The seminar will be co-ordinated by a working group from the Preschools and Infant-toddler Centers - Istituzione of the Municipality of Reggio Emilia , Reggio Children and Fondazione Reggio Children - Centro Loris Malaguzzi.
Documentation will be presented from infant-toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia.
Speakers:
Stefano Moriggi
Science Philosopher, Researcher at Milano-Bicocca University, “R. Massa” Department of Human Sciences for Education
Lester Irabinna Rigney
Professor of Education at the University of South Australia, member of the Scientific Committee of the Reggio Children – Loris Malaguzzi Centre Foundation
Margherita Graglia
Psychotherapist, sexologist and educator, Co-ordinator of Reggio Emilia’s municipal Inter-institution table for contrasting LGBTQI+ negativity
Maria Donata Panforti
Jurist, Professor of Comparative Law at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Department of Education and Human Sciences
Giorgio Vallortigara
Nueroscientist, Professor of Neurosciences at the University of Trento, Centre for Mind-Brain Sciences
The keystone all this thinking starts from is the end of unassailable models… in the same way as the image of a human being who is no longer separated, no longer opposed, no longer divided, but fused with the dimensions, and meanings of nature.
Loris Malaguzzi 1988
The right to have rights definines the dignity of human beings, the dimension of equality and of democracy. Freedom and rights have accompanied the birth of modern ideas of citizenship, founded on the recognition of possibility, given to each person (to every person without distinction, of gender, sexual orientation, nationality, language, religion, political opinion, personal conditions or social conditions) to be an active part of humanity and its history.
The infant toddler centres and preschools of Reggio Emilia are founded on rights: first among these is the right to citizenship, which means the right to knowledge, to participation, to “words”, all rights that define the quality of an educational context. There is a new idea of child (and of childhood) as bearing rights, before needs. Moreover the infant-toddler centres and preschools are founded on the inter-dependence and indivisibility of these rights: in children, in parents and in teachers
Researching the identity and the essence of human beings, and the relationship humans/nature has always been at the centre of philosophical thinking and biological, social and psychology sciences. Their theories have offered different, and very often completely antithetical visions.
Today more than ever we need to open up new perspectives, giving value to words and semantics, through the co-construction of theories and meanings. Manichean distinctions no longer underly the idea of who a human being is; nuances, bordercrossings, pluralist identities, asking for recognition and enriching ideas of humanity are increasingly emerging in the public arena. In order to research an ecological vision of human beings, an ever-changing, multiple identity which is the source and the subject of rights, it is necessary to create dialogue and interaction between different perspectives and points of view.
The paradigm of complexity, the centrality of questions, and a constant critical thinking on more or less sustainable relations with the whole world, are the perspective we start with in looking for multiple gazes (environmental, social, cultural, anthropological, economical, political) with which to view human beings and their relations with other living beings. An ecological approach to a view of the world and living things, which researches and explores connections with things and between things, the meaning of the cultural contexts we belong to, in a circular dynamic between the parts, and a dimension of co-evolution, with declinations of belonging and difference.
Starting from these premises, the seminar would like to explore certain themes more deeply:
Which fields are being explored by philosophyin the search for contemporary definitions of human beings, and what dialogues are there with other fields of knowledge? How is philosophical elaboration and the fields it investigates changing?
What contribution do the neurosciences offer a culture of inter-dependency and co-joining between living beings?
How can the relationship between philosophy and the neurosciences suggest ways of getting beyond anthropocentrism, and positioning human beings in more planetary interconnections?
Rights are being attacked today, seemingly a luxury we cannot afford in times of economic crisis. What norms for rights, including children’s rights, are present today in European and Italian legislation? What points require a more public debate?
Are rights always inclusive? What is the welcome for new subjectivities asking to be recognised today, and what conditions are necessary for truly inclusive rights?
Geographical and cultural communitiesa are asking for public recognition and for separate spaces in order to maintaint their identitity and traditions. Multi-ethnic societies are dealing with the theme of difference and belonging. What responses today might be capable of avoiding the potential counterpositions and separations?
If difference is a value, inequality is an injustice offending the dignity of human beings. Globalisation and the hegemony of markets, and loss of mediation in politics, are increasing new forms of poverty. Differences in accessing opportunitites create social impoverishment and individual suffering. How can we elaborate more complex visions capable of suggesting new forms of equilibrium between economy and politics, that also go in the direction of social and environmental sustainability together?
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The Seminar will be in Italian and English with simultaneous translation.
Reggio Emilia’s municipal infant-toddler centres and preschools will be open for visits following the Friday seminars.
Seminars will be held at the same time. It is possible to register only to a seminar.