‘I feel like I can’t do a lot’: Affectivity, reflection and action in ‘Transformative’ genocide education

Guided tours of memorial museums have sought to have an impact on visitors through an affective learning environment and critical reflection leading to ‘action’. However, there is limited work investigating the pedagogical underpinnings of such guided tours in order to understand whether they can facilitate action. This paper presents reflections of 21 students’ experiences of educational visits to the former Nazi extermination and concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau, Poland between 2017 and 2018. Students identified the guided tour of Auschwitz-Birkenau as having an affective dimension that enhanced understanding and brought about a perspective transformation but action was ill-defined. In considering ill-defined action, this paper attempts to frame understanding of the guided tour of the memorial museum within the context of Transformative Learning. It concludes that guiding practices should incorporate space for reflection and provide examples of potential ‘action’ so that visitors can mobilise their deeper understanding and experience long-term personal ‘change’.

Museums and Transitional Justice: Assessing the Impact of a Memorial Museum on Young People in Post-Communist Romania

Memorial museums are frequently established within transitional justice projects intended to reckon with recent political violence. They play an important role in enabling young people to understand and remember a period of human rights abuses of which they have no direct experience. This paper examines the impact of a memorial museum in Romania which interprets the human rights abuses of the communist period (1947–1989). It uses focus groups with 61 young adults and compares the responses of visitors and non-visitors to assess the impact of the museum on views about the communist past, as well as the role of the museum within post-communist transitional justice. The museum had a limited impact on changing overall perceptions of the communist era but visiting did stimulate reflection on the differences between past and present, and the importance of long-term remembrance; however, these young people were largely skeptical about the museum’s role within broader processes of transitional justice. The paper concludes that it is important to recognize the limits of what memorial museums can achieve, since young people form a range of intergenerational memories about the recent past which a museum is not always able to change.

PEDAGOGY OF MEMORIAL PLACES IN POLAND. CURRENT STATE AND DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

The article supports new approaches in Pedagogy linked with wide application of Pedagogy of Memory concept in modern humanitarian knowledge. The correlation of “Pedagogy of Memory” concepts with other definitions used in philosophical, sociological and pedagogical literature (memorial museums, memorial sites) is discussed. Context measurements of memory are presented. The objectives of Pedagogy of Memory are described. Interconnections between Pedagogy of Culture and Pedagogy of Memory are revealed and their intercomplementory functions are given.

INTEGRATION OF LITERARY HERITAGE INTO MEMORIAL SPACE OF A MUSEUM

The article discloses opportunities of widened presentation of literary heritage in historical and artistic exhibitions in Russian literary and memorial museums that are considered by the author as an alternative for reconstruction of memorial space based on typical materials. In reliance on an idea of key role of visual means in social and cultural communication, the author claims that text representation in visual format through the use of the newest technologies of museum design helps to refine effectiveness of perception of conceptional block of museum exhibit by a visitor, its capabilities to draw people's attention. Research sums years­long experience of work of three Russian literary museums (Varlam Shalamov's House Museum (Vologda, Vologda Oblast), Vasily L. Pushkin's House Museum (Moscow), Nikolai Gogol' House – Memorial Museum and Research Library (Moscow)), that shows usefulness of synthesis of memorial component of museum activities and spatial and figurative approach to presentation of literary heritage in museum space.

Role of S. V. Korolenko in Evacuation of the Poltava Literary and Memorial Museum of V. G. Korolenko to Sverdlovsk in 1941

The article is devoted to the problem of the evacuation of cultural values during the Great Patriotic War. The relevance of the research is due to the fact that in historiography insufficient attention is paid to the salvation of the treasures of provincial museums in 1941—1942. The question is raised about the lack of a unified plan for the evacuation of museum collections from the western regions of the USSR in the initial period of the war. The novelty of the research is in the introduction into scientific circulation of a unique document — a report on the evacuation of the literary and memorial museum of V. G. Korolenko from Poltava to Sverdlovsk. The question of the history of the creation of the museum and its work in the pre-war period is considered. The authors dwell on the history of the creation of literary and memorial museums in the USSR in the 1920s-1930s. The composition of the archive of V.G.Korolenko is characterized. It is shown that the graduates of the higher female Bestuzhev courses played a significant role in this process. Particular attention is paid to the activities of the museum director, the writer’s eldest daughter, Sofya Vladimirovna Korolenko. It has been proven that she is credited with saving the museum collection from the front line. According to the authors, the history of the evacuation of cultural property during the war is a poorly studied issue, the solution of which depends on the publication of sources.

The Role of Women in Maji Maji War from 1905 to 1907 in Matumbiland, Ngindo and Ngoniland War Zones, Tanzania

This paper explored the role of women in Maji Maji war of 1905-1907, which was carried in Matumbi land/Ngindo areas, especially at Nandete village, Kibata village and Kilwa-Kipatimu in Lindi Region where the event started and in Ngoni land at Mahenge area, Old Igumbiro village, Kitanda village, Namabengo village, and Peramiho area in Ruvuma Region where the war ended. A qualitative research design was employed through an in-depth interview method to gather specific information on the role of women in the Maji Maji war. Secondary sources were obtained from libraries and memorial museums and YouTube historical clips transcription as well as short film historical analysis were also used. Content analysis was used to explore and analyze the role assumed by women in the Maji Maji war. The study revealed that women in the Maji Maji war of 1905-1907 played a pivotal and nationalistic role through planning, organizing and dividing strategic war zones. Some women carried and distributed the Maji-Medicines to the Maji Maji fighters in the fighting camps. Moreover, women prepared and supplied food to the Maji Maji fighters which enabled them to prolong fighting with their rivals – Germans despite the poor weapons the natives were using. The researcher recommends that for Tanzania to strive and ensure fair and progressive society, women should not be left behind and neglected in the reconstruction of its objective historical knowledge. They should be effectively used in building the economy of the nation by being given positions in both government and non-government organizations.