Co-Producing Tolerant Futures through Ancient Identities

Informed by the original 'Ancient Identities in Modern Britain' (AI) grant (AH/N006151/1), this Follow-on project will support the development of tolerance in British society, in partnership with eight Iron Age and Roman Heritage (IARH) museums and sites located in both rural and urban areas of England, Scotland and Wales.

Tolerance is defined as a three-dimensional concept entailing 'acceptance of, respect for and appreciation of difference' (Hjerm 2019). AI research exposed binary uses of Iron Age and Roman Heritages (IARHs) aimed at rejecting difference and forging hostile ideas of others framed on the basis of ethnicity, culture and race. It also showed how formal and informal education is frequently identified by people as the reference point for such exclusive uses of IARHs. It is therefore of particular concern that formal and free-choice learning environments across Britain frequently continue to present the Iron Age and Roman past through dichotomies and caricatures, for example by contrasting militarised and violent, but civilising, mobile and multicultural Romans to spiritual, peaceful, environmentally sustainable and indigenous, but barbaric and rebellious Iron Age people. When we shared these findings from the AI project, a number of heritage and education professionals and members of the public reported that the project results had prompted them to begin rethinking their everyday lives and work practices. Consequently, two clear needs for intervention emerged: (1) increasing public understanding of the repertoire of symbols that are leveraged to power divisive social narratives and proposing alternatives that can provoke attitudinal shifts; and (2) aiding heritage curators and educators to create learning experiences for current and future generations of children that contribute to building a tolerant society.

The Follow-on project will address these needs and co-produce tolerant futures through ancient identities by pursuing two newly emerged pathways to impact, targeted at two new audiences. The first pathway consists of creating, displaying and widely disseminating a digital artwork to raise public awareness of the divisive ways in which IARHs have been mobilised in the public sphere over the past ten years, in order to challenge them and recognise opportunities for inclusivity and tolerance. During the lifetime of the project, this pathway will have impact on the new audience of at least 15,000 adults (18+) in Britain including those who do not visit IARH museums and sites as well as those who do, and at least 30,000 more in the two years following the end of the grant. The second pathway is aimed at generating impact on the new audience of 7-11 year old children in England, Scotland and Wales, both in the immediate and longer-term future. It consists of co-producing and widely disseminating digital storytelling resources that can help heritage and history educators to enable non-binary and nuanced early engagements with IARHs which encourage children to open up to and reflect on the themes of otherness and tolerance. The project's legacy will be ensured through the creation a cross-sector network of heritage and education professionals with capacity to support the future development of critical interpretations of IAHRs across England, Scotland and Wales. This will ensure that the two pathways live beyond the end of the Follow-on grant.