(2019). Centering the Margins: (Re)Defining Useful Research Evidence through Critical Perspectives. William T. Grant Foundation The William T. Grant Foundation has sought to support new research on ways to promote the use and usefulness of research evidence to improve youth outcomes for over a decade. They have funded numerous studies aimed at identifying and testing strategies to improve the use of research evidence (URE) in policy and practice decisions that affect young people. In the URE focus area, definition is key. They have defined research evidence as a type of evidence derived from applying systematic methods and analyses to address a predefined question or hypothesis. This includes descriptive studies, intervention or evaluation studies, meta-analyses, and cost-effectiveness studies conducted within or outside research organizations. As a human endeavor, research is inextricably implicated in the societal structures and systems that have served to maintain power hierarchies and accept social inequity as a given. Indeed, research has been historically and contemporaneously "(mis)used" to… [PDF]
(2016). A Statement of Values for Our Research on Music in Peacebuilding: A Synthesis of Galtung and Ikeda's Peace Theories. Journal of Peace Education, v13 n3 p218-237. Recent years have seen a growing interest in research linking musicking and peacebuilding, and the establishment of the Min-On Music Research Institute (MOMRI) in 2014 in Tokyo follows this trend. Its mission statement is: "To pursue a multidisciplinary investigation of the potential application of music in peacebuilding activities," in short, "music in peacebuilding." In this article, I attempt to define the values that inspire the MOMRI team in our collective research. I present a synthesis of two conceptual frameworks that offer a vision for peacebuilding: Johan Galtung's "Transcend method" for the nonviolent and creative transformation of conflicts and Daisaku Ikeda's "philosophy of peace" that places the protection of human dignity at the center of all endeavors. The result of this new synthesis is the articulation of four major value concepts that can help us explore the links between music and peacebuilding, namely "Inner… [Direct]
(2010). Reconciliation Sentiment among Victims of Genocide in Rwanda: Conceptualizations, and Relationships with Mental Health. Social Indicators Research, v99 n1 p25-39 Oct. In two studies that were conducted in Rwanda, we have examined the conceptualizations held by people who have experienced genocide with regard to reconciliation sentiment and quantitatively assessed the relationship between reconciliation sentiment and mental health. It was found that the participants have articulated conceptualizations regarding the nature of reconciliation sentiment. These conceptualizations are consistent with the way the genocide victims personally experienced reconciliation. More importantly, one type of reconciliation sentiment (the one corresponding to a renewed capacity to live together, hear each other, work together, and to forge compromises on a daily basis) was associated with mental health…. [Direct]
(2015). The Inner (and Unavoidable?) Violence of Reason: Re-Reading Heidegger via Education. Journal of Philosophy of Education, v49 n3 p435-455 Aug. Since Plato, Western thought has framed knowing as a method within "some realm of what is" and a predetermined "sphere of objects". The roots and the consequences of this stance towards reason and truth were noted by Heidegger, who equates the history of Western thought with the history of metaphysics. Since Plato, truth has relied on definition, hierarchy and mastery. Discourse on the truth begins to be discourse on the limits of things and, thus, on who is able to set these limits and discourse. This dominant position erases its own traces, presents itself as unique and unavoidable, and excludes all other ways of thinking. This exclusion includes violence, and this violence is not merely a philosophical matter. It is written in the history of the West, which is a history that includes conquest, genocide and war. However, we can also identify in Heidegger ways to transcend this inner violence by returning to the originating stance towards truth, namely, truth as… [Direct]
(2016). Investigating the Female Subaltern, Colonial Discourse and False Consciousness: A Spivakian Marxist-Postcolonialist Reading of Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease". Advances in Language and Literary Studies, v7 n5 p222-226 Oct. The present research study attempts to investigate Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease" in terms of Gayatri Spivak Marxist-Post colonialist conceptions of subaltern, colonial discourse and false consciousness. In Postmodernist fiction, there is anxiety that historical concerns such as the scale of violence in the Second World War, the Nazi genocide, the paranoiac politics of the Cold War and European colonialism have made fiction a medium for history. Chinua Achebe's novels, indeed, are manifestation of colonialism and its subsequent impact on the literary text and dominant discourse. In exploring these terms, this dissertation endeavors to closely examine Gayatri Spivak's concept of subaltern in the Chinua Achebe's "Things Fall Apart" and "No Longer at Ease". Furthermore, the present paper demonstrates Spivak's voice to differences: that is, class categorization and marginalized subaltern subjects. By the emergence of… [PDF]
(2010). Within the Box: Cross-Cultural Art Therapy with Survivors of the Rwanda Genocide. Art Therapy: Journal of the American Art Therapy Association, v27 n1 p4-10. This article discusses the creative making of boxes as a cross-cultural art therapy intervention in Kigali, Rwanda, with survivors of the 1994 Rwandan genocide. The box as an art form is particularly applicable with young adult survivors, given the nature of their prodigious trauma and the possibility of posttraumatic stress disorder, as well as their cultural mode of emotional expression. Physical and metaphorical characteristics of the box are examined and discussed with corresponding aspects of the Rwandan culture. Three case examples from the art therapy group demonstrate how the metaphor of the box resonated with young adult genocide survivors and functioned as a catalyst for expression, healing, and reconnection with the self. (Contains 6 figures.)… [PDF]
(2011). War and Peace: Deconstructing the Topic of Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity. Community & Junior College Libraries, v17 n3-4 p107-117. This article examines the topic of genocide and other world conflicts as they are addressed by reference works. Topics of human aggression are treated by multidisciplinary research, and an awareness of the multiple angles of approach aids the process of directing students to sources. The article discusses definitions and standard organizational categories for this subject area, and provides reviews of reference titles for both reference services and collection development…. [Direct]
(2009). A Historical Analysis of Post-Genocide Rwandan Special Education: Lessons Derived and Future Directions. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Tennessee Technological University. The purpose of this postcolonial historical study was to investigate the following: prevalence and nature of disabilities, programs, and services of special education in Rwanda before and after the 1994 genocide; and the utility, effectiveness, and importation of western-based special education models, programs, and services in Rwanda; and lastly to determine lessons that can be gleaned from the experiences of Rwanda to better serve people with disabilities in post-conflict situations. The major premises of this study were: the 1994 Rwandan genocide brought about increased and complex special education needs; special education models, programs, and services in post-genocide regions are characteristically different from the developed world where genocide is less common; and, there are complex relationships among genocide, disability, poverty, social exclusion, and special education in post-genocide regions, such as Rwanda. Historical analysis was used in this inquiry. Eight… [Direct]
(2012). Associations between Prolonged Grief Disorder, Depression, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Anxiety in Rwandan Genocide Survivors. Death Studies, v36 n2 p97-117. A number of studies have demonstrated that symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD) represent a symptom cluster distinct from bereavement-related depression, anxiety, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The aim of the present study was to confirm and extend these findings using the most recent criteria defining PGD. The authors interviewed a total of 400 orphaned or widowed survivors of the Rwandan genocide. The syndromes were strongly linked to each other with a high comorbidity. Principal axis factoring resulted in the emergence of 4 different factors. The symptoms of depression, along with the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral symptoms of PGD, loaded on the first factor, symptoms of anxiety on the second factor, symptoms of PTSD on the third factor, and the separation distress symptoms of PGD on the fourth factor. This indicates that the concept of PGD includes symptoms that are conceptually related to depression. However, the symptom cluster of separation distress… [Direct]
(2013). Dreams of the Dead among Cambodian Refugees: Frequency, Phenomenology, and Relationship to Complicated Grief and Posttraumatic Stress Disorder. Death Studies, v37 n8 p750-767. The authors investigated the importance of dreams of the deceased in the experiencing of prolonged grief (PG) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among Cambodian refugees who survived the Pol Pot genocide (1975-1979). Such dreams were frequent in the last month (52% of those surveyed), and most often involved a relative who died in the Pol Pot period. Past month frequency was correlated with PG severity ("r" = 0.59) and PTSD severity ("r" = 0.52). The dreams were almost always deeply upsetting because the dreams indicated the deceased to be in a difficult spiritual state. Dreams of the deceased as a central component of PG and PTSD among Cambodian refugees is discussed. (Contains 3 figures and 2 tables.)… [Direct]
(2016). Cambodian Inclusive Education for Vulnerable Populations: Toward an Ecological Perspective Policy. Journal of International Special Needs Education, v19 n1 p3-14 Apr. Cambodia is a dynamic country in transition and its population is committed to improve an economic, social, and educational system (Chandler, 2008). An imperial legacy and traumatic history involving a genocide specifically targeted at Cambodian intellectual elite continue to affect Cambodian schools with the most impact being felt by vulnerable populations including children from poverty and children with disabilities. An ecological framework of childhood development (Bronfenbrenner, 1992) is used to analyze interviews, classroom observations, and student work samples. School directors (3), teachers (3), students (2), and one parent from three public schools in three distinct provinces participated in this study, providing a broad geopolitical range of Cambodia. First, a review of Cambodian education and special education policy as well as international guidelines for inclusive education is provided. Next, a rationalization for including students with disabilities and children from… [Direct]
(2013). The Ethics of Teaching Disturbing Pasts: Reader Response, Historical English Education, v45 n3 p284-308 Apr. A set of especially complicated ethical relationships becomes visible in literary study when the unspeakable atrocity of state-sponsored genocide is part of the story, as it is in many wartime texts taught in secondary English classrooms. What then is the nature of an English teacher's obligation to the detailed particularity of the past and to those who endured that past when encouraging students' individual and collaborative responses to texts in the present (or in the future)? I explore the broad ethical question by discussing specific difficulties presented by the case of Holocaust pedagogy. The guiding purpose of the discussion is to explore a set of more general questions about the ethical dimensions of literary engagement in English–and specifically engagement with texts about disturbing pasts.(Contains 10 notes and 1 figure.)… [Direct]
(2014). Conflict, Reconciliation and Peace Education: Moving Burundi toward a Sustainable Future. Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education. Routledge Research in International and Comparative Education When the September 11, 2001 attacks in the United States occurred–causing that nation to wage wars of revenge in Afghanistan and Iraq–the people of Burundi were recovering from nearly forty years of violence, genocide and civil wars that had killed nearly one million and produced another million refugees. Here in this small East African nation, one of the four poorest nations on earth, however, was a desire for reconciliation–not revenge–and it still runs deep today. The University of Ngozi in northern Burundi was created in 1999 and is now dedicated to peace, reconciliation and sustainable development. People in this region tell remarkable stories of tragedy and recovery amid these horrors. Their stories can inspire others to preserve their humanity and resist the urge to continue the violence, focusing instead on forgiveness, reconciliation and a better way forward. This volume presents case study analysis while pointing to the promise of a new kind of education that is… [Direct]
(2012). Ethnic Cleansing, Yes; Genocide, No: Textbook Coverage of Ethnic Violence in the Former Yugoslavia. Clearing House: A Journal of Educational Strategies, Issues and Ideas, v85 n5 p167-173. The ethnic violence that occurred in the former Yugoslavia during the mid-1990s has become one of the defining events of recent history. As such, today's students should develop an awareness of the history of that situation and its implications for contemporary society. Because textbooks provide the structure of most high school history courses, an analysis of textbook coverage of the Bosnian and Kosovar situations should provide critical information regarding what students learn about the events that occurred in those regions. This article analyzes how six frequently used history textbooks cover ethnic violence in the former Yugoslavia, thus providing data regarding what students learn about those situations. (Contains 2 notes.)… [Direct]
(2010). Educational Genocide: A Plague on Our Children. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. Across the country educational policies and practices are killing the students' desire to learn and teachers' passion to teach. The central theme of this book is that high-stakes testing is having a critically deleterious effect on students. The fallout impacts parents, teachers, schools, districts and states. Horace the author uses language and supporting evidence that is clear and relatable to the reader. Rarely is the topic of teacher care and concern for students ever embedded in works on educational theory and practice, but here it is championed as the driving force for change, exposing the causes and chronicling the effects of educational malfeasance. Contents include: (1) Foreword; (2) Introduction; (3) Are All Things Measurable?; (4) Objectivity Is Subjective; (5) Test Score Addiction; (6) Accountability Is Corrupted; (7) Education for Profit; (8) Oppressing Freedom; (9) Student Anguish; (10) A Culture of Fear; (11) Student, Teacher, and Parent Redress; (12) No Excuses, Just… [Direct]