Impact | Asking questions and listening to another person's story

In the coming weeks the nominees for the Ben Feringa Impact Award 2025 will introduce themselves and their impactful research or project. The winners will be announced on 13 May. This week: Makke Marij Bakker, Annika Zweep, Adriaan Beelaerts van Blokland & Lisette Kamping nominated for their project Collective Memory Dialogue Cards.

Who are you?

We are Makke Marij, Lisette, Adriaan, and Annika. All of us study at the Faculty of Philosophy.

What can you tell us about your project?

We developed the dialogue cards after taking the course Filosofie Buiten de Muren (Philosophy Outside the Walls), where Philosophy students research and discover how philosophers can contribute, even modestly, towards putting societal issues on the agenda.

The issue of our project was provided by the Municipality of Groningen, which at the time was investigating ways to commemorate the history of slavery in Groningen. Our central question was how we could let a group of people with opposing backgrounds and a different past commemorate together.

Meetings with the Municipality of Groningen about the desire to establish a memorial revealed two facets. The meetings with the involved parties were highly emotionally charged and the different backgrounds, perspectives, and desires did not align. This brought the conversation on the progress of the desired monument to a standstill.

This is why, on the one hand, our project focuses on promoting sensible conversations about a history that, although factually shared, is told differently in different groups in society. On the other hand, it focuses on creating awareness of the complex interaction between relating history, the collective memory, and shaping group identity. This culminated in the dialogue cards as the outcome of the project.

Which aspects of this project generate impact?

The Groningen monument is a specific case of a larger problem that seems to almost permeate our society: the societal debate is hardening. It is not without reason that polarization was the word of the year 2024. The skill to have a sensible conversation seems to be underdeveloped; what does a sensible conversation constitute? According to us, it starts with asking questions and listening to the other person's story.

Our dialogue cards help to develop this crucial skill. Because we interpreted the question of the Municipality of Groningen in a wider sense, as a question about identity and collective memory, our product can also be used in places like schools or museums, so adolescents as well as adults can practise and internalize this skill.

What was your personal motivation to do this project?

An important lesson we learn studying philosophy is that when you want to learn to think independently, you are not actually doing this on your own. Philosophy is a way of thinking about the world. This also includes listening and being open to opinions and arguments you might not find convincing at first. It is crucial to ask the right questions in this. In fact, it is about having a sensible conversation with someone you might completely disagree with. In a sensible conversation, the key elements are nuance and arguments, and it is not about passing judgement or whoever talks the loudest.

Polarization and the hardening of society are not abstract problems but concepts that relate to our personal, day-to-day lives as well. Our motivation is very clear: ensuring that conversations do not drive us apart but bring us closer together.