(2014). "We Must Look at Both Sides"–But a Denial of Genocide Too?: Difficult Moments on Controversial Issues in the Classroom. Critical Inquiry in Language Studies, v11 n4 p225-251. In language education, controversial issues sometimes emerge in either planned or spontaneous ways. Based on a classroom episode, this article illuminates dilemmas of approaching controversial issues for teachers who embrace critical pedagogy. A review of interdisciplinary literature demonstrates a general agreement on presenting balanced views while exhibiting disagreements on teacher neutrality. While advocates of critical pedagogy may not support maintaining an absolute balance or teacher neutrality, their progressive stance, just as a conservative one, may lead to the imposition of ideas. Although a poststructuralist approach, which views all knowledge as legitimate for examination with contextual relativity, might be a solution, it sometimes contradicts support for social justice. This paradox parallels a rift between theory and practice as seen in the criticisms of postcolonial/poststructuralist theory. It suggests that a focus on not only open attitudes and knowledge… [Direct]
(2013). History, Music and Law: Commemorative Cross-Curricularity. Teaching History, n153 p56-59 Dec. James Woodcock continues his theme from "Teaching History 138" about the difference between superficial, thematic cross-curricularity and much more rigorous interdisciplinarity. His concern is to retain rather than compromise the integrity of the subject disciplines. Woodcock argues that interdisciplinary working adds value to learning only when the knowledge and the distinctive truth quests of each discipline are understood adequately by all partners. This makes management of crosscurricularity much more than a practical or administrative management task. It requires a depth of disciplinary appreciation in the senior curricular leaders and an ability to lead others in disciplinary conversation. Here Woodcock illustrates this argument in a short summary of an interaction between history, music and law, where each explored the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and each built on the others' disciplinary concerns while retaining their own disciplinary goals and standards…. [Direct]
(2017). Trump Is the Mask Torn off of Who We White People Are and Have Been. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), v30 n10 p1053-1059. Currently, most white people seem to think that Trump and his values are some cruel, insane, accidental distortion of US society. In counterpoint to this view, I argue that he is not. Instead, Trump is mainly the "liberal" or "conservative" mask torn off of who we white people have been and what we have allowed in our name. This country was built on a foundation of the genocide of about 80% of the Indigenous People and the theft of their land. We followed this with Black slavery, which provided money and power in both the North and the South to make the US a powerful nation worldwide. Furthermore, though we fought a civil war over slavery, within 20 years, power in the South was returned to the slave masters, and Jim Crow was born, which continued the psycho-social-cultural and economic exploitation of blacks and which we followed with the New Jim Crow. We also stole the land of the Indigenous People of the Southwest by conducting an imperial war and breaking… [Direct]
(2012). Textbook Coverage of the Destruction of the Armenians. Journal of International Social Studies, v2 n1 p26-37 Spr-Sum. Despite its importance as the event establishing that the 20th century would be known as "the age of genocide," the destruction of the Armenians that occurred between the mid-1890s and 1923 is given marginal coverage in contemporary U. S. high school history textbooks. This article critiques that coverage and identifies the overall flow of the information that is presented while noting several instances in which information is presented in an underdeveloped, confusing, or contradictory manner. It then makes several suggestions about topics that should be included in an expanded coverage of the Armenian situation, thus ensuring that students develop accurate perspectives about this critical event…. [PDF]
(2012). Land-Grant Extension as a Global Endeavor: Connecting Knowledge and International Development. Review of Higher Education, v36 n1 p91-124 Fall. Two land-grant institutions, Michigan State University (MSU) and Texas A&M University (TAMU) used funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to partner with the National University of Rwanda (NUR) to support the agriculture faculty in Rwanda following the 1994 genocide. In addition, the three institutions implemented key elements of the land-grant model (extension and outreach) for coffee farmers. Among positive results were training new faculty, increased product quality, and higher income for the farmers. These successes illustrate elements of the land-grant model and university partnerships that can be leveraged to reduce poverty and increase public benefits. (Contains 2 tables and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2013). Towards a Pedagogy of Listening: Teaching and Learning from Life Stories of Human Rights Violations. Journal of Curriculum Studies, v45 n6 p768-789. In response to the task of designing curriculum that helps youth engage thoughtfully with digital stories of human rights violations, the authors articulate the central tenets of a pedagogy of listening that draws upon elements of oral history, concepts of witnessing and testimony, the work on listening of Dewey, Freire and Rinaldi and the philosophy of listening. These tenets are explored in relation to the five curricular units for secondary schools that they produced as part of a large oral history project that documents the life stories of Montrealers displaced by war, genocide and other human rights violation. The pedagogy of listening aims to: promote more democratic relations, build a listening community and foster close and attentive listening, develop an ethics of listening, support critical reflexive practice and movement towards social action, explore the multitude of listenings, explore listening as curation and foster students' historical imaginations…. [Direct]
(2008). Dimensions of Genocide: The Circumplex Model Meets Violentization Theory. Qualitative Report, v13 n4 p605-629 Dec. The purpose of this study is to examine the use of Olson's (1995, 2000) family therapy based circumplex model and Athens' (1992, 1997, 2003) violentization theory in explaining genocide. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 is used as a case study. Published texts, including interviews with perpetrators, research reports, human rights reports, and court transcripts were analyzed. The use of both theories was consistent with the data and resulted in a greater understanding of the genocide. Rwanda moved to a rigidly enmeshed society during the genocide with the perpetrators going through the violentization process. Suggestions for further research are provided…. [Direct]
(2016). Moving beyond a Destructive Past to a Decolonised and Inclusive Future: The Role of "Ubuntu"-Style Education in Providing Culturally Relevant Pedagogy for Namibia. International Review of Education, v62 n1 p45-62 Feb. Namibia has one of the most dehumanising and destructive colonial pasts of any nation in Africa, or, for that matter, the world. Before colonisation, the area now known as Namibia was home to diverse cultural groups. The successive colonial regimes of Germany and South Africa inflicted genocide, brutality and apartheid on the region. Namibia finally fought for and won its independence in 1990–over three decades after Ghana became the first independent sub-Saharan nation in 1957. Today, Namibia strives to leave behind its troubled past and harness the power of education to provide greater equality of opportunity and quality of life for all of its citizens. The concept of "ubuntu," with its emphasis on inclusiveness, equity and equality, is central to Namibia's pursuit of this goal. Significant challenges stand in its way, including extreme poverty, an emerging economy struggling with drought and a competitive world market, and a populace with multiple mother tongues and… [Direct]
(2018). Truthing: An Ontology of Living an Ethic of "Shakihi" (Love) and "Ikkimmapiiyipitsiin" (Sanctified Kindness). Canadian Social Studies, v50 n2 p39-44. I remember the exact day when I received the email inviting me to participate on a panel speaking to the notion of "post-truth," and how perplexed I was by the idea that we, in Canada, might be post-truth or that truth might be dead (Scherer, 2017). Post-truth is defined as "relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief" [ CITATION Oxf16 \l 4105 ], thus meaning that facts are deemed less important or even irrelevant. The day I received the email was sunny and warm and I was at the park with my dog. I took a few extra laps that afternoon, mulling over what this post-truth might mean and the implications this might have on me, as a Michif-M√©tis woman, and main stream education system. A scroll of questions began to flow through my mind as I tried to align the meaning of post-truth and my own understanding of truth as a process of coming to know. I first… [PDF]
(2010). Measuring Holocaust Knowledge and Its Impact: A Canadian Case Study. Prospects: Quarterly Review of Comparative Education, v40 n2 p273-287 Jun. This article examines the responses of some 1,500 Canadians to a public opinion survey on knowledge of the Holocaust, awareness of genocide, and attitudes towards discrimination and diversity. Based on one of the most detailed surveys conducted to date on Holocaust knowledge, the study found strong correlations between greater reported Holocaust knowledge and concern over genocide, as well as greater recognition of anti-Semitism as a societal problem. Greater reported Holocaust knowledge did not, however, correlate consistently with greater openness towards selected dimensions of diversity. This counterintuitive phenomenon can likely be attributed to what respondents have learned about diversity and the limits of the effect of Holocaust education in this regard. Hence, further research is required on the relationship between the two. Finally, going forward, a case is made for a global assessment of levels of Holocaust knowledge…. [Direct]
(2010). Examples of Best Practice 1. Teaching a Holocaust Case Study in a Post-Conflict Environment: Education as Part of Violence, Reconstruction and Repair. Intercultural Education, v21 suppl 1 pS71-S77. This article presents a brief synopsis of one example of the Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO) approach to pedagogy and in-depth study of the events leading to the Holocaust. This particular approach puts the focus on the decisions made by individuals, communities and nations who contributed to that genocide or, in very exceptional cases, resisted it or protected victims. The program described provides opportunities for teachers and students in countries emerging from mass violence to make connections to their own lives and histories as well as to the history of the Holocaust itself. Through in-depth study of cases of mass atrocity and genocide, FHAO engages teachers and students in a critical exploration of the steps that led to full-scale violence and destruction, as well as strategies for prevention and positive participation to sustain democracy. (Contains 3 notes.)… [Direct]
(2015). Teaching Atrocities: The Holocaust and Unit 731 in the Secondary School Curriculum. History Teacher, v48 n2 p271-294 Feb. Educators at the secondary school level who teach History, or Integrated Social Studies more broadly, may be expected to possess at least some passing knowledge of the Holocaust, the genocide perpetrated against European Jews by Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Yet, when it comes to the Pacific War and Japanese war crimes and atrocities committed in Asia, significantly less attention and coverage are given. An argument can be made, however, that the scope of Japanese brutality was no less atrocious than that of the Nazis. In particular, Japanese physicians and medical research scientists of the Imperial Japanese Army's Unit 731 conducted gruesome and horrifying experiments on live human beings at a remote laboratory and death camp in China's northeast. This essay attempts to explain why discussion of Unit 731 has been missing from the general coverage of World War II in the secondary school curriculum and makes an argument for its inclusion. The authors posit that the primary… [PDF]
(2011). Roots and Routes: Road from Home to America, Middle East and Diaspora, about Being Armenian Genocide Female Survivor. International Education Studies, v4 n3 p66-71 Aug. Adolf Hitler, on August 22, 1939 stated, "I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women, and children belonging to the Polish-speaking race. It is only in this manner that we can acquire the vital territory which we need. After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Armenians?" (Kherdian, 1979). Armenia is a land which has been ravaged by war on far too many occasions. Other nations keep turning it into a battlefield and tearing it apart. Armenian people have survived for many generations and their stories are told and retold during the hard winters. Armenians' survived just as Armenia and Armenian culture have survived (Downing, 1972). Therefore, diverse life experience, traditions, histories, values, world views, and perspectives of the diverse cultural groups make up a society and preserve culture (Mendoza and Reese, 2001). In this study, two Armenian books "The Road from Home" and "The Knock at the… [PDF]
(2013). Learning from the Past, Building for the Future. Journal of Museum Education, v38 n3 p298-307 Oct. The Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center (IHMEC) strives to engage youth as citizens through "Make a Difference! The Harvey L. Miller Family Youth Exhibition." Teaching about the Holocaust is complex and challenging work. Holocaust education is mandated in Illinois elementary and high schools, yet the Museum finds that many teachers are unsure of how to teach such sensitive and complex topics; such as civics, character education, the Holocaust, human behavior, and genocide. In fact, direct teaching of the Holocaust is not recommended by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum until 7th grade or later due to the level of emotional preparation needed to study this material. Thus, IHMEC takes a spiraled approach to learning, in which younger children's emotional preparation is supported through more basic studies of civic engagement, creating character and understanding human behavior resulting in activities that the children can carry out on a day-to-day basis…. [Direct]
(2012). Christian Higher Education in Africa. Christian Higher Education, v11 n5 p349-352. Africa is commonly seen as a continent of rampant political corruption, poverty, violence, and ethnic conflicts rising at times to genocide. There is some truth in this view although the real picture is diverse, with the situation varying considerably from country to country. However, the more important question seldom asked is: What are the causes of this situation? The frequent assumption is that the causes relate to internal factors that have something to do with the African people and their leaders. While the stories differ in detail, the role of external factors is common, except perhaps for South Africa, which has a very different history. This article gives a glimpse of the hope that is coming from the united endeavours of Africans in the area of higher education…. [Direct]