Teaching and Learning War Research Network: Education and Modern Conflict in an International Comparative Perspective

教与学战争研究网络将来自一系列学术学科和专业背景的欧盟和国际研究人员和利益攸关方聚集在一起，从国际比较的角度探讨年轻人对两次世界大战的文化记忆信息的参与和接受程度。在英国第一次世界大战一百周年之际，澳大利亚、加拿大和新西兰的年轻人发现自己是国家赞助和社区层面纪念活动的前沿和中心。随着两次世界大战从人们的记忆中淡出，英联邦的年轻人被挑选出来，成为那些将把战争的记忆发扬光大的人。初步迹象表明，在第二次世界大战80周年和90周年之际，年轻人也将受到类似的重视。正是在这个关头，随着英国和英联邦的纪念焦点从第一次世界大战转移到第二次世界大战，新的问题出现了，涉及1)这些灾难性事件在21世纪的教学方式，2)教育中的文化记忆信息，以及3)年轻人如何回应和解释这些信息。尽管近年来对记忆和战争记忆的研究有所加强，但年轻人如何接触到关于这些开创性历史事件的文化信息，在很大程度上还没有被探索。询问有关战争记忆的教学实践，有可能阐明战争记忆是如何形成的。正如Roediger和Wertsch所指出的，教育是“一个新的记忆研究领域的核心学科之一”，因为“学生对过去的许多近乎无意识的态度”可以追溯到“教育过程”的元素。在英国、澳大利亚、加拿大和新西兰，两次世界大战仍然是正式和非正式课程的重要特征。这两次世界大战是危机的关键时刻，英国世界作为一个更大的共同利益共同体走到了一起。与此同时，他们提出了有关大英帝国历史教学的重要问题，这是当代英联邦各国激烈辩论的一个领域。这四个案例研究共同讲述了白人帝国的男子气概和为帝国做出的牺牲，这在很大程度上与国家认同感的上升相一致，从而允许进行连贯的探究。然而，这些案例研究的独特性(或其他方面)需要与这些白人定居者殖民地的土著人民的经历以及肯尼亚、牙买加或印度等非白人殖民地在这些冲突中的经历相对照。为了使我们能够就这一主题开发一个更大的研究项目，网络活动将围绕四个主要问题展开：1.年轻人如何看待过去？2.土著和/或少数民族历史如何融入两次世界大战的表现和教学中？3.移情在两次世界大战的教学中扮演什么角色？4.以年轻人为中心的纪念活动与英国世界各地的情况相比如何？这个研究网络之所以与众不同，是因为它试图打破学科界限，特别是历史、记忆研究、教育和文学研究之间的界限；其重点是从比较的角度对两次世界大战的记忆和再现；因为它将促进国际合作，并发展与海外研究人员和专业利益攸关方，特别是在教育部门的密切联系。它利用并巩固了一些现有网络之间的非正式联系，这些网络包括：AHRC资助的项目；IWM；伦敦大学学院IoE大屠杀教育中心；第一次世界大战百年战场之旅计划；大英帝国战争研究小组；记忆、叙事和历史研究中心；青年研究小组；以及全球冲突时期的文化交流项目。

The Teaching and Learning War research network brings together EU and international researchers and stakeholders, from a range of academic disciplines and professional backgrounds, to explore young people's engagement with and receptivity to the cultural memory messages of the two world wars from an international comparative perspective. At the centenary of the First World War in the UK, Australia, Canada, and New Zealand young people find themselves 'front and centre' of both state-sponsored and community-level commemorations. As the two world wars fade from living memory, young people across the Commonwealth have been singled out as those who will be carrying the memory of the war forward. Early indications suggest similar emphasis will be placed on young people in the 80th and 90th anniversaries of the Second World War. It is at this juncture, as the commemorative focus in Britain and the Commonwealth shifts from the First to the Second World War, that new questions arise about 1) the ways these cataclysmic events are taught in the 21st century, 2) what cultural memory messages feature in education, and 3) how young people respond to and interpret these messages. While study of memory and war remembrance has intensified in recent years, the way young people engage with the cultural messages about these seminal historical events is largely unexplored. Interrogating the practices of teaching and learning about war remembrance has the potential to illuminate how memories of war are shaped. As Roediger and Wertsch identify, education is one of the 'core disciplines for a new field of memory studies' since 'many of the almost unconscious attitudes that students have about the past' are traceable to elements of 'the educational process'. The two world wars - as crucial moments of crisis where the 'British world' came together as a larger community of common interest - remain significant features of the curriculum, both formal and informal, in Britain, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. At the same time, they raise important questions about the teaching of the history of the British Empire, an area of heated contemporary debate across the Commonwealth. These four case studies share a narrative of white, imperial masculinity and sacrifice for Empire largely compatible with the rise of a sense of national identity, thus allowing for coherent enquiry. However, the distinctiveness (or otherwise) of these case studies needs to be held up against the experiences of indigenous peoples in these white settler colonies as well as the experience of non-white colonies in these conflicts such as Kenya, Jamaica or India. To enable us to develop a larger research project on this theme, networking events will centre on four main questions:1. How do young people think about the past? 2. How have indigenous and/or ethnic minority histories been integrated into the representation and teaching of the two world wars? 3. What role does empathy play in the teaching of the two world wars? 4. How does youth-centered commemorative activity compare across the British world?This research network is distinctive because of the disciplinary boundaries it seeks to break down, particularly between history, memory studies, education and literary studies; its focus on the memory and representation of the two world wars from a comparative perspective; and because of the ways it will foster international collaboration and the development of strong links with overseas researchers and professional stakeholders, particularly in the education sector. It capitalises on and consolidates informal links between a number of existing networks including AHRC-funded projects; IWM; UCL IoE Centre for Holocaust Education; First World War Centenary Battlefield Tours Programme; British Empire at War Research Group; Centre for Research in Memory, Narrative and Histories; Youth Research Group; and Cultural Exchange in a Time of Global Conflict project.