Teaching about Genocide
Massachusetts and Rhode Island have mandated the teaching of genocide in high schools. Students may ask: Why do we need to talk about this? A clear, historically grounded answer is: because it can happen to all of us – anywhere – and because knowledge about genocide can help us prevent it. No people are immune to the deep othering and racism that plant the seeds of genocide. And all of us have agency to help stop it, starting with our own actions in raising awareness of the genocide against native Americans in the Americas.
This page presents tools and lessons for bringing specific histories of genocide in Rwanda, Sudan, and Namibia into your classroom. As you approach teaching these topics, it is crucial that this NOT be the only story you tell about Africa so as to not feed into students’ existing misconceptions of the continent as riddled with conflict. As you teach about these topics, highlight 1) the lives of individuals; 2) the ways individuals exercise their agency and their voice; 3) connections to struggles against settler colonialism and racism the United States. These resources below will support these goals.
LessonsConfronting Genocide, Never Again? a high school curriculum unit by the Brown Choices Program. It was updated in 2022 with the co-sponsorship of the African Studies Center, featuring updated content on Rwanda and Sudan, and new content on Namibia. The unit is available for purchase, but a full free lesson on Namibia is available online, as well as a free bank of videos, maps, a preview and a slideshow. Coexist Film and Teachers’ Guide by the Upstander Project. Coexist is a documentary about survivors and healing in Rwanda is available for purchase, or you can borrow it from us at the African Studies Center Teaching Africa Library. The Teachers’ Guide is available for free if you register for it. The Upstander Project also presents excellent and unique videos resources on teaching about injustices perpetrated against Native American and their struggle for reparations. |
Featured Videos2015 Individual World Poetry Slam Champion Emtithal “Emi” Mahmoud reads her powerful poetry about genocide in Sudan: Namibia, The price of Genocide, featuring activist and teacher Jephta Nguherimo’s struggles to hold the German government accountable. Why is it important to prevent genocide? A short video from the Choices Program’s Confronting Genocide: Never Again? Discover the Choices Program’s free video bank on genocide here. |
Readings and Important TextsUnited Nations Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide U.N. Convention on Rights of Indigenous Peoples The Roots of Rwanda’s Genocide by Claude Gatebuke & Helen Epstein Justice as Memory by Tim Longman on Rwanda as well as other freely accessible chapters here. Reckoning with the 20th century’s first genocide in Namibia (Al Jazeera)
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Good Books to Use to Teach Human Agency and Voice in the Face of Genocide
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