ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on how Iona and Peter Opie’s books add richness to the process of discovery. Personal family traditions are placed within the broader sweep of history and contexts of traditional play which encourages participants to accept and enjoy their similarities and differences. Simon Lichman and Rivanna Miller have worked in the field of co-existence education since 1991 at the Centre for Creativity in Education and Cultural Heritage, a non-profit-making organisation based in Jerusalem, Israel. The chapter describes how the work of Iona and Peter Opie enriches an applied folklore programme that brings together Arab and Jewish communities, and how their research contributes to our use of folklore as a tool for multicultural and co-existence education. The Arab and Jewish students in our teacher training and enrichment courses are similarly exposed to the wide range of cultural backgrounds of their own and each other’s families.
