Memory of violence

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Education
• Sociology

Background:

• Galtung's typology of violence distinguishes between direct, structural, and cultural violence.
• Memory and representation of violence are shaped by cultural products and historical narratives.
• History education plays a crucial role in critical engagement with past violence.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze how different forms of violence (direct, structural, cultural) are remembered and represented.
• To investigate the role of history textbooks in constructing narratives of past violence.
• To explore how assuming victim or perpetrator roles influences the interplay between violence memory, social identity, and morality.

Main Methods:

• Analysis of Galtung's typology of violence.
• Examination of research on narratives of past violence in cultural products, particularly history textbooks.
• Exploration of history education's potential for critical engagement with violence memory.

Main Results:

• History textbook narratives can distort, normalize, or justify violence, but also have the potential to challenge these.
• The roles of victim and perpetrator significantly shape the memory of violence, social identities, and moral perspectives.
• Critical engagement with violence memory in history education is essential.

Conclusions:

• Understanding the representation of violence in cultural products is key to critical historical consciousness.
• History education must equip students to critically analyze narratives of violence.
• The interplay between violence memory, identity, and morality is complex and socially constructed.