Congo: Young people’s narratives of war and peace in North and South Kivu

In the last two decades, wars and mass violence have marked much of the life of ordinary people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In its eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, an entire generation has grown up knowinglittle else than conflict and deprivation. This article intends to give a voice to young Congolese in this troubled region in the heart of Africa. The article is based on the results of a survey that was conducted at the end of 2009 amongnearly one thousand students. It examines the way young people in the Kivu make sense of the prevalence of violence in their home-provinces and the solutions they envision for a peaceful future. In its analysis, the article exposes a predominant role of ‘the Rwandese’ in Congolese narratives of war and peace. Influenced by fresh memories of war, various respondents exhibited Manichean views and deep-seated feelings of resentment towards those who were deemed responsible for the Congo’s recent suffering. This article argues that, unless such understandings and sentiments are acknowledged and addressed, the risk of further escalation of conflict will  continue to loom on the horizon. Educational and cultural programmes targeting the youth and their views of ‘the other’ are here proposed as a promising peacebuilding measure that should complement existing efforts to promote stability in the region

School textbooks, peace and conflict: An introduction

The aim of this article, and of the special issue it introduces, is to claim a more prominent role for the analysis of school textbooks when studying peace and conflict. School textbooks can contribute to several core discussions in this research field because they are indicators of dominant political knowledge, have privileged access to a large audience, and are objects of peace and conflict processes themselves. We reflect how the analysis of school textbooks has already contributed significantly to peace and conflict studies and outline avenues for further research

Narrating and Teaching the Nation: History, Identity and the Politics of Education in the Great Lakes Region of Africa

Evidence from around the world has shown the power of narratives in shaping collective identities and memories, as well as in legitimising present status-quos and future actions − including violence and peace. As effective vehicles for anchoring dominant narratives and discourses in society, education systems have typically functioned as key ideological instruments which have time and again been exploited to mould the identity, views and values of the nation’s new generation. Drawing on three cases from Central Africa, namely Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, this thesis aims to complement existing studies on the politics of history, identity and education in contested societies. For each case-study, this research examines the evolution of official discourses from the colonial time until today, and the extent to which these have been institutionalised in curricula and textbooks and in educational policies and practices in an effort to legitimise and consolidate given socio-political systems. Upon demonstrating the strong political grip on narrative construction and propagation, and the relentless ideological mobilisation of history, identity and formal education, the thesis assesses the promises and challenges of re-writing and of teaching and learning the controversial and sensitive history of the nation in the context of delicate political transitions from war, dictatorship and mass violence to sustainable peace and democracy. Guided by a desire to give a voice to young people in the region, the study enriches its inquiry with an analysis of narratives that were collected in the field between 2008 and 2011 among 2,500 secondary school students. Based on an extensive qualitative survey, the study explores young people’s representations of the nation and of its history and destiny, as well as their views on the state of history education in their country. Ultimately, the research points to an urgency to reform education, and in particular history teaching, with an eye to better responding to the needs of the region’s youth and of society as a whole

Interaction between phonological and grammatical processing in single word production in Kiswahili

Grammatical priming of picture naming was investigated in Kiswahili, which has a complex grammatical noun class system (a system like grammatical gender), with up to 15 noun classes that have obligatory agreements on adjectives, verbs, pronouns and other parts of speech. Participants heard a grammatically agreeing (concordant), nonagreeing (discordant) or neutral prime before seeing a picture of a common object and being asked to name the object. Priming was found, with naming following concordant primes being faster than naming following the neutral prime ('say'). However, more interestingly, effects were found such that where two noun classes share a prefix, the grammatical prime from each of these two noun classes also primed words that have the same prefix but are not in the same noun class, and hence for which the prime was not grammatical. It is concluded that the prime appears to be facilitating the phonological form of the prefix rather than the syntacto-semantic group of words that are known as a noun class, and that the phonological form associated with a grammatical entity may be more significant in its processing than has previously been supposed

Global Citizenship Education for Global Citizenship? Students’ Views on Learning About, Through, and For Human Rights, Peace, and Sustainable Development in England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden

Purpose: In this study, we explore students’ views and experiences in relation to education about, through, and forhuman rights, peace, and sustainability in the global north and south. We investigate what students after nine years of schooling see as central issues and productive actions linked to key elements of global citizenship education (GCE) to better understand the complexity of GCE in theory and practice. Design: We use a survey designed in line with theories of global citizenship education. Using a mixed methods approach, we analyse responses from 672 upper secondary school students, aged 16–19, in England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, and Sweden. Findings: We find that students in different contexts may experience global citizenship education very differently, even if they are all part of a global community with guidelines from UNESCO. Dimensions of human rights education, peace education, and education for sustainable development are evident in both the global north and south; yet, students in European contexts, namely in Sweden and England, for instance, appear to be taking away very different learnings. Overall, while students across the national samples have knowledge about human rights, peace, and sustainability, they seem to struggle to identify activities for human rights, peace, and sustainability. We find a vernacularisation of GCE, highlighting a diversity of methods and cultural contexts linked to students’ experiences from education. Research limitations: This study is limited to a few schools in selected countries; thus, our findings may not be generalisable on a national or global level. Practical implications: Students across our diverse sample highlight the importance of education to promote global goals. Findings indicate that more focus on education for global citizenship is necessary if schooling is to work in line with international recommendations. Similarities and differences in students’ knowledge and understanding about peace, human rights, and sustainability call for differentiated and localised approaches in attempts to reach common and shared goals

A global history in a global world? Human rights in History Education in the Global North and South

In this study, we analyze similarities and differences in 957 students’ perceptions of the history of human rights in six countries: England, India, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden and the United States of America. This is investigated through the lens of the intended, implemented and achieved curricula. Our aim is to better understand what historical events students perceive as central in the history of human rights in different countries and how this may relate to education about, through and for human rights across borders. While the findings indicate a global culture of human rights, we identify several challenges in the teaching and learning of universal human rights in history education. In some instances, notions of nationalism and exceptionalism in society and history culture pose great challenges to the teaching and learning of human rights. In others, a strong focus on the global world have complicated the identification of human rights issues in the local context. Our findings also highlight the neglect of certain historical narratives, most notably the history of indigenous and minority groups. These findings are significant to researchers, teachers and decision-makers interested in furthering human rights and international understanding through education