6.22. The Classroom as Memory Space: Teaching, Conflict, and Identity

This bilingual presentation explores the experience of teaching two graduate social work seminars in Israel, each composed of both Jewish and Arab students. In a time of escalating political tension and collective trauma, these classrooms become charged spaces where conflicting narratives of history, identity, and belonging meet. The two instructors bring different biographical and mnemonic legacies to their teaching: one, Israeli born, whose academic and clinical work centers on Holocaust survivors and the intergenerational transmission of trauma; the other, born in Argentina, whose formative years were shaped by the memory of dictatorship and state terror. Each classroom thus becomes a site where personal and collective histories intertwine with professional training in care, ethics, and social justice. We ask: What kinds of memory work emerge when social work students from divided communities learn together? How does the coexistence of divergent collective memories shape the learning process, and what forms of empathy or resistance arise within it? Does professional education offer a space where memory can evolve through encounter, or does it risk reproducing existing boundaries? Drawing on classroom vignettes, students’ reflections, and our ongoing dialogue as educators, we explore how teaching social work in mixed classrooms can cultivate democratic sensibilities and critical reflexivity. By attending to moments of friction and resonance, we consider how memory may remain alive, unsettled yet generative, within the pedagogical encounter

Colonial memory in Portugal emphasizes positive, ingroup-serving colonial narratives which omit violent, exploitative processes under Portuguese colonial rule. An analysis conducted in the scope of the European project “Conciliare – Confidently Changing Colonial Heritage” showed that such narratives also appear in textbooks, looking at more than 450 images thematizing colonial history in Geography, History, and Mother Tongue (1950-2024). Such narratives are fundamentally Eurocentric and continue to influence discriminatory attitudes in the present. Now, this project entered a second phase to better understand perceptions of colonial memory among youngsters (n = 10) and parents (n = 10) of African-descendent families in Portugal, as well as youngsters (n = 10), parents (n = 10), and grandparents (n = 10) from families of European (Portuguese) descent. Participants are asked about their feelings and perceptions of Portugal’s colonial past, how it was presented in school and other contexts, its relevance and consequences in the present, and furthermore, exposed to some of the images analyzed in the previously conducted textbook analysis. So far, 15 interviews were conducted and the final number of 60 should be achieved by February 2026. We hope for meaningful discussions on this study on the 10th Annual Memory Studies Association Conference and contribute to the core themes of Generation and Education as well as Migration and (Post)Colonialism. Considering the fall of the dictatorship in 1974, the independence of Portugal’s remaining colonies and migration flows from the former colonies, Portugal went through major events that shaped the evolution of its colonial narratives. Yet, especially since 2020 and the public debate surrounding the proposed “Museum of the Discoveries”, heroic narratives have become increasingly contested. Portuguese society appears divided over this issue, and through this study, we aim to explore how such divisions manifest across different generational and ethnic backgrounds.

How can we ensure that students in the subject 'Politics and Society in Latin America' of the International Relations degree program at UNIVA, learn not just historical information, but learn how to work with historical memory and ‘Memoria ejemplar’ (exemplary memory, in English)? Within the incorporation of topics such as peace processes, the construction of memory, the invisibility of historically vulnerable groups, the analysis of hybrid regimes, and coups d'état in the 21st century, it was planned to the sensitivity of how to learn History as something they could deal with and give them motivations to create projects in Local Memory, that is why, it was used a quiz with qualitative results of incorporating these topics in four graduating classes and how this course impacted or sensitized their perception of Latin American reality in the last 4 groups. It was analyzed whether learning more about case studies from other Latin American countries impacted proposals for adapting them to their Mexican context, using concepts such as ‘memoria lineal y ejemplar’ and Sacavino's model of education in memory and human rights. Ultimately, it is concluded that a genuine awareness was indeed generated regarding the importance of learning history not as a ‘linear process’, but as a key to avoid repeating it and falling back into authoritarian regimes. Participants also gained a real understanding of the history of some historically vulnerable groups, using it as a tool to make their struggles visible today and to encourage participation. It is also shown that 80% of the surveyed population has clear ideas on how to contribute to an exemplary, rather than merely linear, memory. In spite of them, they don’t participate in movements actively.

This work proposes a philosophical analysis of different historical events taught in secondary schools in Buenos Aires. It will focus on the uses of the past and the intergenerational transmission of certain historical narratives about the War of the Triple Alliance and the so-called “Conquest of the Desert” as necessary events for what was called the process of national organization and, therefore, for the construction of a national identity in which some identities are prioritized over others. The central hypothesis is that the way these historical events are named, framed, presented, and ordered reproduces a state narrative that excludes violence against marginalized populations. Using a mixed methodology based on the hermeneutics of philosophical texts and the analysis of curriculum documents, the presentation will attempt to draw on the contributions of the philosophy of history, decolonial studies, and the pedagogy of memory. To this purpose, the first section will present the core content of history teaching. The second section will present the contributions of the narrativist philosophy of history and the practical meaning of the past, since they understand that approaches to and uses of the past have an impact on how we understand and act in the present. The third section will work on the hypothesis in order to analyze how institutions—such as middle school and subjects such as “History”—mark inclusions and exclusions by (re)producing certain historical narratives. In the last section, it will be proposed that fifty years after the last military coup and in a context of vindication of those who led the indigenous genocide, it is necessary, in order to strengthen democracy, to conduct a thorough review of the uses of the past in the teaching of history from a decolonial perspective and from the pedagogy of memory.

After episodes of mass violence, Ministries of Education must decide which historical narratives to teach younger generations. In post-conflict settings, textbook revisions often acknowledge past violence, but they do so in ways that align with the interests of those in power. This paper draws upon an analysis of state-sponsored educational materials and interviews with education experts and teachers in Rwanda and Sierra Leone to examine how Ministries of Education construct and disseminate historical narratives to newer generations. While both countries adopt different approaches, each uses thematic sequencing, rather than chronological order, to frame their histories. This organizational strategy allows for the amplification of select narratives and the silencing of others. In Rwanda, the war is decoupled from the genocide and taught in isolation, silencing war crimes and amplifying the genocide. In Sierra Leone, the civil war is portrayed as an interruption in an otherwise peaceful national trajectory. Such sequencing limits students’ understanding of the broader historical and political contexts of mass violence. These cases support Halbwachs’ theory of presentism, showing how present-day political interests shape the representation of the past. In Rwanda, historical narratives support the current regime. In Sierra Leone, political and economic disincentives discourage a full reckoning with the war. This study contributes to the literature on education, memory, and state legitimacy by arguing that it is not only what is said—or unsaid—but also how history is organized in curricula that matters. Thematic sequencing enables the decoupling of causes, consequences, and culpability, simplifying complex histories and muting state responsibility. In both countries, textbook structures portray mass violence as a rupture rather than a product of historical processes, thus facilitating state narratives that obscure complicity and foster legitimacy. This ultimately places the onus on teachers to create coherent narratives, often pulling them away from state sponsored