Growing Up Divided

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

This symposium examines how students in the divided societies of Northern Ireland (NI), South Africa (SA), and the United States (US) develop as democratic citizens and civic actors, the role secondary schools play in their development, and the ways young people who live on different sides of societal divides navigate division. We focus on divisions that have led to violent conflicts and that threaten the stability of democratic governments (religion in NI, race/ethnicity in SA and the US); these divisions are often correlated with political partisanship and sometimes socioeconomic status. Understanding how to bring people together across such societal divides is essential to realizing the goal of an inclusive democracy. We address how public education can contribute.

Sub Unit

• AERA Presidential Session

Chair

• Diana E. Hess, University of Wisconsin - Madison

Participants

• Sarah W. Freedman, University of California - Berkeley & National Academy of Education

• Karen L. Murphy, Facing History and Ourselves

• Dennis Barr, Facing History and Ourselves

• Zinaida Besirevic, University of California - Berkeley

• Jaran Shin, University of Massachusetts Boston