Abstract #1807

Abstract: The proposed presentation aims to explore aspects that are related to the teaching of the Holocaust in secondary education (middle and high school) in Greece through the teaching of Literature. In this presentation we will be discussing three areas of research: a. The educational framework regarding the teaching of the Holocaust as it is found within the reality of Greek education nowadays. b. The theoretical and pedagogical framework within which the teaching of the Holocaust can be taught. c. The instructional practices which can be used to teach literary works and films about the Holocaust in literature classes in Greece.
Two of the most significant problems concerning the teaching of the Holocaust at school seem to be, on the one hand, the connection of the educational process and teaching with the demonstration of the traumatic experience whereas on the other, it is the emergence of an emotion of pity towards the Holocaust victims by the students. These problems bring to light a series of questions: a. In what way instruction as a crucial part of education can shed light on the mystery of the trauma caused by the Holocaust without influencing the outcome of the teaching process and without shocking the students? b. To what extent the teacher will or must go through a state of self-censorship? c. What is the analogy in the relationship between the students’ maturity and the selected material to be taught regarding the Holocaust, in terms of a deeper understanding of such an act of absolute horror? (Saxton, 2008; Eaglestone and Langford, 2008).
Taking for granted the lack of a systemic and complete teaching of the Holocaust in Greek secondary education, as far as a curriculum is concerned, such questions and considerations can be put into practice within the context given in the literature class for students, which offers solid ground of examining the Holocaust in association with Literary and cinematic works as parts of the topics: ‘Portraits of Adolescents’, ‘The Notion of Alterity in Literature’, ‘Subject and Society’ and ‘Genders in Literature’. The New Curricula regarding Literature in Greece (2011), characterised by their lack of rigidity, make up for a privileged field as regards the teaching of literature works (novels, short stories, poetry, commix, autobiographies, testimonies) and films about the Holocaust, which can interact with the proposed topics.
The theoretical framework of the research based on theories concerning the Representation, the Memory and Trauma. According to Cultural Memory Studies, the concept of Memory plays an important cultural role, as far as its relation to the mass media culture is concerned and due to the fact that it is a fundamental part of representation. The notion of representation, as set by Raymond Williams, presupposes a range of senses which are inextricably linked with the mind and the ability of symbolic representation; such ability requires a system of signs set to demonstrate reality either verbally or visually (Williams 2, 1983; Pearson, 2001).
Memory depends not only upon the experience of the trauma, its description and narrative, but also on the reception of the trauma’s narration by ‘others’ and especially their ability to listen to the survivor’s account with empathy. In other words, the traumatic event is experienced as a culturally integrated incident, which is shaped and re-shaped in relation to the response of the ‘others’ in the survivor’s culture. In many cases, as it is indeed maintained, traumatic Memory is embodied in narrative Memory.
Literary and cinematic works in the first place portray their protagonists’ traumatic events; they are texts of trauma. However, the aforementioned narratives suggest themselves a kind of text as trauma to the degree that they represent acts of violence against the protagonists and also they sometimes fail in recounting adequately the protagonists’ traumatic story. The inability of sufficient response of the ‘others’ to the trauma and its representation can also be characterised as traumatic, a condition that introduces an ethics of collective Memory. On the other hand, the notion of trauma is interwoven with the notion of post-Memory to the degree that many listeners of traumatic events are capable of being influenced and so reformat their identity by events they did not themselves experience (Caruth, 1996; Brison, 1999; Kidd, 2005; Langford, 2008; Whitehead, 2008).
The pedagogical framework within which the design of the proposed teaching methodology is registered focuses on the utilisation of Cultural Studies, Critical Pedagogy, and Social Constructivism (Williams, 1994; Giroux, 1981; Giroux, 1997; Moll, 1990). The fundamental component of the proposed teaching methodology is the educational scenario, which can be defined as a series of planned activities and instructional practices that are involving one or more subjects, using digital tools and educational worksheets.
Whatever strikes as particularly demanding is the effort to design the educational scenarios using the following axes: a. Students’ awareness of the strong relationship between Memory, Trauma and History, b. the development of mechanisms against stereotypes and prejudices, and c. the identification of the trauma as an integral component of the pedagogical process and the effectiveness of teaching.
The methodological challenges arise by applying, in a pilotic stage, two different educational scenarios on two different literature classes in middle school (Grades 1,2) regarding the teaching of Holocaust. An effort to explore interaction in the aforementioned literature classes is being made through the use of Ethnography method (more specifically participant observation). The educational data, namely the contributions between teachers and students are analysed using Qualitative Content Analysis. The particular insights to be followed up seem focus on the following criteria: a. the identification of the perpetrator, the bystander and the victim, b. the development of arguments in the classroom about controversial issues regarding the representation of the Holocaust, and c. the discussion in the classroom issues that generated feelings of shock and embarrassment.

Dr. Sotiria Kalasaridou, Post-doctoral fellow researcher of the State Scholarships Foundation – Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece

Teaching Holocaust in secondary education in Greece: educational context and pedagogical perspectives.