Ri-conciliazione. Dalle ferite all’abbraccio. L’esperienza di Little Eden in Sudafrica

The paper would like to show the outcomes of a research held by the Department of Human and Social Science of University of Bergamo, in collaboration with Domitilla Rota Hyams ONLUS. The project aims, first, to chart the South African institution that the ONLUS supports, called Little Eden Society for the Care of Persons with Mental Handicap (established in 1967), in terms of its history and organization. Secondary, thanks to an abroad stay, the research focuses on the care and educational practices acted in Little Eden to face intellectual disability. These two perspectives give the opportunity to reflect on the theoretical pedagogical background (explicit and implicit) that moves those educational practices, in relation with the social, cultural and political context of “new” South Africa post apartheid.