The Municipality of Kythera and the Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education of Piraeus invite you to the launch of the oral history programme «Kythera: Stories that build bridges» on Monday 13 November at 6:00 pm at the Cultural Centre of Fratsia.
The educational programme «Kythera: Stories that Build Bridges» focuses on an aspect of Greece's history, migration, which touches on one place, Kythera, and for this reason it is a local history programme. The actions of our students will be based on the oral testimonies of people who in the past have sought paths to another continent to make their way in life. Some returned, some stayed forever in their new homeland, but all have a story to tell. These personal stories will emerge as part of the programme, along with the evidence that each family has preserved, thus providing a multifaceted perspective on the island's migration history. This is why this is an oral history programme.
The programme does not simply seek to become a miniature of the general history taught to our students. It has a special value because it will allow our students to get close to the real protagonists of history and hear their own voices. We know from general history that there was a huge influx of migration to Australia in the 1960s. But we know much less about how a 20- to 30-year-old Chiriyot man who by then was farming, had some animals, maybe fishing, and how this man made the big decision to make a journey to the other side of the world, thought. What were his feelings, what were his fears, his hopes? What were the difficulties he had until he arrived, how did the groups organize themselves and, supporting each other, make the big decision? How did they experience this journey of 30-40 days until they reached a distant continent unknown among strangers? How did the first of them pave the roads and create the first receptions for those who followed from home? How were networks then established and maintained between the island and the distant continent? What institutions did they build there in order to endure initially, and thrive thereafter? Did they carry in their suitcase food, certain items, a photograph of their loved one or loved one?;
These and many other questions can only be answered through a series of oral testimonies collected in an appropriate manner from each age group of students. And we are talking about student age groups, because our students will participate in this project in different ways in kindergarten, in different ways in primary school, in different ways in secondary school and high school. In all these different approaches, however, there will be common objectives.
As regards the subject matter, the aim is to approach in all its different aspects the phenomenon of migration, which characterized Kythera and Antikythera. This will be done by collecting and documenting a coherent and cohesive set of oral history records on migration in Kythera and Antikythera, which can contribute to the reconstruction of the history of migration in these islands and can be exploited for museum and certainly for archival use.
As for the method, the aim is to hear from the protagonists themselves about the phenomenon of migration, that is, to listen to their testimonies, which will give real meaning to our students, since they will look for them in the faces of their families. These biographical interviews will colour their teaching. They will become the starting point for exploration and creation that will be reflected in collaborative student projects within the school.
In the first phase of the programme, during the period 2019-2022, eight Kytherians who migrated to Australia, told the teachers and students of the programme the story of this journey, this experience, which characterized a large part of their lives. At the start of the second phase of the project, these eight voices will be heard again, to give us the strength to turn on the microphones again and continue the journey.
The programme «Kythera: Stories that build bridges» is under the auspices of the Primary and Secondary Education of Piraeus and is supported by the Oral History Association, the Hellenic Open University and specifically the Postgraduate Programme «Public History», the Kytheraic Association of Athens, the Kytheraic Studies Society, the Local Archive of Kythera.
