German-US-American Youth Exchanges – USA-Special 2022
During the two-week-long activities, approximately 28 young participants completed an action course lasting up to 16 hours each day.
rights work meant they had a wide network of contacts with people and projects on reservations, earning them an additional level of trust. Successful collaborations depend on strong intercultural skills with regard to the Indigenous population of the US. After over five centu - ries of colonial history, Indigenous peoples of America are understandably sensitive to any form of intentional or unintentional appropriation and external control. Another factor that contributed to the success of proj- ect planning was the possibility to hold on-site meet- ings with professional youth workers shortly before the actual projects. During these meetings, Indige- nous and German youth workers could become better acquainted and decide on the parameters of the youth exchanges.
Another important prerequisite is financial support from federal programs or special funding schemes. No exchanges would have been possible without these subsidies. There is no program in the US that supports such projects for young US-Americans, like the German government’s Federal Child and Youth Plan. The visits of our guests to Germany were made possible first and foremost with the financial support of well-known art - ists.
Michael Koch, is a former employee of the Offenbach Youth Culture Office .
1 Among others: Ten Years After, Canned Heat, Louisiana Red, Robin Trower, Kraan, Animals, Wild Romance, Crazy World of Arthur Brown, Chris Farlowe, Man, and many more 2 More information can be obtained from chapter “Reservationblues” in M. Koch / M. Schiffmann: “Ein Leben für die Freiheit – Leonard Peltier und der indianische Widerstand” [in German only] 3 More information can be obtained from chapter “Pine Ridge Reservation” in M. Koch / M. Schiffmann: “Ein Leben für die Freiheit – Leonard Peltier und der indianische Widerstand” [in German only], as well as from the movie “Thunderheart” from 1992, directed by Michael Apted 4 This includes the forced internment of hundreds of thousands of Indigenous children in the U.S. and Canada in boarding schools or their forced adoptions or placement in foster homes/families 5 The concept of “Experience-oriented youth (cultural and educational) work” [Erlebnisorientierte Jugend(kultur- und -bildungs)arbeit], Koch, M.: Wenn die Fachdiskurse miteinander tanzen. Erlebnisorientierte Jugendkulturarbeit als emanzipatorischer Beitrag zu Persönlichkeitsentwicklung, in: Bundesvereinigung kulturelle Jugendbildung e. V. (Hrsg.): Kulturarbeit und Armut, Remscheid 2000 [in German only]
29
Made with FlippingBook - Online catalogs