Round Table: The Contribution of Adult Education in the Context of Christian-Muslim Interaction and Mutual Understanding in Bulgaria

15.04.2003, Sofia

ANALYSIS OF THE RESULTS
By Dr. Simeon Evstatiev, Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski"

Background

In historical and geographical terms Bulgaria is the natural bridge between the Christian and Islamic cultures, which have coexisted on its territory for centuries. However, due to the nature of the political events of today and the influence of the mass media the public in Bulgaria perceive the Muslim world in the light of religio-political conflicts, turbulence and violence. In this context it is important to realize that the population of Bulgaria continues to be ethnically and religiously mixed, for apart from the Christian Bulgarians there are considerable Muslim communities, such as those of the Turks, the Pomaks and the Roma. For all of them the cultural links with the central Islamic lands - the Arab world, Turkey and Iran - are getting more and more important in the post-communist period. Gradually the notion of an "Islamic threat", coming mainly from these central Islamic lands, has been shaped among Bulgarians. That is why critical questions continue to show mutual distrust and even condemnation between Islam on the one hand and the West on the other. The most important among such notions are related to the alleged incompatibility of Islam and democracy, the fanaticism of "Islamic fundamentalists" and the secularization and modernization of Muslim societies and communities.

The long relationships between Christians and Muslims in Bulgaria have bred a mutual understanding and co-existence which are the qualities underlying the term of komshuluk, specific of the Bulgarian lands, i.e. good, neighbourly, difference respecting co-existence. And whenever disputes between the followers of the two religions arose they were settled in such a manner that it eventually established the lasting principle of tolerance in Bulgarian society.

At the same time, this mutual understanding was most apparent at the level of societal day-to-day communication. Paradoxically, among the elite and in the higher cultural strata there is a marked lack of knowledge about Islam, its religious doctrines and its civilizing achievements. It is in view of this lack, and with a commitment to self-criticism, that it must be clearly stated that this problem of ignorance and isolation is also true of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, which is still to make the first move in establishing an official dialogue with Islam. Contemporary Orthodox Christian (in the broadest meaning of this term) perceptions of Islam and its followers are still close to how they were first conceived in the pre-Modern and Modern history of the Bulgarian people. Their social, cultural and historical experience during the Ottoman rule and thereafter has, in the course of the establishment of the modern Bulgarian national state, led to lasting stereotypes about "the other", which to date keep affecting contemporary Christian Bulgarians in their conceptions of Islam and its followers.

These stereotypes might pose a threat to the established and stable model of co-existence between the mainstream society and "the others" in Bulgaria, and should not remain unchanged when one bears in mind the intention to establish an open society in Bulgaria, and the global tendencies of an open, international dialogue. Especially after the events in the US on 11 September 2001 the need to revise these views through a more adequate understanding of Islam, its brilliant past and complicated present became obvious in Bulgarian society.

Therefore, an innovative educational methodology of approaches to Islam and Muslims should be elaborated in order to deal more adequately with the issues related to this subject, and which has as its starting point the educational and social needs of Bulgaria. Particularly the development of new forms of communication and learning between Muslim and non-Muslim citizens under the umbrella of adult education is needed. This was basically one of the main subjects raised during the roundtable "The Contribution of Adult Education in the Context of Mutual Acquaintance and Understanding between Muslims and Christians in Bulgaria", held on 15 April, 2003, in Sofia.

The Roundtable: Towards a Formulation of the Needs

This roundtable was successful because it provided a real discussion forum on the subject of the Muslim and non-Muslim relations in the light of adult education. Thus the major challenges to adult education within the intercultural and inter-religious dialogue were clearly outlined. The roundtable was able to raise very important questions concerning the relations between the mainstream society and the Muslim community in Bulgaria by relying on the achievements of previous projects and current governmental and nongovernmental activities in the country.

The fruitful debate and the creation of a sense of community were enhanced by the ability of the Project coordinator Ms Emilia Ilieva from the Federation of Societies for Spread of Knowledge to involve the participants in the discussions. They were secular and religious academics as well as representatives of both governmental and nongovernmental institutions, selected especially for this meeting. Moreover, many of the participants combine different types of activities and approaches to the intercultural and inter-religious issues, which increased the quality of the discussions and their outputs. They were:

1. Assoc. Prof. Dr Plamen Makariev, Head of the Department of Philosophy at Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", who is also actively involved in projects organized by the Minerva Foundation. He has a long experience in the work on intercultural issues in both academic and practical terms. He could contribute considerably to the outlining and formulation of the main challenges in the intercultural communication by relating them to the question of adult education.
2. Dr Simeon Evstatiev, Major Assist. Professor in Arab History and Islamic Culture at the Centre of Oriental Studies of Sofia University "St. Kliment Ohridski", member of various European and international associations of islamicists, Director of the Project "The Islamic Religious Education in Bulgaria: The Challenges of Partnership", which started in April 2003.
3. Dr Hristo Hristov, formerly Senior Research Fellow at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, at present working for the National Inspectorate of Education. Being both a scholar and administrative officer he tried to show that the needs of adult education could successfully be supplied only if the governmental institutions cooperate with the nongovernmental educational sector.
4. Mr Hussein Chitak, Vice-Director of the Higher Islamic Institute. His experience in the present problems of Islamic religious education proved very stimulating in the discussions. He underlined that the immediate aim of the religious education should be the formation of tolerance and mutual understanding within Bulgarian society.
5. Mr Birali Mumun, Mufti of the region of Pleven. His purely religious job was a good stimulus for him to draw the attention of the participants, in a thought-provoking manner, to the more general issues of the inter-religious communication in Bulgaria and Europe.
6. Dr Mihail Ivanov, former Senior Research Fellow at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, and presently Secretary of the National Council on Ethnical Issues belonging to the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Bulgaria. He helpfully contributed to the articulation of some of the major educational needs and suggested to carefully select the target groups within the project.
7. Ms Tsvetelina Torniova of the Confederation of the Independent Syndicates in Bulgaria, coordinator of the NILE-Project. She presented her project to enhance the lifelong learning of emigrants and refugees. She also spoke of some of the Syndicate's projects stimulating intercultural contacts between children.
8. Mr Rumen Valchev, Head of a Department for Peace of UNESCO and Director of the Open Education Centre, Sofia. He combines a long career in the non-governmental educational sector with that of a Vice-minister of Science and Education some years ago. This explains why he could give very fruitful suggestions regarding the concrete selection of the target groups within the project.
9. Ms Ludmila Dragoeva of the Foundation of Inter-Ethnic Initiative for Human Rights. She explained the experience of her organization in the area of educational training for teachers in ethnically and religiously mixed regions of the country. Her participation helped the roundtable to formulate a comparison what was already done in the context of intercultural education, and what the project could add to that.
10. Ms Elena Gyurova, journalist of the magazine "Ethno-reporter". Her participation was useful because of her experience in the field of intercultural issues.
11. Ms Emilia Mateina, journalist at the magazine "Ethno-reporter". Her long media experience would help the promotion of the project in the future.
12. Mr Koray Ertas, Third Secretary at the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Sofia. His interest and questions were very useful for the course of the debate because they showed which formulations would be useful on both national and international levels.

The Roundtable was divided into two parts. The first was devoted to the presentation of what has already been done for the development of adult education and to encourage the dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims in Bulgaria. The attention of the participants was focused on the existing "good practice" which could be used in the future as a model for solving intercultural and educational tasks. The second one was to summarise the problems which exist in the area of adult education as well as to outline methods and strategies to encourage tolerance through this type of education. During the discussions special attention was paid to the form and the content of the Handbook which will be prepared as part of the project.

The presentation of previous projects and initiatives showed the urgent need for further activities to enhance intercultural and inter-religious adult education. As the roundtable discussions proved, in the first place the basic question of defining the term Christian-Muslim relations or relations between Muslims and non-Muslims in Bulgaria should be answered. The point is whether the project should focus on the purely religious problems of adult education or should achieve its objectives within a broader understanding of the Christian-Muslim relations, which in this sense could be defined as intercultural relations between Christians and Muslims. This broader definition would seem better suited to contribute to the project's overall goal because the purely religious issues will be situated within the framework of the relations between the Muslims and Bulgaria's mainstream society.

The other major question is the selection of the project's target groups on a national level. This question is important as it concerns many of the major issues related to the project's activities. Obviously, the target groups should be selected in a way that would turn the project's activities into a sustainable network of civic activists and other citizens involved in the accomplishment of major educational tasks. In this sense education as a whole can really be an umbrella under which the adult intercultural cooperation should develop. Unfortunately, up to now there is no national strategy which would lead to the preparation of the much needed teaching materials. That is why the task of preparing the necessary handbooks and teaching materials still remains essentially a priority of the nongovernmental organizations. Moreover, even within the nongovernmental sector there is a lack of exchange of information and practice. The absence of an official teacher qualification system as well as the lack of continuity of financial support for educational projects in Bulgaria are also among the major problems in the area of adult education. The previous and the existing projects have very often been developed simply to fit the requirements of the donors, and not the needs of the different communities in the Bulgarian society.

Apparently, teachers should be the project's core target group. However, the project can successfully accomplish its major tasks only if its target groups include also other professionals relevant to enhancing the intercultural dialogue on both the local and the national levels. Tentatively, the suggested target groups could include the following direct and indirect beneficiaries involved in adult education:

1. Direct beneficiaries
   • teachers
   • municipality administration
   • civic activists
2. Indirect beneficiaries
   • policemen
   • medicine doctors
   • social workers

The project would provide mechanisms to involve the target groups in the intercultural education and communication within the Euro-integrative processes. This will help the teachers, the municipal officers, and hence the youth to accomplish their educational and socio-economic tasks on the basis of the experience of the EU countries. In order to facilitate intercultural communication for the purposes of adult education the project needs to establish sustainable structures.

At this moment one of the best examples of successful adult education which could be considered a "good practice", is related to the so-called School Board of Trustees. The members of the Bulgarian school boards are usually elected from among the parents of the students. And if they are elected to represent the direct and indirect beneficiaries they could in a concrete way contribute to the sustainability of the project. Since the civic role of the school boards of trustees needs to be developed further the project can use the boards as an existing mechanism which can provide the project's sustainability. Together with other local key figures selected from the direct and indirect beneficiaries the school boards may be expected to contribute to the achievement of the project's goals and objectives.

The success and the sustainability of adult education within the Bulgarian branch of the project "Tolerance and Understanding: Our Muslim Neighbours in Europe" needs the elaboration of a specific teaching methodology, which has to contribute to the project's outputs and multiplier effects. Due to the educational and social needs the following major methods and steps may be proposed:

• Intercultural training methods for adult educators in the dimension of inter-religious, interregional and international relations. The interactive training modules should be based on the idea of creating a sense of community among the groups involved. The personal engagement will provide an opportunity for the motivation of the participants in the implementation of the project priorities and objectives on both the local and national levels.
• Ethnological methods. The approaches to the issues of intercultural communication and of social and economic development should take into consideration the local traditions and experience. These dimensions of the methodology will allow to the project to enhance the EU integrative processes preserving the local identity of the region and its population. The ethnological dimension of the methodology can serve also to include the incorporation of case stories in the activities and the publications of the project.
• Translation and publication in the Bulgarian language of a scholarly book on Islamic history and culture. This book will provide an additional mechanism to enlarge the project's multiplier effects because it can be used as a reference book by both the adult educators and their students.
• Preparing a Handbook which should contribute to an improved understanding of Islam and the Christian-Muslim relations in the broader sense of the term.

The Handbook should focus on the following:

• It should be prepared in accordance with the needs of adult education in Bulgaria.
• The Handbook should be prepared in accordance with the scholarly and theoretical achievements of contemporary academic specialisations like Islamic studies, sociology, ethnology and pedagogy.
• The teaching material should be divided into major key-subjects: tolerance, mutual understanding, human rights, local communities, religion, customs etc.
• The Handbook should very carefully take into consideration the specific features of Islam as a doctrine and a social practice.
• It should also include case stories to provide examples of existing "good practice" in the inter-religious and inter-ethnic relations in Bulgaria.
• The Handbook should aim at "easy understanding" for both the educators and the target groups. That is why it should rely on interactive educational methods and include representative examples of intercultural communication which can be easily remembered.
• The Handbook should take as its starting point the major positive achievements existing within the intercultural communication in the country. It should avoid negative practices which could have a counterproductive effect on the intercultural dialogue.

Conclusion

The proposed methodology is focused on communication methods aiming at improving mutual understanding within the Bulgarian community. The methods should be selected to be relevant to the concrete social and cultural problems of Bulgaria as a country of cultural and religious diversity with specific needs, and as part of the wider Euro-integrative processes. In the course of its integration into the EU the development of a democratic society in Bulgaria needs a further enhancement of the intercultural dialogue between its mainstream society and the Muslim community. On both the local and national levels knowledge of "good practices" in solving the problems of cultural diversity remains insufficient, and therefore should be made available.

The analysis of the needs shows that:

• Due to the existing needs the project should focus on the intercultural education rather than only on its religious aspects.
• The project should try to involve the Ministry of Education and Science as well as the Directorate of Religious Affairs belonging to the Ministry Council of Bulgaria.

The needs could be successfully supplied if the project is divided into three main stages:

1. Training of the educators in Sofia.
2. After the training, implementation and approbation of the acquired knowledge in previously selected regions.
3. Final meeting of the educators and evaluation of the results.

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