The University of San Francisco USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center Doctoral Dissertations Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects 2018 Critical Peace Pedagogies at the American Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights: A Comparative Case Study Ion Vlad University of San Francisco, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.usfca.edu/diss Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons, Museum Studies Commons, and the Peace and Conflict Studies Commons Recommended Citation Vlad, Ion, "Critical Peace Pedagogies at the American Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights: A Comparative Case Study" (2018). Doctoral Dissertations. 444. https://repository.usfca.edu/diss/444 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, Capstones and Projects at USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of USF Scholarship: a digital repository @ Gleeson Library | Geschke Center. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The University of San Francisco CRITICAL PEACE PEDAGOGIES AT THE AMERICAN CENTER FOR CIVIL AND HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE CANADIAN MUSEUM FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: A COMPARATIVE CASE STUDY A Dissertation Presented To The Faculty of the School of Education International and Multicultural Department In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Education by Ion Vlad San Francisco May 2018 THE UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO Dissertation Abstract Critical Peace Pedagogies at the American National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights: A Comparative Case Study The struggle for racial equity in the United States and Canada is ongoing. Troubled historical legacies in both countries have present-day implications. African Americans and Indigenous Canadians are still two of the most marginalized populations from the standpoint of socioeconomics and political representation (Giroux, 2013; Vickers, 2012). In order to redress these problems, human rights and peace education have to pose structural questions and expose systemic unbalances. In the recent past, neoliberalism has had a major influence on the organization and content of American and Canadian formal education, obscuring some of these structural questions (Ravitch, 2013). In this context, human rights museums such as the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg are non- formal third spaces of education that strive to make sense of these complicated legacies and envision a more inclusive present. This exploration is a comparative case study which employs a holistic analysis to look at how these two museums construct and teach peace and human rights, the role that they ascribe to memory and emotion in these constructions, and their engagement with and augmenting of formal education. The three conceptual frameworks of analysis are critical peace pedagogies for troubled societies (Bekerman and Zembylas, 2013), sentimental education (Rorty, 1998), and third space theory (Bhabha, 1994). Content analysis is conducted on a variety of sources in the two museums: semi-structured interviews, exhibits, audiovisual materials, artifacts, and direct observations. ii The museums are found to display more contestation of the past than of the present, prioritize cultural and political rights over socioeconomic rights, and impact the visitors’ emotions powerfully through a variety of very participative visceral experiences that bypass the intellect. Furthermore, the National Center for Civil and Human Rights and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights constantly attempt to go beyond commemoration and employ memory as the source of agency. These third spaces of education can engage with traditional education through a multitude of means that enhance classroom pedagogy, adding depth, complexity, and a critical lens to formal schooling. The major task of both institutions in order to make their pedagogies even more dialogic is to intensify the shift from a pedagogy of recognition to one of redistribution and to emphasize the socioeconomic aspects of peace and human rights much more prominently. Ion Vlad_______________________ 4/26/2016 Candidate Date Dissertation Committee Dr. Monisha Bajaj 4/26/2016 Chairperson Dr. Susan Katz 4/26/2016 Dr. David Donahue 4/26/2016 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to thank Nicola and Robert very much for making this whole thing possible. Their friendship has sustained my goals and aspirations. Furthermore, my family has offered constant encouragement. My mother and father, Cornelia and Tudor, have been very supportive parents. My sister, Oana, and her husband, Joel, provided the best food, fun, and shelter that a researcher can hope for in Atlanta. Their baby and my niece, Ina Silvia, is probably the best and wisest person I know at the moment. And she hasn’t even started talking yet. In my hometown of Cluj, my grandparents Carmen and Nuni have been a most informed audience for critically exploring some of my ideas. Their own scholarship and pedagogy in comparative literature and linguistics have been an inspiration to me. In the city of Montreal, I really thank my uncle’s family. Diana, Cristina, Ema and Vio have been such good friends during my trips and studies in Canada. What a pleasure to visit them! Several professors in the School of Education at the University of San Francisco have been remarkably dialogic pedagogues, always operating from a place of solidarity and genuine attention. Professors Bajaj, Katz, and Donahue made this dissertation vastly better with their exceptional, deliberate input. Similarly, Professors Koon and McCready offered valuable advice. I am indebted to all of them. While preserving their anonymity, I wish to underline the professionalism of every museum practitioner I have interacted with at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta and the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg. They are some of the kindest and most compelling educators that I have had the privilege iv to meet. Their work and expertise are truly outstanding and so crucial; they taught me very much. Finally, this dissertation is dedicated to my grandmother Ica. She devoted her entire life to the welfare of others and always shared with her grandchildren everything that she had. I miss her a lot. v TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ........................................................................................................................ ii SIGNATURE PAGE …………………………………………………………………….iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................... iv CHAPTER ONE: THE RESEARCH PROBLEM ......................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem .....................................................................................................1 Background and Need ..........................................................................................................5 Purpose of the Study ............................................................................................................8 Research Questions ..............................................................................................................8 Conceptual Frameworks ......................................................................................................8 Delimitations ......................................................................................................................20 Educational Significance ...................................................................................................21 Definition of Terms............................................................................................................22 CHAPTER TWO: REVIEW OF LITERATURE ........................................................ 24 Museum Education ............................................................................................................24 Critical Pedagogies ............................................................................................................50 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY ..................................................................... 69 Restatement of Purpose......................................................................................................69 Research Design.................................................................................................................74 Data Analysis and Representation .....................................................................................78 INTRODUCTION TO FINDINGS ................................................................................ 83 CHAPTER FOUR: HUMAN RIGHTS AND THE PAST-PRESENT CONTINUUM .................................................................................................................. 85 vi The National Center for Civil and Human Rights .............................................................88 The Canadian Museum for Human Rights ........................................................................98 CHAPTER FIVE: HUMAN RIGHTS AS INDIVISIBLE, UNIVERSAL, AND PRIMARILY INDIVIDUAL .......................................................................................