Teaching and Learning the Difficult Past

Building upon the theoretical foundations for the teaching and learning of difficult histories in social studies classrooms, this edited collection offers diverse perspectives on school practices, curriculum development, and experiences of teaching about traumatic events. Considering the relationship between memory, history, and education, this volume advances the discussion of classroom-based practices for teaching and learning difficult histories and investigates the role that history education plays in creating and sustaining national and collective identities.

Foreword
Simone Schweber

Introduction
Magdalena H. Gross and Luke Terra

Part I Theorizing the teaching and learning of difficult histories

1. Teaching difficult histories: The need for a dynamic research tradition


Keith Barton






2. Contextual Gatekeeping: Teacher decision-making in multiple and overlapping milieus


Thomas Misco






3. Sublime Understanding: Cultivating the Emotional Past

Cam Scribner

Part II Teaching difficult histories

4. An Inquiry-Based Curriculum Design for Difficult History
Bradley Fogo and Joel Breakstone

1. Ethical Judgments about the Difficult Past: Observations from the Classroom

Lindsay Gibson

1. When Past and Present Collide: Dilemmas in Teaching the History of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict


Sivan Zakai






2. Warts, Polyps, Blisters and All? Problems in Learning to Teach a Provocative Past in a Troubling Way


Bruce VanSledright and Sebastian Burkholdt






3. Güeras, Indigenas, y Negros: A Framework for Teaching Mexican American Racial/Ethnic Histories


Maribel Santiago






4. Betrayal, Conversion, and Complicity in the Middle East Classroom


Taymiya R. Zaman


Part III Learning difficult histories






5. Soft or Hard Biculturalism and Beyond: How New Zealand Adolescents Construct Contemporary Significance of the Nation's Founding Document


Terrie Epstein and Michael Harcourt






6. History Education, National Identity, and the Road to Brexit


Eleni Karayianni and Stuart Foster






7. "I need to hear a good ending":How students cope with historical violence.


Jeremy Jimenez






8. The Myth of "Black Confederates": Beliefs of Students and Implications for History Educators


Gabriel A. Reich and Amy Corning






9. "We've Been Screwed": French Québecers and Their Past


Jocelyn Létourneau






10. Student Motivation to Confront Difficult Local History


Rob Lucas






11. Learning History Through Culture: The Krakow Jewish Festival


Ari Y. Kelman






12. "Still Racist, Just Less Outward About It:" Secondary Students Narrate Connections Between Slavery and Racism


Justine Lee






13. Sweetening the Past: Selling Heritage at Knott's Berry Farm

Harper Keenan
Afterword
Sam Wineburg

Appendices