Bologna Boot Camp
Bologna Bootcamp In Brief
Four months after the second boot camp of the Peacemakers project held at the premises of Koc University, the third boot camp was organized and held on the University of Bologna in Italy between September 23-27, 2019. The “Peace Envoys” from Koç, Gaziantep, Bologna, Erasmus and Humboldt universities who are currently creating their project ideas in their universities participated. The boot camp started with a welcome ceremony where Prof. John Patrick Leech and Dr. Francesco Girotti, representatives of the UNIBO International Department, delivered welcome speeches.
During the boot camp, Peace Envoys shared with each other their project ideas and activities on social inclusion of migrants on their campuses and in their cities, as well as came together with the volunteering refugee students who came to Italy to study within the framework of the UNI-CO-RE project. Peace Envoys also had a chance to visit “Mosaico di Solidarieta”, an NGO that provides assistance to refugees in their process of job placement and social inclusion in Italy, and had a briefing and Q&A session with them.
Peace Envoys’ Presentations
As the last activity of the first day of the boot camp, Peace Envoys were presenting their projects and explaining their future plans. Peace Envoys from Gaziantep University explained their project in Gaziantep with the students of the Nesrin Mehmet Abar elementary school. Koc University students shared their project which is an Instagram page called KuTipical that aims to foster the inclusion of new-coming International students through entertaining short-videos based on their needs. Humboldt University students had presented their ideas and planned to collaborate with a cafee for their activities. Students from University of Bologna are planning to have regular dinners with variety of different foods from different cultures and meetings with the migrants.
Several scholars from the partner institutions delivered lectures on various contexts of international migration, including European identity, The European Asylum System, and cultural conflict, and conflict resolution.
The lecture titles included:
Developing an inclusive European identity (Monica Rubini and Elisabetta Crocetti, UNIBO)
The generalization of prejudice among migrant groups (Flavia Albarello, UNIBO)
Being a minority within a minority: The experience of migrant women (Silvia Moscatelli, UNIBO)
Conflict Resolution Approaches (Francesca Prati and Flavia Albarello, UNIBO)
Intergroup contact in school and university contexts (Francesca Prati and Stella Kenfack, UNIBO)
Challenges of migrant children and adults in the Portuguese school system (Mario Filipe da Silva, UAB)
School as a resource for integration and acculturation or a place where inequality is maintained (Michela Menegatti, UNIBO)
Gender and Migration (Sebnem Akcapar, KU)
A social anthropological approach to the phenomenon of migration (Bruno Riccio, UNIBO)
Cultural conflict and migration in Europe: Can it be resolved? (Phyllis Livaha, EUR)
The European Asylum System, its problems, challenges, and implications for member states (Claudia Matthes, HU)
Power and Privilege – How do these two concepts interact and shape society? (Kristin Kuter, HU)
Conversation circle with UNI-CO-RE volunteers
During the Bologna boot camp, the Peace Envoys got together for a conversation circle with students with refugee status who are involved in the UNI-CO-RE Project (University Corridors for Refugees, Ethiopia-UNIBO 2019-21). UNI-CO-RE was created to allow refugee students in Ethiopia to continue their academic career at the University of Bologna. The project is promoted by the University of Bologna and UNHCR Italy. In the circle, the volunteering refugee students shared their real-life stories with the Peace Envoys, and how they eventually got involved in the UNI-CO-RE Project and came to Italy to study in the University of Bologna.
