JOURNEY COMPANIONS: LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL IDEAS
3.3 Conceptualising controversial issues and genocide
3.3.1 Controversial issues conceptualisation
Semantically, the Free Dictionary Online conceptualises controversial issues as structured discussion. The same source mentions controversy, a noun from the same family as controversial and defines it as “a dispute, especially a public one,
between sides holding opposing views”
(http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Controversial+issues). The same source goes on calling a controversy a public dispute concerning a matter of opinion”. The Thesaurus shares the view of misunderstanding and calls a controversy “a
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disagreement about something important; a dispute where there is strong argument;
a contentious speech act”(http://www.freethesaurus.com/Controversial+Controversial issues). Briefly, the two online dictionaries semantically put forward the idea of a misunderstanding between a group of people about an idea and the disagreement brings a polemic in discussion. The idea of educational context is not mentioned in the previous semantic conceptualisations.
Conceptually, scholars do not explain controversial issues in the same way.
However, all mention the idea of disagreement about ideas between groups of people. The shortest meaning was given by Manyane (1995). For him “at its simplest, controversy refers to a discussion about something which people disagree with or argue about” (1995, p.1). More multifaceted is the idea that, controversy is a disagreement between individuals or groups of people, societies or even neighbouring countries about ideas, theories, and conclusions. The attempt to resolve the disagreement is conflictual and can result in anger, emotions or bias (Chikoko et al., 2011; Hess, 2009; Johnson & Johnson, 1979; Johson & Johnson, 1997; Stradling, 2001; Stradling, 2003; Wassermann et al., 2008; Wassermann, 2011).
Consequently controversial issues can be understood in a classroom context as:
(…) those problems and disputes which divide society and for which significant groups within society offer conflicting explanations and solutions based on alternative values. Such disputes may be about: - what has happened – the causes of the present situation – the desirable ends to works towards – the appropriate course of action to be taken – the likely effects of that action (Stradling, 1984, pp. 2-3).
More specifically, controversial issues can be socially divisive, sensitive and provoke prejudices. There is a distinction between a difficult or sensitive topic and controversial issues. In fact, some controversial issues are called sensitive “because they relate to particularly painful, tragic, humiliating or divisive times in a country’s past, and there is a fear or concern that reference to them in history lessons might renew old wounds and divisions and bring back too many painful memories”
(Stradling, 2001, p.99). Most topics have the capacity to be sensitive if they evoke an emotional response or there are competing ideas about how they should be understood or addressed (Lowe, 2015). In some countries such as Northern Ireland,
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some families have been affected What by shootings, bombings or paramilitary groups’ activities. Sensitive issues depend on individual. What is challenging for one person might not be for another. Referring to the Northern Ireland tragic past reminds learners of sad events characterised sometimes by defeats which humiliated their groups. Thus sensitive/difficult issues are delicate and some people might find hard to discuss them because of their background or experiences.
Topics become controversial for different reasons such as the cause, the content, people involved and the age of learners. The Historical Association in the United Kingdom emphasizes the causes of the controversy. Frequently social justice issues are at the basis: “The study of History can be emotive and controversial where there is actual or perceived unfairness to people by another individual or group in the past”
(The Historical Association, 2007, p. 3). In the classroom context, an issue also may be controversial due to the disparities of the content offered in school history and other histories from the family/community or media (The Historical Association, 2007). As such it is not the issue itself that creates conflict but the participants’
reactions due to their experience, attitudes and skills (McCully, 2006).
Issues may be controversial due to the content. In this regard, there are academic controversial issues (Stradling, 2001) also called empirical issues by Lockwood (1996). For academic controversies, there are “disagreements about what happened and why it happened and over significance” (Stradling, 2001, p. 99). For instance, to respond to the question about who grounded the presidential jet in Rwanda on 6 April 1994 requires the use of historical methods by collecting data related to the question to formulate the best answer supported by evidence. Knowledgeable people may continue to disagree on the instigator. As Lockwood puts it, the disagreement is around “the quality and relevance of evidence as well as the logic employed in coming to a particular conclusion” (Lockwood, 1996, p. 29). Another example is that some authors posit that the Genocide against the Tutsi was due to permanent conflict between the two main social classes, Hutu and Tutsi, while others find that the two social classes’ relationships were harmonious during the precolonial period but were interrupted by colonial rule. Thus there are different schools of thought about the causes of the Genocide as a controversial issue.
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Regarding content, there are also socially divisive controversies which are associated with values (Lockwood, 1999). Socially divisive controversies divide nations and prompt people’s biases and they are generally sensitive (Stradling, 2001). However, Stradling (2001) notes that all controversial issues are not necessarily sensitive. For instance those ‘controversial public issues’ (Waterson, 2009) such as nuclear disarmament, juvenile crime, divorce, quota policy or state assisted suicide which generate strong views but are not necessarily divisive or sensitive such as ethnicity or learners’ cultural identity (McCully, 2006; The Historical Association, 2007).
Alongside the content, people also make a topic controversial. In some circumstances, some parents, politicians or pressure groups question why some issues are embedded in the curriculum. At the same time, for example, parents’
committees could disagree on a particular teacher who has to teach a certain issue (Stradling, 1984). Before the introduction of the Genocide in the history curriculum in Rwanda, some people had opposed the decision arguing that it would not help to unite the Rwandan society (Rutembesa, 2011a). Accordingly, one group or community may consider an issue as controversial while it should not be the case for another one (Wassermann et al., 2008). For instance, the history and politics of the 1990s war and Genocide in Rwanda may be highly controversial in a class of learners including Rwandans from perpetrators’ and survivors’ families, but uncontroversial in a class of Mozambican-born school learners. The former group has different experiences hence evidence which should not be the case for the second group.
The age of people, or more specifically in the context of my study that of learners may, also make the teaching of an issue controversial. In fact, the strength of feeling about certain issues can be affected by the learners’ age which can help them to be aware of some issues or not (The Historical Association, 2007).
The space and time frame are also factors to be considered in the understanding of controversial issues. A controversy does not have an everlasting character. The sensitivity can go away, return or last for many years. Some issues such as slavery in the United States of America or colonialism are still topical. In addition,
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controversy varies from one group to another one (The Historical Association, 2007).
In their paper comparing controversial issues and teacher education in South Africa and Britain, Chikoko et al. (2011) show that some topics such as human immunodeficiency virus and corporal punishment are raised by some African participants whereas it is not the case for British participants. The latter mentioned specific issues such as the Iraq war and the Middle East or immigration. The role of the community in the teaching of controversial issues is therefore a noteworthy concern for many authors (Burron, 2006; Manyane, 1995; McCully, 2006; Stradling, 1984). In addition learners may bring preconceived ideas from home influenced not only by their families but also by the media. But, it is more difficult to deal with the most recent controversial topics than the remote ones in history teaching:
The more contemporary the issue the greater the problems for the teacher, mainly because the outcome may still be very difficult to predict: We do not have the benefit of hindsight regarding the significance of recent events; students are likely to bring with them into the classroom their own interpretations, experiences, judgements and prejudices; the primary sources of evidence are likely to be biased, incomplete and contradictory; and it is even difficult to establish criteria for determining what does and does not constitute valid evidence (Stradling, 1984, p. 3).
In this study, the term controversial issues is used for problems for which no common understanding is held by Rwandan society and sometimes may cause pain, anger and even fear due to their sensitivity. In general, some controversial issues are not discussed openly by the general public but in schools they are discussed in different ways. For this study my working concept relies mainly on Stradling’s (1984) conceptualisation. Thus, controversial issues are those problems for which scholars, the general public, official circles and learners lack a common understanding regarding their conceptualisation, causes, sequences, consequences and action to be taken to deal with them. The discussion of controversial issues may or not bring polemic, anger, fear, painful memories or hope.