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In response to the educational challenges countries face after violent conflict, the authors explored the links between larger political processes and decisions about teaching history. The authors focus on secondary schools in Rwanda, where they have been working on educational issues since 2001, and ask the questions: How can material for a history curriculum be developed to avoid propaganda? What tensions surface when teachers negotiate an increasingly repressive political climate? What opportunities can encourage and support democratic teaching and debate about multiple perspectives? Their data come from a case study of an intervention project on teaching history in Rwanda. Their research in Rwanda revealed two tensions related to the influence of ongoing political processes: first, the government's political goal of teaching history to promote a unified Rwandan identity while also emphasizing an understanding of historical evidence and thinking; second, the teaching of history to shape this new national identity while also incorporating the social realities of continuing ethnic identities in productive and nondivisive ways. These tensions were heightened by the government's educational policy, which stipulated that only its official historical narrative should be transmitted. This insistence on having only one official narrative conflicts with another official goal for education reform in Rwanda--to embrace so-called modern, democratic teaching methods that foster skills thought to be essential for successful participation in an increasingly global economy, such as critical thinking and debate. In a postgenocidal context that continues to be marked by repression, the authors found, through their research, that educators may inhibit disagreements--including potentially productive ones--for fear of their erupting into larger and more destructive conflicts. The authors argue that suppressing open debate might actually lay the foundation for further societal violence. (Contains 12 footnotes.)

We describe our research on the role of education in the social reconstruction of countries after mass conflict. Our studies focus on the voices of those least heard in the discourse--teachers, students, administrators and parents. We examine schools in four societies that experienced profound violence, ethnic cleansing and genocide during the 1990s--Croatia, the UN-administered province of Kosovo in Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Rwanda. We question the assumptions that underlie current practice such as a narrow focus on emergency interventions, conflict resolution, peace education and textbook reform. Societal repair must involve a comprehensive set of interventions that recognizes the integrated nature of a society's institutions. Schools are a unique component of building a long-term future. (Contains 9 notes.)

Context The 1994 genocide in Rwanda led to the loss of at least 10% of the country's 7.7 million inhabitants, the destruction of much of the country's infrastructure, and the displacement of nearly 4 million people. In seeking to rebuild societies such as Rwanda, it is important to understand how traumatic experience may shape the ability of individuals and groups to respond to judicial and other reconciliation initiatives. Objectives To assess the level of trauma exposure and the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and their predictors among Rwandans and to determine how trauma exposure and PTSD symptoms are associated with Rwandans' attitudes toward justice and reconciliation. Design, Setting, and Participants Multistage, stratified cluster random survey of 2091 eligible adults in selected households in 4 communes in Rwanda in February 2002. Main Outcome Measures Rates of exposure to trauma and symptom criteria for PTSD using the PTSD Checklist–Civilian Version; attitudes toward judicial responses (Rwandan national and gacaca local trials and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda [ICTR]) and reconciliation (belief in community, nonviolence, social justice, and interdependence with other ethnic groups). Results Of 2074 respondents with data on exposure to trauma, 1563 (75.4%) were forced to flee their homes, 1526 (73.0%) had a close member of their family killed, and 1472 (70.9%) had property destroyed or lost. Among the 2091 total participants, 518 (24.8%) met symptom criteria for PTSD. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) of meeting PTSD symptom criteria for each additional traumatic event was 1.43 (95% CI, 1.33-1.55). More respondents supported the local judicial responses (90.8% supported gacaca trials and 67.8% the Rwanda national trials) than the ICTR (42.1% in support). Respondents who met PTSD symptom criteria were less likely to have positive attitudes toward the Rwandan national trials (OR, 0.77; 95% CI, 0.61-0.98), belief i... [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a reply by Phuong Pham and colleagues to a letter to the editor about their article "Trauma and PTSD symptoms in Rwanda: implications for attitudes toward justice and reconciliation."