Paper short abstract:

How do teachers of history and social studies in different geopolitical contexts navigate teaching about the devastating war between Israel and Hamas? This paper considers how emotion, politics and historical memory shape educators’ experiences as they teach this particular conflict.

Paper long abstract:

Teaching about the ongoing, devastating war between Israel and Hamas is complex and challenging for many history/social studies teachers. The war raises emotional responses among both students and educators, often related to their religious and cultural connections to the different sides of the conflict. For those without a direct personal connection to the region, the conflict may connect to deeply held imaginaries of belonging, invoked for statebuilding in particular locales. The conflict evokes complex questions of colonialism, diaspora, antisemitism and Islamaphobia that vary across geopolitical context, and are amplified by the overwhelming losses and brutality of the war. In this paper we ask about how teachers of history and social studies in different countries navigate teaching about this conflict, and consider whether current approaches to teaching controversial issues are adequate guides for educators as they seek to promote the discourse and understanding necessary for the maintenance of democratic society.