About the Book
This book presents the insights, advice and suggestions of secondary level teachers and professors in relation to teaching about various facets of genocide. The contributions are extremely eclectic, ranging from the basic concerns when teaching about genocide to a discussion as to why it is critical to teach students about more general human rights violations during a course on genocide, and from a focus on specific cases of genocide to various pedagogical strategies ideal for teaching about genocide.
Table of Contents:
Introduction – Samuel Totten
Part One: Insights and Advice from Secondary Level Teachers
1. “Student as Worker in Coming to Understand Modern Genocide: From KWL to Stanton’s Ten Stages to Case Studies to Engaging in a Debate” by Keith Eaton (English Teacher, Mount Desert Island High School, Bar Harbor, Maine)
2. “Challenging or Passively Accepting Questionable Authority” by Jamie Allen (History Teacher, Centennial Regional High School, Greenfield Park, Quebec, Canada)
3. “The Power of Story: Teaching About Genocide Through Literature Circles” by Kelley Szany (Director of Education, Illinois Holocaust Museum & Education Center, Skokie, Illinois)
4. “Reader as Witness: Introducing Students to Genocide Through Literature” by
Dr. Sarah J. Donovan (English Language Arts Teacher, Plum Grove Junior High, Rolling Meadows, Illinois, and Adjunct Instructor at DePaul University and Dominican University).
5. “Unsettling Narratives: Teaching About the Genocide of Indigenous Peoples in North America” by George Dalbo (Social Studies Teacher, Mounds Park Academy, St. Paul, Minnesota; and Ph.D Candidate, University of Minnesota)
6. “Teaching the Armenian Genocide in a Nation Whose Government Refuses to Acknowledge It” by Dr. Mark Gudgel (English and Honor Humanities Teacher, Omaha North High School, Omaha, Nebraska, and Adjunct Instructor, Southeast Community College, English Department)
7. “Flora’s Journey: Teaching the Cultural Events and Significance of the Armenian Genocide” by Brent Beerman (English and Theater Teacher, Crescenta Valley High School, La Crescenta, California)
8. “Using Rebecca Tinsley’s When the Stars Fall to Earth in the Classroom to Teach About the Darfur Genocide” by Kimberly Klett (English Teacher, Dobson High School, Mesa, Arizona)
9. “Simplicity and Complexity” by Dr. Mary Lee Webeck (Director of Education, Holocaust Museum Houston, Houston, Texas)
Part Two: Insights and Advice from Professors
10. “At the Threshold of Genocide Studies: On Not Being a Gatekeeper” by Dr. Andrew Woolford (Professor, Department of Sociology, University of Manitoba)
11. “Teaching Ten Stages of Genocide” by Dr. Gregory H. Stanton (Research Professor in Genocide Studies and Prevention, School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution
George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia)
12. “The Three “Ds” of Teaching History: A Focus on Genocide” by Dr. Khatchig Mouradian (Visiting Assistant Professor, Departments of History and Sociology, Rutgers University, Newark, New Jersey)
13. “Teaching About Genocide: Three Major Pedagogical Issues Worthy of Serious Consideration by Teachers” by Dr. Rubina Peroomian (Research Associate, Department of Near Eastern. Languages and Cultures. University of California, Los Angeles)
14. “Incorporating the Issue of Genocide into History Courses: Enlightenment and Mobilization” by Dr. John Hubbel Weiss (Associate Professor of History, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York)
15. “Towards a Critical Pedagogy for Genocide Education” by Dr. James G. Brown (Professor of Teaching, Joint Appointment in the Department of Peace Studies and College of Educational Studies, Chapman University, Orange, California)
16. “Teaching About the Bosnian Genocide” by Dr. Fred P. Cocozzelli (Associate Professor, Department of Government and Politics, St. John’s University, Queens, New York)
17. Adam Muller by (Professor and Director of Peace and Conflict Studies, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada)
18. “A Focus on the Prevention of Genocide” by Dr. Agnieszka Bienczyk-Missala (Assistant Professor, Institute of International Relations, University of Warsaw, Poland)
19. “Educating the Military…and Others. Building the Basis for Effective Atrocity Prevention” by Dr. David Frey (Associate Professor of History and Director, Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, United States Military Academy at West Point)
20. “Teaching Complexity via Documentaries: Trauma and Co-existence after Genocide in Rwanda” by Dr. Gerise Herndon (Professor of English and Global Studies, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska)
21. “Acts of Loving Kindness: Genocide Education in Cambodia” by Dr. Theresa de Langis (Associate Professor of Global Affairs, and Director, Center for Southeast Asian Studies, American University of Phnom Penh, Cambodia)
About the Author :
Samuel Totten a longtime scholar of genocide studies and retired professor (University of Arkansas, Fayetteville), is the author of Teaching About Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide: Fundamental Issues and Approaches (Information Age Publishing, 2018). Over the past fourteen years he has conducted field work into crimes against humanity and genocide in the refugee camps along the Chad/Darfur, Sudan border, and in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
Review :
Totten's Teaching about Genocide provides insights and advice from secondary teachers and professors, many with decades of teaching experience, not to mention writings touching on every major identified genocide. Key is the volume’s interdisciplinary, as well as multinational approach. The time-deprived educator will find abundant strategies, caveats, and electronic resource possibilities. Significantly, “political will” is contrasted with “political won’t,” as students are encouraged to become “constructive activists” in an age of genocides.
A much-needed and extraordinarily useful resource, Teaching about Genocide: Insights and Advice from Secondary Teachers and Professors will provide educators with well-reasoned and experienced based information on teaching about genocide. Drawing upon the expertise of both secondary and college and university professors, this impressive work examines rationales for teaching about genocide and offers practical pedagogical strategies from a variety of academic disciplines and geographical locations. The importance of this issue demands a timely and powerful resource such as this book.
