Aims and Objectives
This project aims to foster an exchange between English and German speakers on such questions of belonging, Heimat and citizenship. It will involve academics in theology and ecology, practitioners in regeneration and landscape architecture and those with commitments to place among communities of the faithful in the Christian churches of both countries.
The particular objectives are: to foster an inter-disciplinary engagement on belonging and Heimat through electronic exchange of existing research material; to organise workshops in the UK and Germany for discussion stimulated by the exchange; and to publish a book based on the discussions.
The more permanent legacy will be a deeper mutual respect and understanding of the various interpretations of belonging and Heimat and a sense that we might negotiate shared ways of belonging together in intellectual understanding and faith so as to better secure the future.
The Heimat & Belonging Project has developed from research on a theological critique of sustainability carried out by Professor John Rodwell for the M.B. Reckitt Trust , a charitable foundation that funds work challenging social and economic assumptions and releasing energy for change.