Book Review Michalinos Zembylas, EMOTION AND TRAUMATIC CONFLICT: Reclaiming Healing in Education, Oxford University Press, 2015. (original) (raw)
Dilemmas of Justice in Peace/Coexistence Education: Affect and the Politics of Identity
Review of Education, Pedagogy, and Cultural Studies, 2008
The notion of "politics of mourning" refers to the ways that politics and mourning intersect (e.g. and personal stories blend with collective ones with important political and educational implications. The notion of the nationalization of mourning (Butler, 2004) is certainly not new, and the argument about how mourning is highly politicized is not the most important contribution of engaging in this comparative exploration. What we want to focus, instead, is on exploring mourning not only as a ritual of existential, political or emotional meaning, but also as a critical educational praxis that has the potential to subvert normative educational practices in relation to the Other-who may be despised as responsible for "our" loss in the first place. To paraphrase Felman and Laub (1992), we examine whether there is a relation between mourning and pedagogy: Can mourning instruct pedagogy, and can pedagogy shed light on the mystery of mourning? This paper suggests the need for a critical analysis of the nationalization of mourning and its educational implications. Through our analysis of the politics of mourning in the conflict societies of Cyprus and Israel and the pedagogical openings that are created, we highlight two ideas. First, we want to show how a comparison of our studies in Cyprus and Israel highlights the difficulties for alterative interpretations to be translated into educational policies and teacher practices in the absence of changes in political structures. We discuss the forces that act to nationalize mourning in both societies and investigate how educators might marshal these forces-rather than rejecting or simply ignoring them-to advance mutual understanding and reconciliation (see ).
International Review of Education, 2012
ABSTRACT Drawing into a discussion of the politicisation of emotion, this paper develops a framework to analyse some of the processes and strategies by which educational policies and pedagogical practices “emotionalise” the representation of refugees in conflict-ridden societies such as Cyprus and explores the implications for peace education. In particular, this paper aims to refine our understanding of how emotions affect the ways in which educational policies and practices reproduce self-other dichotomies through certain representations of the refugee experience. It is argued that these dichotomies are relevant to the emotional reactions against peace education initiatives. Second, this paper examines alternative possibilities of promoting peaceful coexistence, while taking into consideration the affective (re)production of refugee representations yet without undermining the refugee experience. Better understanding of how emotion is involved will help educational policymakers and teachers in divided societies to take into account the hitherto poorly developed aspects of the ways in which emotions, the refugee experience and peace education are inextricably intertwined.
What's anger got to do with it? Towards a post-indignation pedagogy for communities in conflict
Social Identities
We argue that anger tends to be naturalized and normalized in social and educational theory and our goal is to problematize the too easy justification of indignation as an emotional resource in political and pedagogical work. Instead we wish to propose the broad contours of a post-indignation pedagogy as a frame for rethinking racism and redefining antiracist and dialogic pedagogy. In the first part of the paper, we offer a genealogy of anger in conflict communities; in particular, our analysis explores the emotionally saturated discourses of anger in our home countries (Australia and Cyprus). In our second move, we draw on figures such as Seneca, Buddhism and Judith Butler for reframings of anger. The reframe we are proposing interrogates two extremes – resignation to anger and resignation from anger – and proposes a ‘middle way’ between these two. Thirdly, in rejecting these two extremes, the paper speculates on possibility of pedagogies of ‘conviviality’, borrowing from Gilroy.
The Emotional Readiness of Greek Cypriot Teachers for Peaceful Co-existence
European Journal of Education, 2011
In the last three decades, there have been many political and educational efforts in various parts of the world to help societies promote peaceful coexistence and reconciliation after conflict and violence (Daly & Sarkin, 2007; Minow, 1998; Rigby, 2001). Although the terms peaceful coexistence and reconciliation are not synonymous, they are often used together to denote the complex relationship between living together in peace and establishing friendship and harmony in the aftermath of traumatic events. As can be seen in countries ...
Education for Peace: Overcoming the Post-memory and Building the Safe Future
The paper exams the post-memory in the context of genocide and Education for Peace. The following issues will be discussed: Peace Education as the agenda for the 21st century, genocide as the social experience, post-memory and ethnic socialization as obstacles for the peaceful coexistence of nations and ethnic groups, overcoming the Past through education and personal experience, and Polish experience in overcoming the post-memory of genocide. Theorizing, Peace Education is perceived as the process developing in students their knowledge, values, attitudes, and practical skills indispensable to live in a peaceful harmony with the others. Following Noddings (2008) and Page (2008), acquiring these skills by individuals and groups results from the reflection on the consequences of war, hatred and social injustice. Experience of past conflicts and inter-group violence, however, can be a significant barrier for building peaceful coexistence of nations, races and ethnic groups. Each individual can be described in categories of numerous affiliations including an ethnic one. Learning about the in-group history constitutes a part of ethnic socialization: its origin, achievements, historic injustice and enemies. This way the collective memory has been passed from one generation to the other. Also, the most traumatic experiences can create so called post-memory. Hirsch (2008; 103) defines post-memory as the " relation of the second generation to powerful, often traumatic, experiences that preceded their births but that were nevertheless transmitted to them so deeply as to seem to constitute memories in their own right ". In groups and nations often exposed in their history to the inter-group violence there can occur accumulation of trauma in succeeding generations. Identification of young generation with the experience of the elders intensified by the particular course of politics, social context of life and contents of formal education can also create so called " post-generation ". Baby-boomers from Warsaw constitute such a post-generation They are the first generation in the history of Poland which doesn't know a war. But each one of their families mourned lost members. The generation of their parents passed to them the terrifying memories of genocide: Holocaust, Warsaw Ghetto Upraising (1943) and Warsaw Upraising (1944). They played among fresh graves and ruins of the destroyed city. The Communist political authorities built the relation with the enslaved nation by means of the remembrance of German crimes