Abstract:
The critical history teacher needs to be mindful of students' hope. In rejecting the congratulatory story of history trumpeted by regimes interested in self-preservation, students encounter the histories of the dispossessed - the subjugated, the women and children, Fanon's 'wretched of the earth' - not, as they may have traditionally done, as bit-players in 'History', but as actors charged with the same hopes, fears, dreams and anxieties as themselves.
History, in the critical classroom, becomes as a weapon, an instrument of power to salvage "the waste products and blind spots" of the past (Adorno, 1951). This uprooting of "difficult knowledge" (Britzman, 1998), this tackling of 'history from the bottom up' (Lemisch, 1968) awakens in students "dangerous memories" (Giroux, 2010), or a new historical consciousness that for some, might become understandably traumatic. leading to an erosion of hope for the future.
This presentation reports on a two-year case study, which asked Queensland Senior Modern History students to consider whether their critical study of history engendered in them hope for the future. Findings are presented based on over 20 hours of interviews, as well as participant essays, in order to share an overwhelming student sentiment that arose out of the research: critical history students, it seems, are eager to confront the ethical failures of societies past (Farley, 2008). For students, 'to critically know' history - traumatic, uncertain and unjust - is more important than 'to hope'.
This presentation explores the impact this confrontation of the past with the present has on students' hopeful visions of the future. Drawing on the fields of critical pedagogy, philosophies of hope, history pedagogy and futures research, the presentation seeks to clarify whether students in the critical history classroom come to believe that the future will inevitably conform to an unconscionable past.
History, in the critical classroom, becomes as a weapon, an instrument of power to salvage "the waste products and blind spots" of the past (Adorno, 1951). This uprooting of "difficult knowledge" (Britzman, 1998), this tackling of 'history from the bottom up' (Lemisch, 1968) awakens in students "dangerous memories" (Giroux, 2010), or a new historical consciousness that for some, might become understandably traumatic. leading to an erosion of hope for the future.
This presentation reports on a two-year case study, which asked Queensland Senior Modern History students to consider whether their critical study of history engendered in them hope for the future. Findings are presented based on over 20 hours of interviews, as well as participant essays, in order to share an overwhelming student sentiment that arose out of the research: critical history students, it seems, are eager to confront the ethical failures of societies past (Farley, 2008). For students, 'to critically know' history - traumatic, uncertain and unjust - is more important than 'to hope'.
This presentation explores the impact this confrontation of the past with the present has on students' hopeful visions of the future. Drawing on the fields of critical pedagogy, philosophies of hope, history pedagogy and futures research, the presentation seeks to clarify whether students in the critical history classroom come to believe that the future will inevitably conform to an unconscionable past.