Pluriversal Examinations of Teachers’ Encounters with the Violent Past in Guatemala

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Friday 9:45 am
  In Roundtable Session: Global lenses in curriculum studies

Abstract

History teachers are often shouldered with the daunting task of teaching polarizing, contested histories in communities still grappling with the legacies of fear, persecution, and violence, without the knowledge, skills, or community support needed for fostering transformative learning. My research investigated the frameworks, experiences, memories, and discourses that inform processes of teacher learning about Guatemala’s 36-year Internal Armed Conflict. Walking alongside educators, I examined the pedagogical openings and foreclosures of weaving disciplinary historical inquiry with pluriversal encounters with violent, controversial, and often conflicting memories. I argue that the task of preparing to teach about violent histories entails the enactment of a sentipensante, felt-thinking examination of the intersections, contradictions, and affective repercussions of conflicting accounts of the past.

Author

• Charlotte Haynes, Teachers College