“Difficult Knowledge” and the Holocaust in History Education

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“…Furthermore, Barton and McCully (2012) found that in societies divided by ethnicity, religion, language, or other social identities, emotive responses are often an essential step towards more rational engagement. Encountering difficult histories can disrupt the meaning students make of events, and provoke negative emotions including anger, shame, grief, and disgust, but it can also evoke new thoughts and deeper understandings (Levy & Sheppard, 2018). LaCapra (2001) argues that the purpose of studying difficult histories is not just to be affected by their suffering, or document what happened, but to be transformed in the pursuit of meaningful questions regarding what it means to be human and to live together in this world.…”

“…There is limited empirical research that demonstrates that learning about difficult histories leads to the development of moral reasoning, ethical thinking, commitments to social justice, or civic engagement (Barr et al, 2014;Levy & Sheppard, 2018;Schweber, 2004). This does not mean that current approaches to teaching about difficult histories are ineffective and should be rejected, but it underscores the need for research that considers the complexities of teaching about difficult histories that often evoke emotional responses that can resist and deflect intended learning outcomes and understandings.…”

Pursuing Historical Truth: The Discourse of History Teachers in Teaching the History of 30 September Movement in Indonesia

“…Another case of practical challenge in history education can be found in the history of the Holocaust. Levy and Sheppard [21] mentioned teachers' difficulty in teaching the Holocaust because it is embodied in the emotions, traumatic feelings, and experiences of students. e problems locate on how society defines themselves and creates the present reality and the vision of the future based on the traumatic history of the Holocaust.…”

“But it wasn’t like that”: The impact of visits to community-based museums on young people’s understanding of the commemorated past in a divided society

“…Emotional affect is deemed important in how individuals react to the representation of difficult history (Epstein & Peck, 2018;Levy & Sheppard, 2018;Miles, 2019) and pursuing the impact of affect has led researchers to explore psychological explanations of why such history is problematic (Psaltis et al, 2017). Goldberg (2017) employed psychoanalytical and social psychological perspectives to understand how young people respond to accounts of traumatic events, and, importantly in the divided society of Israel, how in-group/out-group dynamics play out when students are presented with uncomfortable knowledge concerning the actions of their group, and other people.…”

“…Goldberg (2017) employed psychoanalytical and social psychological perspectives to understand how young people respond to accounts of traumatic events, and, importantly in the divided society of Israel, how in-group/out-group dynamics play out when students are presented with uncomfortable knowledge concerning the actions of their group, and other people. When affect and cognition interact, attention is drawn to the complexity, precariousness, and unpredictability of student responses to difficult histories (Goldberg, 2017;Levy & Sheppard, 2018;Sheppard et al, 2015). As Gross and Terra (2018) pointed out, context is all important.…”