. The pupils were pushed into
a fictive universe which made some of them peasants, other noblemen or
bishops. Through ten different planned incidents, based on the real riot, the
pupils - playing against each other - experienced the riot, a civil war and a war
against a foreign nation (Denmark-Lübeck) from the beginning until the end.
Activating parallel thinking as a historical method
The purpose of these'plays is not to reconstruct history or historical events,
but to get to know the minds and way of thinking of nowadays children. By
jushing them into a fictive universe, confronting them with problems of
listorical character, theyare forced to engage themselves in the play, totakepart
in history together with others. And when they are engaged, they show their
way of thinking. At the same time they are taught to think in a historical way.
The teaching process bases on the teacher's knowledge about history being
confronted with the way child ren think about history. The aim is to activate their
ability to think back, think in historical terms. In a very simple way one might
describe the purpose of the teaching as an attempt to develop the children's
ability to think historically. We use history to make them realize that present
history has its roots in the past, in history. This becomes obvious in the plays
when the decisions they make have consequences affecting the space and
possibilities they have in the fictive universe. If the suppressed peasant/pupil
does not pay taxes in the fictive universe of the 18.th century, he will inevitably
make his conditions of living worse. Or, if you as a nobleman in the fictive
universe of the 1530's happens to support the wrong general, you will be on the
losing side in the war or be forced to change your decision whom to support in
the course of the play.
This brings us to the very important question, how we can offer the pupils
the possibility to choose and at the same time prevent them from leaving the
frame-work of real history? How can we prevent them froin creating a history
quite different from the real one? The solution to this problem is, first of all, to
compose plays based on the real and possible choices of known history.
Secondly, there has tobe some manipulation: historical problems are presented
in such manner that the fictive choices reflect the real ones of real history.
The analysis of the experiences gathered from the plays showed some very
interesting results. The fictive universe creates a distance between teacher
(landlord) and children (peasants), which can be used in different ways. First of
all , we can increase the demands put to the children, so that they have to
intensify their efforts to learn. Secondly, the fictive universe enables the teacher
to get closer to the children than usually. E.g.: the peasants of the IS.th century
village are right at the beginning told that their living conditions depend on them
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Malega "tlačana" čakata pod stolom repliki orodij (v lom primeru cepca in rešeta), ki ju ho moral
uporabljati pri delu, v katero se lio poskušal vživeti. (Foto I. Smerdel, 1991) ¦ Under the little
"serf's" chair there are copies of historical implements (here a flail and a sieve) which he will have
to use at his work when trying to "relive" the past. (Photoby I. Smerdel, 1991)
being able to sell their goods to the landlord. Moreover, they depend on the
quality of these products. They are told that the quality of their goods will be
tested before they are bought. The landlord will, for e.g., test spun yarn by
pulling at it. If it breaks, he will not buy it.
The children always forgive the landlord for this act of trying to undo the
results of their work, but they would never forgive the teacher for doing so.
Distance creates closeness. And the efforts of the children are strengthened,
because they either understand the conditions from the very beginning of the
play or from their own experiences later on. They themselves have to decide
whether the quality of the goods they want to sell, is sufficient enough. This
increases their self-discipline. Whether they are successful in the play also
depends on their ability to co-operate, their patience and sense of historical
thinking in terms of reflection and creativity: the sooner they learn form history,
the more space they will have in the fictive universe.
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Jargen Skaastrup, When the teacher becomes a landlord
Teaching in not entertainment, still it inust be funny.
It would, of course, be naive to deny that the amusing character of the plays
is an important factor in "selling the product". Though amusement is not the
purpose, it must be funny to learn history. What we actually did was to play
listory, but for real, not for fun or entertainment. All the programs were based
on the general activities of the museum, i.e. the exhibitions, the collections and
the scientific work. It was most interesting to learn that scientific research proved
to be extremely important. The reason for this is that the plays function by
presenting difficult problems as simple ones. However, the danger to simplify
history is obvious. Scientific efforts are required to define the character of the
landlord, to mention only one example. The landlord is the peasants' opponent
in real history as well as in the play. In order to have objective acting, serious
scientific research of known landlords in real history have to carried out. The
type of landlord chosen to act in the play should reflect the average historical
landlord in behaviour and the general social conditions and laws of the time etc.
Historical consciousness - important also concerning the future
I created these playS in order to develop an adequate didactic method,
combining the consciousness of present history with a possible and needed
consciousness of the past. The plays do not depend on the present consciousness
of history of the children - but you must be aware of the changing and various
levels of consciousness among them. In that sense there is in principle hardly
any difference between the methods and purposes of the hidden theatre and my
plays. Of course, my pupils always knew that we were playing, but they also
knew that we were playing for real. The reason for this is that the actual historical
consciousness of the pupils plays a role in the plays - sometimes to their
advantage, sometimes to their disadvantage. The reality of the plays lies in the
fact that the fictive universe is consistent. It prevents the pupils from escaping
from their own actual knowledge and consciousness of history - no matter the
level or amount of knowledge.
The experiences froin the plays were in so many ways positive and opened
up so many new aspects, that I decided to create and develop plays dealing with
the future. Two subjects were chosen:
"Create your own agricultural museum A.D. 2010" and "Agriculture in
Denmark A.D. 2010". The methods used were the following: first the children
were introduced to the actual activities and tasks of the present agricultural
museum, and to the present condition of Danish agriculture. Sending them on
a fictive journey into the future, they had to make their own museums, or
formulate the future demands and expectations of agriculture. To prevent pure
science-fiction schemes 30 peasant families and their farms were asked to
participate as educating hosts for around 90 pupils. For two days the pupils
stayed at the fanns, took part in the work, were taught about agriculture by the
farmers, told about the peasants' expectations for the future etc. This knowledge
was the base for the teaching in the "workshops of the future" at the museum.
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Conclusion
The results of the above mentioned experimental didactic work at the
Danish Agricultural Museum were followed up and analyzed by the Danish
University of Pedagogics. I quote imm the final report:
"All in all, the project has given new life and excitement to the process of
teaching of subjects generally considered as difficult and has shown new
didactic dimensions and possibilities... and it seems quite decisive that scientists
are engaged in the teaching pmcess at the museums ... The use of fictive
universes is a method which ... made it possible to integrate solid historical
dimensions."
Of course, it is always nice to read positive conclusions about your own
work. As a general conclusion, however, I would like to say that using the above
mentioned methods and concrete plays is as demanding as it is exciting and
amusing. Therefore I would like to add the following to the conclusion: Fiction
normally is based on a specific idea about reality. However, reality is
controversial and different ideas about reality lead to different ideas of fiction.
And, all in all, things have not become more simple by the fact the modernism
claims that reality itself is a fiction.
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KO UČITELJ POSTANE VELEPOSESTNIK
Jorgen Skaastrup
Pouk V muzeju s pomočjo fikcije
v tem članku bom bralcem predstavil nekaj razmišljanj in izkušenj, ki sem
si jih nabral med petletnim eksperimentalnim poučevanjem v Danskem
kmetijskem muzeju in desetletnim pisanjem knjig z zgodovinskimi temami za
osnovnošolske otroke.
Omenil bom tudi nekaj virov za svoje ideje in jih povezal z že petnajst let
trajajoami razpravami o naravi zgodovine. Te razprave so bile močno pod
vplivom sočasnega političnega razvoja v Evropi. V njih so iskali neko splošno
veljavno naravo in temelje zgodovine kot znanosti v povezavi z dejanskim
razvojem različnih evropskih družb po drugi svetovni vojni.
Narava zgodovine
Prevladujoče stališče študentov in večjega dela znanstvenikov na univerzah
in visokih šolah na Danskem - in v Zahodni Evropi - v sedemdesetih letih je
temeljilo na kritiki ideologij. Politični razvoj po svetu, med drugim odpor proti
vojni v Vietnamu, je še poostril to kritiko. Posledica tega ni bil samo kritičen
odnos do družbenega razvoja na splošno, ampak tudi zahteve po novih vse-
binah znanosti, novih nalogah znanstvenih ustanov in, seveda, zahteve po
strukturnih spremembah v izobraževalnem sistemu na temelju povsem dru-
gačnih vsebin. Morda je ironično, da se je ta kritični odnos sam spremenil v
ideologijo, a se je vendar zgodilo in temeljna ideologija je postal marksizem.
Med zgodovinarji seje razvila vrsta marksističnih smeri. Prevladujoča tema
v znanstvenih in zgodovinskih razpravah pa je bila kako se izogniti dog-
matizmu. Komunistična in meščanska metoda sta zato postali glavni tarči
nedogmatičnih kritikov. Komunisti so se v družbi borili, ker so sodelovali v
razrednem boju. Meščanske stranke so si prizadevale vreči socialdemokratske
vlade, ki so bile na oblasti v večini zahodno-evropskih držav. Nedogmatični
marksisti pa so medtem bolj težili k izolaciji in razpravam znotraj ustanov.
Kritika je izgubila vpliv pri spreminjanju stvari in se prepustila prazni obrambi
vrednot, ki jih je družbeni razvoj od začetka osemdesetih let dalje vedno bolj
diskreditiral.
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Muzejska pedagogika
Desničarska gibanja so takrat dosegala uspehe po vsej Zahodni Evropi.
Socialistične in socialdemokratske vlade so padale ena za drugo. Morda bi
pričakovali, da bodo meščanski režimi začeli ideološke kampanje, a to se ni
zgodilo. Na splošno presenečenje so ideologijo razglasili za "čvek". Nova
desničarska gibanja, tudi če jih primerjamo s socialdemokratskimi politiki, so
bila izredno pragmatična. Meščanska politika po letu 1980 pa je vendar izgubila
svojo orientacijo - najprej na socialnem področju. Komunistična gibanja so bila
eno za drugim poražena, sprva ker prenova znotraj strank ni bila mogoča,
pozneje pa zaradi zloma komunizma v Vzhodni Evropi. Nedogmatično kritično
gibanje je bilo bolj ali manj izgubljeno že na pragu osemdesetih let.
Razprava o naravi zgodovine je v tem času zašla v hude težave. Nedog-
matično kritični zgodovinarji nikakor niso mogli uvideti, da pomeni solidarnost
z delovnimi množicami združi tev prakse z znanstveno teorijo. Komunisti so laži
o svoji družbeni ureditvi povzdignili v tako sveto resnico, da se je solidarnost z
delovnimi množicami sprevrgla v diktaturo partije namesto proletariata.
Meščanski zgodovinarji pa so ostali pri pragmatizmu in opravičevali socialno
nazadovanje družbe s trditvijo, da se prava narava zgodovine kaže v uspešni
politiki svobodne ekonomije.
Zaradi procesa, ki sem ga tu opisal, se je znašla razprava o naravi zgodovine
v čudnem položaju: zdelo se je, da zgodovine ni več. Ena izmed resnih in zelo
negativnih posledic tega položaja je bilo dejstvo, da je zgodovina kot obvezen
predmet za kakih deset let izginila iz danskih osnovnih šol. A vendar je zgo-
dovina bila in ostala, le da nekako skrita, ker se zgodovinarji niso mogli zediniti,
kje naj jo iščejo.
Nikoli nisem verjel v poskuse rekonstrukcije zgodovine. Verjamam pa, da
obstajajo pravila, ki določajo zgodovinski razvoj. Trdim, da zgodovina kot
znanost temelji na specifičnih pravilih in zakonitostih. Trdim tudi, daje splošna
veljavnost teh zakonitosti zelo podobna, če že ne enaka veljavnosti zakonitosti
v eksaktnih znanostih. Le metode so povsem drugačne. Zgodovinar nima
možnosti, ki jih ima npr. fizik. Ne more s poskusi iskati razlage za razvojne
procese, dogodke ali pojave. Zgodovinar ne more ponoviti umora Cezarja, da
bi ugotovil razloge zanj. Tudi ne more na kakšen drug način ponoviti elementov
zgodovinskega razvoja, da bi dokazal, zakaj je bil ubit. Na podlagi skrite
zgodovinske igre pa zvemo, da umor Cezarja ni bil naključje - tako kot ni
naključno, da gravitacija vleče predmete k zemlji. Izrazita razlika med naravo
zgodovine in naravo naravoslovja - in med zgodovino in naravoslovnimi
vedami kot znanstvenimi disciplinami - je v tem, da na zgodovinsko "resnico"
vpliva vrsta neznanih dejavnikov pri vsaki osebi, ki je sodelovala v njej. Zato je
resničnost dogodkov nekako zastrta in je toliko teže postaviti znanstveno trditev
o tem, kaj se je zgodilo in zakaj. Poleg tega je vsaka znanstvena trditev pod
vplivom motiva znanstvenika, ki vanjo vnaša svoje poglede na pravo naravo
zgodovinskih dogodkov.
Ker po letu 1970 s političnim programiranjem ali delovanjem ni bilo mogoče
priti do rešitve o pravi naravi zgodovine, seje zgoraj omenjena razprava končala
s čudnim sklepom: zgodovina bo še naprej obstajala in se razvijala, tudi če
zgodovinarjev ne bo. Tako je vendar vedno bilo.
Zgodovina je tako za zgodovinarje dejansko izginila.
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Jargen Skaastrup, Ko učitelj postane veleposestnik
Skrito gledališče
Pred nekaj leti sem se seznanil z delom južnoameriškega dramaturga
Augusta Boala. Bral sem o poskusih, ki jih je izpeljal kot vodja gledališča Arena
Theatre v Sao Paolu. V letih od 1956 do 1972 je razvil razne nove oblike
gledališča. Posebej meje zanimalo tako imenovano skrito gledališče. Razlog za
to je bil med drugim v frustraciji zgodovinarjev, ki je rodila trditev, da zgodovino
ustvarjajo zgodovinarji.
Na misel mi je prišlo, da je zgodovina pravzaprav podobna nekakšnemu
skritemu gledališču in da bi lahko definiral svojo nalogo zgodovinarja tako, da
razkrijem to skrito gledališče in zgodovino znova približam gledalcem s tem, da
jo interpretiram na razne nove načine.
Da bi bolje razumeli to tezo, bom opisal načela in namene skritega gledališča
Augusta Boala in Arene Theatra. Prvič, namen skritega gledališča je eman-
cipacija za akcijo. Drugič, metode, s katerimi bi to dosegli, so takšne, da ljudje
postanejo hkrati gledalci in igralci, ne da bi se tega zavedali.
Splošna politična situacija v Južni Ameriki včasu, ko je Augusto Boal razvijal
skrito gledališče, je bila duševno, politično in fizično izkoriščanje in zatiranje
prebivalstva. Ves kontinent je trpel zaradi vojaških režimov, ki so izvajali
fašistično oblast. Ker je bil strah poglavitno orodje pri zatiranju ljudi, seje skrito
gledališče med drugim moralo ukvarjati z metodami in vsebinami, ki bi ta strah
lahko premagale, ga preobrazile v jezo, znanje, pogum in voljo za aktivno
spreminjanje osebnih življenjskih razmer in razvoja družbe na splošno.
Kot primer bom navedel tole: Vzpostavi se skrita igra, ki naj bi načela
razpravo o pojavu, da ljudje potem, ko jih aretira varnostna služba, izginejo. V
Braziliji je, kljub temu da je vsakdo vedel, da zaporniki izginjajo - ker jih je režim
pobil - vsa zadeva ostala tabu celo med sorodniki izginulih zapornikov. Tabuje
izviral iz dejstva, da je lahko vsakdo, ki je spregovoril o tem, tudi sam izgubil
življenje.
Skrito igra načrtujejo igralci Arene Theatra tako, da najprej obravnavajo in
analizirajo "vse možne različice tega, kar se lahko zgodi". Izdelajo strategijo kako
dosea cilj - v tem primeru je cilj pripraviti skupine potnikov na vlaku do tega,
da se začnejo pogovarjati o izginjanju zapornikov. Osnovna strategija je
razprava med dvema igralcema, ki na vlaku bereta časopis, njen namen pa je,
seveda, druge potnike pritegniti v razpravo, da bi se zavedali možnosti in
potrebe po akciji, političnem boju in da je rešitev pred zatiranjem v boju.
Pozneje je Augusto Boal skrito gledališče razvil dalje tako, da je bilo
primerno za teme in metode v drugačnih družbah, tudi v meščanskem
demokratičnem sistemu. Kjerkoli so se igralci Arene Theatra udeležili kakega
gledališkega festivala, so sprožili skrite igre. Tako so v pariškem metroju izvedli
igro, ki je potnike spremenila v gledalce in igralce v razpravo o emancipaciji
žensk in o pogledih na moški in ženski značaj. Člani gledališča so igrali vlogo
prostitutke, moškega šovinista, prevarane in užaljene soproge, prevaranega
moškega, duhovnika itd. Tako so hoteli sprožiti ne samo razprave med potniki,
ampak tudi njihovo neposredno poseganje v igro. Kako so to izvedli?
Moški igralec začne nadlegovati kolegico, ki je zelo izzivalno oblečena, in
gre pri tem tako daleč, dajo začne otipavati. Ona seveda protestira in tako sproži
naslednji incident: igralec duhovnik poseže vmes, rekoč, da je ženska tako
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Muzejska pedagogika
izzivalno oblečena, da celo njega, človeka v božji službi, mami k otipavanju.
Neki drugi igralec vpije: "Vse ženske so take!" Kmalu nato je ves oddelek vpleten
v razpravo, ki jo vedno znova poživljajo pripravljeni nastopi drugih igralcev.
V skritih igrah Arene Theatra se dejansko dogaja to, da so skupine ljudi
potisnjene v fiktivni svet pomembnih konfliktov, ne da bi se tega zavedali.
Fiktivni svetovi kot učni pripomoček?
Potem ko sem bral o eksperimentih Arene Theatra, sem jih hotel vključiti v
učni program Kmetijskega muzeja tako, da bi prispevali k reševanju problema
skrite zgodovine. Zato sem zgodovino opredelil kot nekakšno skrito gledališče
in naloga, ki sem si jo zastavil, je bila narediti zgodovino vidno, navzočo in
obstoječo z uporabo fiktivnih svetov. Učence bi nekako prisilil vstopiti v
zgodovino. Kar sem hotel doseči, ni bila rekonstrukcija zgodovinskih dogodkov,
ampak situacije, ki omogočajo razmišljanje in odločanje.
V tistem času sem v Kmetijskem muzeju že postavil delavnice za praktično
delo s kopijami zgodovinskih orodij - cepcev, kolovratov, pinj in raznih orodij
za delo z lanom itd. Praktično delo pri peki kruha, delanju masla iz smetane,
šivanju oblačil iz volne itd. je učencem dajalo občutek, koliko trdega dela,
potrpljenja in spretnosti je človek potreboval nekoč, da se je preživljal. Čeprav
je bilo to pri pouku v muzeju nekaj povsem novega in je bilo delo zelo
priljubljeno tako pri učencih kot pri učiteljih, nisem bil zadovoljen. Razlog je bil
v vprašanju, ki sem si ga nenehno zastavljal: Kaj hočeš doseči s temi programi?
Ali se učenci res kaj naučijo o zgodovini in o tem, kakšno je bilo življenje na
deželi pred npr. 300 leti? Ce sem odkrit, si nisem bil povsem na jasnem, ali se
učenci naučijo pravilno uporabljati cepce. Pa tudi če jim je to uspelo - čemu?
Zato sem se odločil, da jim bom razkril razloge za trdo življenje in pri tem
še naprej uporabljal praktično delo kot uvod v zgodovino. V ta namen sem
ustvaril fiktivne svetove, v katere sem potisnil učence, ki so se učili zgodovine
kmetijstva. Eden izmed teh svetov je bila vas izpred 250 let. Fikcija jebila dvojna.
Najprej seveda ni bilo vidnih kmetij, ne hiš, ne vasi itd. Pouk pa smo začeli tako,
da se nisem predstavil kot muzeolog, ampak kot veleposestnik. Ko so učenci
prišli v muzej, smo jim rekli, da so kmetje, ki živijo na vasi, in da sem jaz
veleposestnik. Njihova usoda je v mojih rokah, ker jim jaz določam življenjske
pogoje. Edina naloga učencev kmetov je bila delati z orodjem, ki ga najdejo v
svojih domnevnih hišah. Tam so jih čakale tudi pogodbe s pogoji, pod katerimi
so najeli hišo ali kmetijo, opisi njihovih družin z imenom, spolom in starostjo
vsakega člana in priponke, ki so jih morali nositi, da bi jih vsak lahko prepoznal.
Iz učencev z identiteto osnovnošolskih otrok so se prelevili v kmete, poljedelce,
kmečke gospodinje, sirote itd. V svojih fiktivnih hišah so našli tudi orodje in do
neke mere gradivo, ki so ga morali predelati. Preživljati so se morali z delom.
Svoje pridelke ali izdelke so lahko prodali bodisi drugim kmetom ali
veleposestniku. Imeli pa so tudi pravico delati zase ali za druge proti plačilu.
Del orodja, ki so ga potrebovali za svoje delo, so si morali pogodbeno in proti
plačilu izposoditi pri veleposestniku. Na enak način so lahko prišli do surovin
za proizvodnjo. Njihovo preživetje je bilo pod stalnim pritiskom zaradi
vmešavanja veleposestnika, ki se je skliceval na razne zgodovinske pravice v
zvezi s plačilom davščin, najemnine, zakupnine za kmetijo, s službovanjem v
kmečkih vojskah itd. Hkrati so vplivali na igro dogodki od zunaj, npr. reforme,
o katerih vemo, da so se v resnici zgodile. Med temi dogodki je bila uveljavitev
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Jargen Skaastrup, Ko učitelj postane veleposestnik
zakona o pripadnosti kmeta zemlji. V igri je to pomenilo, da "moški" niso smeli
zapustiti prizorišča brez dovoljenja veleposestnika.
Od vsega začetka igre so bili učenci potisnjeni v fiktiven svet. Niso imeli stika
z muzeologom, ampak izključno z veleposestnikom. Poleg tega jih nihče ni
obravnaval kot učence, ampak zgolj kot kmete. Njihova naloga je bila ubogati
in delati. Njihov edini cilj: preživljati se s trdim delom. Če pa so bili dovolj
spretni, so lahko napredovali na družbeni lestvici, tako da so postali lastniki
namesto najemniki zemlje.
Podobno igro smo naredili o velikih spremembah v danskem kmetijstvu
3roti koncu 19. stoletja. Od srede osemdesetih let prejšnjega stoletja je bilo
cmetijstvo v globoki krizi. Glavni pridelek na Danskem je bilo žito. Od leta 1880
dalje (Zahodna) Evropa ni bila sposobna pridelati dovolj žita za hitro naraščajoče
prebivalstvo, zato ga je začela uvažati iz ZDA, Rusije, Srednje Evrope in Južne
Amerike. Ameriško žito ni bilo samo zelo kakovostno, ampak tudi zelo poceni
zaradi sodobnih pridelovalnih postopkov. Posledica tega je bila nagel padec cen
in val stečajev med danskimi kmeti. Postalo je očitno, da se mora v danskem
kmetijstvu nekaj spremeniti. Po letu 1880 so izvedli reforme: kmetijstvo je bilo
prenovljeno in je po novem temeljilo na živinoreji in industrializaciji kmetijske
proizvodnje. V letih 1880 do 1910 je bilo ustanovljenih na tisoče mlekarn, klavnic
in drugih predelovalnih obratov. Ni šlo samo za korenito spremembo proizvod-
nje, prenova je temeljila tudi na novih finančnih načelih: kooperativnem
finansiranju in skupnem lastništvu predelovalne industrije.
Igra o teh procesih je učence postavila v fiktivni svet ogroženih kmetij, ki so
živele od različnih pridelkov, znanih iz tistega obdobja. Učenci kmetje so bili
soočeni zgospodarskimi dejstvi in zahtevami. Bili so prisiljeni iskati rešitev, vsak
za svojo kmetijo. Med igro so bili inscenirani dogodki, podobni spremembam
in zadružnim aktivnostim iz resnične zgodovine. Ustanovili so nove kmetije,
mlekarne, klavnice , izvolili njihove upravne odbore, postavili predelovalne
obrate, se selili z dežele v mesto, da bi našli delo, in začelo se je izseljevanje v
Ameriko. Na koncu so se organizirali v politične stranke, da bi tako zavarovali
koristi, vpliv, moč itd., ki so jih dosegli med igro.
Tretja igra je bila o kmečkem uporu iz leta 1534. Tu so nekateri učenci postali
kmetje, drugi plemiči ali škofi. V desetih različnih insceniranih dogodkih iz
dejanskega upora so učenci doživeli upor, državljansko vojno in vojno proti
drugi državi (Danska-Lübeck).
Paralelno razmišljanje kot zgodovinska metoda
Namen teh iger ni bil rekonstruirati zgodovino ali zgodovinske dogodke,
ampak ugotoviti, kako razmišljajo današnji otroci. V fiktivnem svetu in soočeni
s problemi zgodovinske narave so bili prisiljeni vključiti se v razne dele igre,
sodelovati v "ustvarjanju" zgodovine z drugimi. To sodelovanje je razvijalo
njihovo sposobnost razmišljanja na sploh in na zgodovinski način. Učenje je
temeljilo na konfrontaciji učiteljevega znanja o zgodovini z odnosom otrok do
sodobne zgodovine. Smisel postopka je v tem, da sprožimo v otrocih sposobnost
razmišljanja o preteklosti in v zgodovinskih okvirih. Poenostavljeno bi lahko
rekli, da je bil namen pouka poskus razvijati otrokove sposobosti za
zgodovinsko razmišljanje. Prek zgodovine naj bi dojeli, da ima sedanjost
korenine v preteklosti. To dejstvo jim je postalo jasno v igrah, ko so njihove
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Muzejska pedagogika
odločitve imele tudi "konkretne" posledice zanje. Kdor kot zatiran kmet v
fiktivnem svetu 18. stoletja ni plačal davka, si je neizogibno poslabšal življenjske
razmere. Kdor je kot plemič v tridesetih letih 16. stoletja podpiral napačnega
generala, je izgubil vojno ali pa se je moral med igro odločiti da bo podpiral
drugega.
To nas pripelje do zelo pomembnega vprašanja, kako lahko damo učencem
možnost izbire, ne da bi jim hkrati omogočali, da bi zapustili okvire dejanskega
zgodovinskega razvoja. Kako jim lahko preprečimo odločitve, ki so popolnoma
drugačne od zgodovinsko potrjenih? Rešitev tega problema je v prvi vrsti v tem,
da mora igra temeljiti na dejanskih in možnih izbirah iz resnične zgodovine.
Drugič, potrebna je manipulacija v tem smislu, da se zgodovinski problemi
prikažejo tako, da v fiktivnih izbirah odsevajo dejanske zgodovinske odločitve.
Zelo zanimiva je bila analiza izkušenj iz iger. Fiktivni svet ustvarja distanco
do otrok, ki nam lahko koristi na več načinov. Prvič, lahko povečamo zahtevnost
dela, ki ga morajo opraviti učenci, in spodbujamo njihov trud pri učenju. Drugič,
fiktivni svet učitelju omogoča, da se otrokom bolj približa kot sicer. Npr. "kmetje"
iz vasi 18. stoletja izvedo že na začetku, da se morajo preživljati s prodajanjem
svojih izdelkov ali pridelkov. Glavni kupec je učitelj veleposestnik, prodaja pa
je odvisna od kakovosti blaga, ki se ugotavlja na vnaprej dogovorjen način. Tako,
recimo, pri sukancu veleposestnik preizkusi nit, preden se odloči za nakup. In
če se nit strga, blaga ne odkupi.
Veleposestniku otroci vedno oprostijo ta preskus, s katerim lahko izniči
sadove njihovega dela, nikoli pa tega ne bi oprostili učitelju. Tako distanca
ustvarja bližino. Otroci se pri delu bolj potrudijo, razumejo pogoje od vsega
začetka ali jih dojamejo na podlagi izkušenj v igri. Sami se morajo odločiti, ali je
kakovost njihovega dela, blaga, ki ga želijo prodati, dovoljšnja ali ne. Tako pride
do večje samodiscipline. Uspešnost v igri temelji na sodelovanju, potrpežljivosti
in občutku za zgodovino na ravni premišljevanja in ustvarjalnosti. Čim hitreje
se otroci učijo od zgodovine, tem več prostora in možnosti imajo v igri.
Pouk ni zabava, mora pa biti zabaven
Seveda ne morem zanikati, da je zabavna narava iger pomembna za njihov
uspeh pri otrocih. Kljub temu da zabava ni cilj, naj bi bil pouk zgodovine
zabaven. V bistvu se z otroki igram zgodovino, vendar igramo zares. Vsi
programi so temeljili na splošnih dejavnostih muzeja, razstavah, zbirkah in
znanstvenih dejavnostih. Zelo zanimivo je dejstvo, da so bile znanstvene
raziskave ključnega pomena. Ne smemo pozabiti, da igre potekajo tako, da so
težavni problemi prikazani kot preprosti. V tem je seveda nevarnost, da
zgodovino preveč poenostavimo. Potreben je znanstven napor, da ugotovimo
značaj veleposestnika, če naj navedem samo en primer. Veleposestnik je
nasprotnik kmetov v resnični zgodovini in v igri. Da ga ne bi prikazali preveč
čmo-belo, so bile potrebne resne znanstvene raziskave o znanih veleposestnikih
iz zgodovine. Veleposestnik v igri naj bi poosebljal (povprečnega)
zgodovinskega in tedanje stanje v družbi.
Zavest o preteklosti je pomembna tudi za prihodnost
Igre, ki sem jih tu omenil, sem ustvaril zato, da bi razvil didaktiktično
metodo, ki bi ustrezno združevala zavest o sedanjosti z možno in potrebno
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Jargen Skaastrup, Ko učitelj postane veleposestnik
zavestjo o preteklosti. Igre sicer niso odvisne od zgodovinske zavesti otrok, a
vendar se moramo zavedati spreminjajoah se in različnih stopenj zavesti med
njimi. V tem smislu je načeloma komaj kaka razlika med metodami in smotri
skritega gledališča in mojimi igrami. Seveda so učenci vseskozi vedeli za igro,
vendar so tudi vedeli, da igramo zares. V igrah smo izhajali iz dejanske
zgodovinske zavesti otrok - tako v njihovo škodo kot v njihovo korist. Igra je
resna, ker fiktivni svet učencem dosledno onemogoča, da bi pobegnili od svojega
dejanskega zgodovinskega znanja in zavesti - ne glede na stopnjo ali količino
tega znanja.
Izkušnje iz iger so bile tako mnogostransko pozitivne in so odpirale tako
številne vidike, da sem sklenil ustvarjati in razvijati igre o prihodnosti. Izbral
sem dve temi: "Naredite kmetijski muzej iz leta 2010 po svoji zamisli" in
"Kmetijstvo na Danskem leta 2010". Postopek v teh igrah je bil takšen, da smo
otrokom najprej prikazali dejavnosti in naloge sedanjega kmetijskega muzeja in
stanje v današnjem kmetijstvu na Danskem. Ko smo otroke poslali na
domišljijsko potovanje v prihodnost, so eni morali ustvariti muzej po svoji
zamisli, drugi pa oblikovati lastne zahteve, predloge in pričakovanja od kmetij-
stva prihodnosti. Da bi se izognili čisto znanstvenofantastičnim projektom, smo
k sodelovanju povabili 30 kmečkih družin kot gostiteljic za okrog 90 učencev.
Učenci so dva dni bivali na teh kmetijah, sodelovali pri delu, se od kmetov učili
o kmetijstvu, izvedeli, kaj kmetje pričakujejo od prihodnosti itd. Tako so dobili
podlago za pouk o teh temah v muzejskih "delavnicah prihodnosti."
Sklep
Rezultate tu omenjenega eksperimentalnega didaktičnega dela v Danskem
kmetijskem muzeju je zbrala in analizirala Danska pedagoška univerza. Iz
sklepnega poročila navajam :
"Na splošno rečeno je projekt poživil in spodbudil učne postopke pri
predmetih, ki veljajo za zahtevne in nakazal nove didaktične razsežnosti in
možnosti ... ključnega pomena je stidelovanje znanstvenikov pri poučevanju v
muzeju ... Uporaba fiktivnih svetov je metoda, ki je omogočala integracijo
obsežnih zgodovinskih dimenzij."
Vedno je prijetno brati pozitivne ocene svojega dela. Za splošen sklep pa bi
rekel, da vem, kako je delo s tu omenjenimi metodami in konkretnimi igrami
vsaj enako težavno in zahtevno, kot je vzpodbudno in zabavno. Zato bi sklepu
rad dodal še tole misel: fikcija ponavadi temelji na specifični predstavi o
resničnosti. Resničnost pa je kontraverzna in različne zamisli o njej vodijo k
različnim idejam o fikciji. Stvari pa niso postale nič bolj preproste, odkar
modernizem trdi, da je resničnost sama ... fikcija.
BESEDA O AVTORJU
Avtor, muzeolog, bivši namestnik
direktorjaDanskega kmetijskega muzeja in
direktor (od avgusta 1992) Grindsted
muzeja.
ABOUTTHE AUTHOR
largen Skaastrup, museologist and
director of the Grindsted Museum, former
vice-director of the Danish Agricultural
Museum.
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