I will be at the American Educational Research Conference (AERA, www.aera.net) in New York City next week, March 24 - March 28, and I would like to meet up with any Cypriots who will be attending and/or presenting. Pasted below are three presentations that have to with the Cyprus problem and education.
I looked at the list of participants, and I think about 20 Cypriot participants will be there. Please send me a private message, and perhaps we can meet up for a cup of tea/coffee, etc. I know there are a couple of Cypriots who are already based in New York City, so I will try contacting you through a pm.
Segregated Schooling in Cyprus Between 1933 and 1974
Thu, Mar 27 - 2:15pm - 3:45pm
Crowne Plaza Hotel Times Square / Room 1506, 15th Floor
Local nationalism in Cyprus was strengthened between 1933 and 1974, which led Greek and Turkish Cypriots in violent clashes and resulted in the absolute partition of the island in 1974. The history of Cypriot education has revealed the use of education as a means of promoting political aim. The British colonial administration (1878-1960) has used it as an instrument of creating a new Cypriot nation. Greek Cypriot nationalism has used education as a means of promoting its ideology for Union with Greece. Turkish Cypriot nationalism used education as a vehicle of promoting Ataturkism. The nationalism-oriented segregated school curriculum has been influenced during that time by nationalism and simultaneously it was used as an instrument of promoting the two nationalistic ideologies.
Education and the Dangerous Memories of Historical Trauma: Narratives of Pain, Narratives of Hope
Fri, Mar 28 - 8:15am - 9:45am
Crowne Plaza Hotel Times Square, Room 504, 5th Floor
The purpose of this paper is to explore the meanings and implications of dangerous memories in two different sites of past traumatic memories: one in Israel and the other in Cyprus. Dangerous memories are defined as those memories that are disruptive to the status quo, that is, the hegemonic culture of strengthening and perpetuating existing group-based identities. Our effort is to outline some insights from this endeavor—insights that may help educators recognize the potential of dangerous memories to ease pain and offer hope. First, a discussion on memory, history and identity sets the ground for discussing the meaning and significance of dangerous memories in the history curriculum. Next, we narrate two stories from our longitudinal ethnographic studies on trauma and memory in Israel and Cyprus; these stories are interpreted through the lens of dangerous memories and their workings in relation to the hegemonic powers that aim to sustain collective memories. The two different stories suggest that collective memories of historical trauma are not simply “transmitted” in any simple way down the generations—although there are powerful workings that support this transmission. Rather, there seems to be a lot of ambivalence in the workings of memories that under some circumstances may create openings for new identities. The final section discusses the possibilities of developing a pedagogy of dangerous memories by highlighting educational implications that focus on the notion of creating new solidarities without forgetting past traumas. This last section employs dangerous memories as a critical category for pedagogy in the context of our general concern about the implications of memory, history and identity in educational contexts.
Problem-Solving, Decision-Making, and Negotiations in an Interdisciplinary Environment: The 2007 Doves GlobalEd Project
Fri, Mar 28 - 10:35am - 12:05pm
Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers / Executive Conference Center, Conference Room F, Lower Lobby
The GlobalEd simulation was conducted with a group of 121 middle and high school students participating in a special program from across Cyprus, using the Internet. The simulation is based on international negotiations for groups/countries and ran for 3 weeks with pre- and post-testing of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors. Findings indicated statistically significant improvements in social perspective taking, interest in international relations and self-efficacy for negotiating conflict resolutions (p<.05) for all groups. The results are discussed focusing on the use of interdisciplinary simulations to promote learning.
See you there hopefully.
- Mills Chapman
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