Teaching the Difficult Past

Catalog description

Taught by GTU. In this course we will attempt to understand how teachers and young people make sense of difficult historical episodes. Here, we consider the role that history education plays in creating imagined communities (Anderson, 1991), invisible ties (Zerubavel, 1996), collective memories (Halbwachs, 1932) and invented traditions (Hobsbawn, 1992). Over the course of 14 weeks we will unpack two global case studies: The Holocaust in Poland, and Slavery in the United States. Within each case, we will use our theoretical foundations to analyze primary artifacts such as textbook narratives, films, and plays. We will bolster this analysis with research articles and historical texts that illuminate the debates that swirl around these events. The course will end with a review of extant pedagogy for teachers attempting to bring education about difficult histories into their classrooms and the challenges they face.