Abstracts
Abstract
We all have a sense of evil, but many of us do not ponder its nature or the ways in which our beliefs about evil shape what we teach and learn about the actions of citizens in historical or contemporary times. We argue that the word and concept of evil can be detrimental to the development of good citizens when it is used as a political and educational shibboleth to shut down critical thought about traumatic historical and contemporary events. Read through the work of Hannah Arendt and Alain Badiou, however, a pedagogical engagement with our understandings of evil offers an opportunity to learn from difficult events in a way that might inform contemporary action towards a less violent future.
Résumé
Nous possédons tous une conscience du mal. Or, plusieurs d’entre nous ne réfléchissent pas à sa nature ou aux manières dont celui-ci influence ce que nous enseignons ou apprenons sur les actions citoyennes, dans un contexte historique ou contemporain. Nous croyons que le mot et le concept du mal peuvent nuire au développement de bons citoyens. En effet, ce mot et ce concept peuvent être utilisés comme muselière politique et éducative (shibboleth), mettant un terme à toute pensée critique exercée envers des faits historiques ou des événements contemporains traumatisants. Cependant, à la lumière des ouvrages d’Hannah Arendt et Alain Badiou, allier l’engagement pédagogique à notre compréhension du mal offre la possibilité d’apprendre des événements difficiles de manière à potentiellement influencer les actions d’aujourd’hui, dans l’optique d’un avenir moins violent.
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Biographical notes
Kent den Heyer is an Associate professor in the Department of Secondary Education, University of Alberta. He has published extensively on history and social studies education, thinking education through the work of Alain Badiou and related topics in curriculum theory and teacher education.
Cathryn van Kessel is a doctoral candidate at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on youth conceptualizations of evil and social studies education. She explores not only how evil might be defined in historical and contemporary contexts, but also the effects evil as a word and concept has on our sense of agency.
Bibliography
- Arendt, H. (1998). The human condition (2nd ed.). Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. (Original work published in 1958)
- Arendt, H. (2006). Eichmann in Jerusalem: A report on the banality of evil. New York, NY: Penguin. (Original work published in 1963)
- Badiou, A. (2001). Ethics: An essay on the understanding of evil. (P. Hallward, Trans.). London, United Kingdom: Verso. (Original work published in 1998)
- Badiou, A. (2003). Saint Paul: The foundation of universalism. (R. Brassier, Trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. (Original work published in 1997)
- Bartlett, A. J. (2011). Badiou and Plato: An education by truths. Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Edinburgh University Press.
- Biesta, G. (2010). Good education in an age of measurement: Ethics, politics, democracy. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.
- Borger, J. & Wintour, P. (2014, September 24). Obama vows to destroy Isis’s ‘brand of evil’ as Iraq requests help from Britain. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/24/obama-isis-brand-of-evil-uk-air-strikes-iraq
- Bush, G. W. (2002, January 29). State of the Union address. Presidential Speeches Archive. Charlottesville, VA: Miller Center. Retrieved from http://millercenter.org/president/gwbush/speeches/speech-4540
- Butler, J. (2011, August 29). Hannah Arendt’s challenge to Adolf Eichmann. The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/aug/29/hannah-arendt-adolf-eichmann-banality-of-evil
- Carlson, D. (1985). The Cold War in the curriculum. Educational Leadership, 42(8), 57-60.
- den Heyer, K. (2009). Education as affirmative invention: Alain Badiou and the purpose of teaching and curriculum. Educational Theory, 59(4), 441-463.
- Dews, P. (2008). The idea of evil. Malden, MA: Blackwell.
- Kant, I., (1838). Religion within the boundary of pure reason (Trans. J. W. Semple). Edinburgh, United Kingdom: Thomas Clark. (Original work published in 1793)
- Miller, E. N. (2015). Kant’s religion within the boundaries of mere reason. London, United Kingdom: Bloomsbury.
- Osborne, K. (2000). Our history syllabus has us gasping: History in Canadian schools — past, present, and future. Canadian Historical Review,81(3), 404-436.
- Perkel, C. (2014, May 30). Harper goes on full-scale verbal attack against ‘evil’ communism. The Canadian Press. Retrieved from http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/harper-goes-on-full-scale-verbal-attack-against-evil-communism/article18938819/
- Ravitch, D. (2002). September 11: Seven lessons for the schools. Educational Leadership, 60(2), 6-9.
- Reagan, R. (1983, March 8). “Evil empire” speech [Transcript]. Presidential Speeches Archive. Charlottesville, VA: Miller Center. Retrieved from http://millercenter.org/president/speeches/speech-3409
- Schär, B. C. & Sperisen, V. (2010). Switzerland and the Holocaust: Teaching contested history. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 42(5), 649-669.
- Simon, R. (2005). The touch of the past. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan.
- Simon, R. & Eppert, C. (1997). Remembering obligation: Pedagogy and the witnessing of testimony of historical trauma. Canadian Journal of Education, 22(2), 175-191.
- Stern, J. (2004). Fearing evil. Social Research,71(4), 1111-1126.
- Truth and Conciliation Commission. (2015). Honouring the truth, reconciling for the future: Summary of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. Retrieved from http://www.trc.ca/websites/trcinstitution/File/2015/Findings/Exec_Summary_2015_05_31_web_o.pdf
Appendices
Notes biographiques
Kent den Heyer est professeur agrégé au département d’enseignement secondaire de l’Université de l’Alberta. Il a publié plusieurs articles portant sur l’enseignement de l’histoire et des sciences sociales, repensant l’éducation en s’inspirant des travaux d’Alain Badiou et de concepts similaires portant sur la théorie des programmes et la formation des maîtres.
Cathryn van Kessel est doctorante à l’Université de l’Alberta. Ses recherches portent sur les conceptualisations qu’ont les jeunes du mal et sur l’enseignement des sciences sociales. Elle s’intéresse non seulement à la manière dont l’on peut définir le mal dans des contextes historiques et contemporains, mais également aux impacts que le mal peut avoir sur notre sentiment de pouvoir, comme mot et comme concept.