Academic Resources
Source: Falk Pingel, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 617 This article provides an overview of modern developments in the field of history textbook revision after violent conflict. Primary topics covered include: the shift from bilateral, quasi-official historical commissions to informal groups of experts linked to non-governmental organizations (NGOs); the move from focusing on controversies of the past to those of present and unresolved conflicts; the change in the nature of conflict, from interstate to intrastate ones; and challenges facing history education reform in the aftermath of civil or internal wars. The author argues that history education initiatives face formidable challenges, especially when the sociopolitical context is not conducive to peacebuilding and reconciliation. The author concludes that developing a joint history textbook is of value because it refutes the notion—often widespread in conflict-affected and post-conflict settings—that disagreements over history are fundamentally irreconcilable.
Source: Harvey M. Weinstein, Sarah Warshauer Freedman, and Holly Hughson, Education, Citizenship and Social Justice 2, no. 1 This article discusses the role of education in the social reconstruction of post-conflict societies and seeks to present the concerns and aspirations of local people in the educational system (students, teachers, administrators and parents). Primary topics include: case studies of schools in four societies that experienced ethnic cleansing and genocide in the 1990s, that is, Croatia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda; an analysis of assumptions that underlie current practice in educational peacebuilding, such as a narrow focus on emergency interventions, conflict resolution, peace education and textbook reform; and the importance of a comprehensive set of interventions that recognize the integrated nature of a society’s institutions. The authors state that there are serious societal obstacles to fostering peacebuilding-oriented educational systems, with implications for the role of external actors. They conclude by calling for a comprehensive peacebuilding approach that links education reform with broader societal changes.
Source: Elizabeth Jelin, The International Journal of Transitional Justice 1, no. 1 This article aims to explore the struggles around memories and meanings as reflected in public memorialization within the context of the transition from dictatorial regimes and state-sponsored political repression in the southern cone of South America. Primary themes include reflection on “the constant interaction between state and societal actors in the struggle for understanding and interpreting past violence and repression” as it relates to commemorative days, territorial markers, and archives; and the often rival concepts of societal memories, oblivion, remembering, and diverse kinds of social amnesia. The author argues that different interpretations of the past unfold at institutional, societal and subjective levels and concludes that memorialization is part of transitional politics and cannot be viewed independently. She also stresses that the process involves both state actors and societal forces.
Source: Bradon Hamber, Paper presented at the Trauma and Transitional Justice in Divided Societies ConferenceThis article describes memorialization efforts in Northern Ireland with a focus on both state and community built memorials and characterizes memorialization efforts within a reparations context. Primary themes covered include the history of state memorialization efforts; characterization of various state and community built/funded memorials; and memorialization efforts within the context of reparations. The author argues that the process of healing, does not occur through the delivery of an object (e.g. a monument, etc.), or acts of reparations (e.g. an apology), but through the process that takes place around the object or act. He concludes that political engagement in the debate about dealing with the past is essential and that the memorialization process fits within the “broader goal of reparation that can adequately link individual healing within a social context.”
Source: Wolfgang Höpken, East European Politics and Societies 13, no. 1 This article focuses on the way collective memory can be (mis)used by regimes for political ends. Primary topics covered include: a case study of former Yugoslavia, with a focus on how successive regimes interpreted the Second World War in the Balkans; the content and form of collective memories; Tito’s state and nation-building myth of the “brotherhood of the peoples”; the subsequent nationalist leaders’ exclusively ethnic interpretation of the past; the way selective and distortive collective memories found their way into history textbooks; and the difference between official memory and popular memory. The author argues that a fragmented official memory that does not reflect or attempt to reconcile competing societal memories is a recipe for future political manipulation of history.
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