Author meets critics: Book discussion of "Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism?" by Naomi Moland

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session (English)

Proposal

For this panel, we propose an “Author Meets Critics” format to discuss Naomi Moland’s recently published book, “Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children’s Television and Globalized Multicultural Education” (Oxford University Press, November 2019). Two scholars and a representative from Sesame Workshop will gather to discuss the book’s themes of multicultural education, international development, and peacebuilding. An abstract of the book is below. Dr. Moland will open the panel with a description of the book and its arguments, followed by responses by each of the panelists about the book’s strengths and shortcomings (including critical discussions of the book’s theoretical and methodological approaches), as well as the book’s potential implications for the field of Comparative International Education. As in a typical panel, we will then open the discussion to members of the audience for comments and questions.

This panel will connect well to this year’s CIES conference theme of “Education Beyond the Human.” The book examines questions of human interconnectedness—and how educational initiatives such as international versions of Sesame Street attempt to build peace among humans from different ethnic, religious, racial, and national backgrounds. The book also questions whether American approaches to multicultural education make sense in countries with vastly different sociopolitical realities. By critically examining these questions, we interrogate power relations between humans in different contexts, and examine how global flows of knowledge and ideals cross shifting cultural boundaries. Finally, this panel will ask difficult questions about the potential unintended dangers of scholarly critiques of multiculturalism in a political era where cosmopolitan ideals of diversity and tolerance are under attack.

Book Abstract:
"Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children’s Television and Globalized Multicultural Education" examines how international versions of Sesame Street are working to build peace. There are more than 30 co-productions of Sesame Street, which are viewed in over 150 countries. This book focuses on the creation of Sesame Square, the Nigerian version, which is co-produced by Americans and Nigerians and funded by USAID. In addition to teaching preschool-level academic skills, Sesame Square seeks to promote peaceful coexistence—a daunting task in Nigeria, where escalating ethno-religious tensions and terrorism threaten to fracture the nation. To understand this complex initiative, the author spent a year in Nigeria, interviewing Sesame Square creators, observing production processes, and conducting episode analysis. Two key dilemmas emerged as the program’s creators designed episodes to promote peace. First, efforts to celebrate diversity sometimes inadvertently exacerbated intergroup stereotypes. Second, the violent and unjust “public curriculum” in Nigeria—that is, what children were learning from the society around them—threatened to undermine Sesame Square’s tolerance messages. These are common dilemmas in multicultural and peacebuilding efforts, but they were exacerbated in the Nigerian setting, where demographic divisions, state fragility, and ongoing violence make peaceful coexistence seem unlikely. The book examines Sesame Square as a form of American soft power designed to spread peace and American goodwill in the face of the extremist group Boko Haram, whose name means “Western education is forbidden.” It questions whether American models of multiculturalism and peacebuilding should be transplanted into contexts with very different sociocultural realities.

Sub Unit

• Education, Conflict, and Emergencies SIG

Individual Presentations

• Response 1 to book: "Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children's Television and Globalized Multicultural Education" - Kathryn M. Anderson-Levitt, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)

• Response 2 to book: "Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children's Television and Globalized Multicultural Education" - Shari Rosenfeld, Sesame Workshop

• Response 3 to book: "Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? Children's Television and Globalized Multicultural Education" - James H. Williams, George Washington University