(2023). Unmasking Transnational Hindutva: Activist Knowledge Practices from the Indian Diaspora. Globalisation, Societies and Education, v21 n5 p720-733. Activist research that conducts social investigation and analysis can be the key first step in organising at the grassroots and movement building. This paper critically analyses two research reports titled 'The Foreign Exchange of Hate' (Sabrang/Coalition against Genocide 2002) and 'In Bad Faith' (Awaaz South Asia Watch 2004) produced by progressive activists situated in progressive mobilisations in the North American and British South Asian diasporas. This research was amongst the earliest to systematically investigate and expose the transnational networks and activities of Hindu nationalism. Drawing on the scholarship of Aziz Choudry, I discuss key influences, goals, impacts and costs of these activist research projects. The analysis offer situated insights into the relationship between activist research and movement-building in the context of collective resistance to Hindu nationalism in Eurocentric, liberal multicultural societies…. [Direct]
(2018). Secondary Social Studies Curriculum in Post-Genocide Rwanda as Mediated by UNESCO and Post-Holocaust Education in Germany. ProQuest LLC, Ph.D. Dissertation, Lehigh University. This research examines the interaction between international governmental organizations (IGOs) and national governments around the development of secondary social studies curriculum in post-genocide contexts, with a special focus on the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization's (UNESCO) involvement with secondary social studies curriculum development in Rwanda. This research also explores the existence and development of a set of international norms and expectations regarding the development of curriculum in post-genocide contexts, a model which can be traced back to Germany following World War II, including both post-Holocaust education in Germany and Holocaust education more broadly. UNESCO, which plays a significant role in the redevelopment of the education systems in developing and post-genocide contexts, uses its international position to influence national level education policy development. Using a conceptual framework that draws on previously used… [Direct]
(2018). Banal and Fetishized Evil: Implicating Ordinary Folk in Genocide Education. Journal of International Social Studies, v8 n2 p160-171. Genocide education would benefit from a renewed focus on how ordinary people perpetuate atrocities more so than villains. Ordinary evil is often understood via Hannah Arendt's political theory, which explains how people can contribute thoughtlessly to genocide. This "banality of evil" explains an important aspect of human behavior, especially when understood in conjunction with Elizabeth Minnich's work on intensive and extensive evil, as well as with Stanley Milgram's research on obedience. Yet Arendt, Minnich, and Milgram do not explain ordinary people who become eager killers. Thus, the addition of Ernest Becker's idea of the fetishization of evil is important. Students would benefit from engaging with Arendt and Becker's theories in tandem, as well as from learning about disobedience and ways to expand fetishized perceptions of others…. [PDF]
(2019). Humanity Education as a School-Based Intervention for Healing. Journal of School-Based Counseling Policy and Evaluation, v1 n3 Article 2 p62-70 Dec. Violence is a large-scale public health concern that impacts the mental health of people all over the world. There is a critical need for early intervention strategies that prevent violence and foster humanity and well-being. Traditional approaches to violence prevention focus on inhibiting antisocial behavior, overlooking the benefits of promoting positive values, humanity, and prosocial behavior. Aegis Trust is an international organization dedicated to the prevention of future genocides and promotion of humanity globally through education. It developed an educational methodology that has shown evidence of effectiveness in recovering from trauma, promoting humanity, and preventing violence in post-genocide Rwanda and other countries that have experienced conflict. This program, known as Champion Humanity (CH), was found to increase positive behaviors and attitudes. The purpose of this article is to describe the core principles of Humanity Education, the CH program, and propose its… [PDF]
(2019). Critical Ethnic Studies in Education: Revisiting Colonialism, Genocide, and US Imperialism–An Introduction. Equity & Excellence in Education, v52 n2-3 p216-218. A critical ethnic studies in education is a way to extend or push notions of equity and justice in education. It is necessary given the deleterious impact of neoliberal policies and practices that support an a historical, apolitical, and non-materialist understanding of history. The four articles in this symposium offer a critical comparative studies in education and provide a basis of analysis around themes like genocide, colonialism, and imperialism…. [Direct]
(2024). Leading Educational Reconstruction in Post-Conflict Cambodia: Perspectives of Primary School Leaders. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, v52 n1 p189-207. Despite the growing academic interests in educational leadership recently, hardly any of it has focused on post-conflict situations. This paper seeks to generate an understanding of the perspectives of primary school leaders in post-conflict Cambodia on the issues they face in the process of educational reconstruction and development and the strategies they adopt to deal with those issues. A qualitative research approach within the interpretivist paradigm was adopted to guide the study. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect data with 20 primary school leaders. Data were analysed using grounded theory data analysis methods, namely, open coding and analytic induction. The study argues that while there has been substantial progress in educational reconstruction generally in post-conflict Cambodia, primary school leaders face multiple issues in their day-to-day work. Some of the issues may be specifically attributed to the legacies of armed conflict and genocide while others… [Direct]
(2023). Risky Teaching: Developing a Trauma-Informed Pedagogy for Higher Education. Teaching in Higher Education, v28 n1 p180-194. This paper presents the results of a three-year study of the impacts of teaching about the experiences of trauma on students studying to become teachers. The project's overarching objective is to develop an effective trauma-informed pedagogy that can support students who learn about the experiences of the 'Stolen Generations', the Holocaust, wars, and genocide. Following a presentation from a member of the Stolen Generations, students reported strong emotional impacts, indicating heightened arousal and defensive dissociation. Results indicated that effective teaching about the experiences of trauma must be accompanied by management processes that will mitigate the potential detrimental emotional impacts on such learning. We conclude that the reflexive power of narrative can implicate the student in her or his own life, as well as in the lives of others. Of critical importance is a recognition that both Indigenous and non-Indigenous lives are bound to one another in contemporary… [Direct]
(2023). When Education in Emergencies Fails: Learners' Motivations for a Second Chance Education in Post-Conflict Rwanda. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, v53 n2 p217-234. There has been an increasing effort to deliver Education in Emergencies (EiE) from the international community since the 1990s because of protracted humanitarian situations. Despite the growing attention to EiE, many children in conflict-affected situations miss schooling without having the opportunity to receive a second chance education (SCE), or voice their perspectives on this situation. Given the gaps within EiE, this paper focuses on the largely overlooked issue of out-of-school children and young people resulting from conflict, and potential for an SCE. Based on 23 life story interviews conducted in Rwanda, it examines how learners in post-genocide Rwanda made sense of the complex education journey that they undertook and their motivations for an SCE. The research demonstrates various motivations, including both intrinsic and extrinsic, using self-determination theory. It provides learners' perspectives on education that are currently missing in the EiE field…. [Direct]
(2022). At the Beginning of the Curve: Social Work Education and Indigenous Content. Journal of Social Work Education, v58 n1 p96-110. Canada, like other nations with colonizing histories and ongoing colonial practices marginalizing Indigenous peoples, is searching for pathways leading to reconciliation. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission called on the social work profession to engage in the decolonization of social work structures and processes, including how it educates entrants in the profession. This article reports on a project that used focus groups with social work faculty in two Canadian universities to explore perceptions about the ways change might be accomplished. From faculty viewpoints, four main themes are identified: coming to know about colonization, assimilation, and genocide; struggling with whose story it is to tell; questioning individual and collective responsibilities in decolonizing social work; and accepting truth first and trauma stories for reconciliation…. [Direct]
(2019). The Politics of Evil: Teaching a Political Violence Film Course. History Teacher, v52 n3 p499-522 May. Joe Dunn has been a college professor for over forty-eight years. He teaches courses on the Vietnam War, the Cold War, Middle East conflict, and Revolutions and Totalitarian Regimes. The number of wars has increased, and his courses address other areas of national security, terrorism, and political tyranny as well. The course discussed here had its origins in a 2008 offering specifically on genocide. His students were/are at least aware of the Nazi Holocaust, although, despite focus on the subject in recent decades in the public schools, deeper understanding remains superficial. They remain largely oblivious about the Armenian, Cambodian, Balkan, and Sudanese genocides. Over the last decade, his course grew beyond genocide to include other areas of violence as well, and films became more and more central in the pedagogy. The model outlined in the article is a films course. A whole course could be offered on any one of the topics covered in the films, but on the eternal issue of… [PDF]
(2024). Participating in Professional Development Programmes or Learning in the Wild? Understanding the Learning Ecologies of Holocaust Educators. British Educational Research Journal, v50 n1 p307-330. Holocaust education, which refers to the teaching and learning of the Holocaust–the systematic genocide of six million Jews by Nazi Germany and its collaborators during World War II–is an essential component of history and social studies education in many countries. Its primary aim is to raise awareness of the Holocaust, promote understanding of its historical significance and develop critical thinking and empathy in students. However, despite the increasing specialisation and institutionalisation of Holocaust education, there is still a lack of understanding of how Holocaust educators acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to teach the subject effectively. This study aims to explore the learning ecologies of a group of Italian Holocaust educators, focusing on their motivations for initial and lifelong learning and their learning practices. Ten in-depth interviews were conducted with teachers from different subject areas. The results showed that participants were driven by… [Direct]
(2017). Aa Ah Nak. Cogent Education, v4 n1 Article 1390821. In this article, Aa Ah Nak, the authors' methodology presents not only various reflections but also diverse contradictions about the Aa Nii language as well as language revitalization. This article explores language foundation and how the Aa Nii language revitalization is inextricably linked to the genocide and resulting historic trauma pervasive in today's Aa Nii communities. This article provides salient examples of clashing worldviews around these revitalization efforts and offers solutions on how to walk through language genocide and to empower Aa Nii people…. [Direct]
(2020). The Role of Education in Peacebuilding: Learner Narratives from Rwanda. Journal of Peace Education, v17 n1 p107-122. This paper examines the role of education in post-conflict recovery and peacebuilding, because there is a limited evidence base, specifically from the learners' point of view. The findings from Rwanda, where education was used for discrimination and marginalisation throughout its history and is now a pillar of national unity and reconciliation in the post-genocide education reforms, contribute to the literature on education and conflict. They have highlighted two unique roles of education in peacebuilding: providing cognitive rewards and transforming the values of learners, which enables humanisation…. [Direct]
(2021). Foolishness of COVID-19: Applying the Polyhedron Model of Wisdom to Understand Behaviors in a Time of Crisis. Roeper Review, v43 n1 p42-52. We live in a world and a time full of challenges. Social inequality, discrimination, global political instability, wars, genocides, terrorism, nuclear and biological weapons, climate change, waste disposal, and species extinction, among others, are constant threats. These pressing issues require attention and solution. Wisdom rises as the overarching construct to holistically address complex human phenomena. Using the Polyhedron Model of Wisdom as a framework to analyze crises, the authors address the current COVID-19 pandemic. People's and leaders' reactions to the crisis are evaluated using seven Wisdom components: knowledge, intelligence, creativity, self-regulation, openness and tolerance, altruism and moral maturity, and sound judgment. Implications of the implementation and promotion of wisdom for ethical problem-solving are discussed…. [Direct]
(2022). Responding to Wrong Doing. Ethics and Education, v17 n2 p197-210. I argue that educators, by introducing young people to various ways of responding to wrongdoing, help prepare them for the task of acting in and taking responsibility for the world. I begin by (a) introducing Hannah Arendt's understanding of the world, the characteristics of action as unpredictable, boundless and irreversible, i.e. the frailty of human affairs. I then move to (b) what Arendt calls the 'power of forgiveness.' Forgiving is an action, and as such is free and unpredictable. Moreover, (c) forgiving concerns the person not the deed. To understand the implications of this, I introduce Arendt's understanding of being a person in distinction to being merely human. I then ask whether all deeds are forgivable, which brings me to (d) the new crime against humanity. Finally, I ask (e) whether one can be reconciled to acts, such as genocide and whether solidarity with the wrongdoer is possible…. [Direct]