Learning to be resilient: an intergenerational project to coping with the consequences of an earthquake

Abstract

Older adult education in Italy is a wide and rich world involving many educational fields. From the very beginning, this educational sector has been conceived as a strategy for fostering acti-ve participation among the elderly. In the past few years, due to social and demographic changes and the consequently increasing coe-xistence between generations, older adult edu-cation is focusing more and more on increa-sing active citizenship and intergenerational dialogue and solidarity (Ripamonti, 2009). Ma-ny educational contexts for older adults are designed as intergenerational learning environ-ments, where people can meet and share si-gnificant living experiences among generations and social groups. Moreover, the promotion of positive intergenerationality (Saraceno, 2008) is a very powerful personal tool for empower-ment, especially when facing difficulties. This is the case of the project “Il pozzo della memo-ria” (The well of memory), designed to foster sustainability through the recovery of environ-mental memories and participatory social plan-ning (Oltheten 1999) among intergenerational communities, in small villages in the Bologna countryside (Emilia-Romagna, Italy). When this project was set up, a severe earthquake shook and shocked some of the villages involved. As a consequence of this dramatic experience, the project was re-planned to answer the new learning needs of the population. Intergenera-tional dialogue became an opportunity for tea-ching and learning resilience (Bronfenbrenner 1979, Burns 1996). Older adults’ memories of the Second World War and post-war recon-struction became a fundamental heritage, an asset for the younger generations and for all the community. This paper focuses on the analysis of two diffe-rent but complementary aspects of the project: on one hand, the methodology, micro- and ma-cro-planning, and on the other hand the project contents and results. We intend to describe this unexpected and innovative learning expe-rience.