PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES AND THE TROUBLE WITH HISTORICAL EXAMPLES IN PEDAGOGY: AN INTROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS
Abstract
Examples are critical elements in transmitting knowledge because of their role in facilitating learning and understanding. In Peace and Conflict Studies (PACS), particularly, historical examples of conflicts help in bridging the gap between theoretical and practical knowledge. However, when used insensitively, historical examples can be problematic, harmful, and capable of disrupting PACS classes. Drawing from lived experiences and secondary sources, the article examines the challenges in the use of historical examples as explainers in PACS pedagogy. Findings suggest that historical examples are critical memories that are capable of being politicised or strategically used to cement certain prejudices or notions held against certain groups or individuals. To this end, historical examples could become a weapon of memory thereby counteracting the explanatory purpose for which it was deployed. There is, therefore, a need to use historical examples very cautiously and sensitively as explainers in PACS classes. Doing so would require adhering to some pedagogical principles that must, inter alia, be conflict-sensitive.