Misleading Mandates: The Null Curriculum of Genocide Education

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session 13
  In Roundtable Session: Curricular Textures: Theory, Reality, and Standards

Abstract

This content analysis examines the ways that genocide is framed in the high school world history curriculum standards of ten states with legislative mandates requiring genocide education. The null curriculum (Eisner, 1979) theorizes that the content that is not taught may be as important as what is taught; this lens allows for a nuanced analysis of the ways that genocide is included and excluded in state standards. The findings suggest that genocide education mandates do not correspond with standards that require genocide education, as acts of genocide are often omitted, not called “genocide,” or framed as less important than the Holocaust.

Authors

• Anna Yonas, University of Virginia

• Stephanie van Hover, University of Virginia