4 - Pedagogies of Pain: Teaching “Women, War, and Militarism in Africa”

Summary

Introduction

Teaching a course about war and militarism in Africa presents a number of ethical and pedagogical challenges. How does one teach about the brutal realities of war without contributing to the so-called pornography of violence? Is it possible to “give an account of … shocking events without giving in to a desire to shock?” Are there constructive ways to educate students about war and violence without completely demoralizing them in the process? These difficult questions are just a few of the many that I confronted when I designed and taught “Women, War, and Militarism in Africa,” an upper-division women's studies course at Agnes Scott College. In this essay, I reflect upon my experiences in teaching students about violence in Africa. After briefly introducing readers to the classroom setting, I move into a detailed discussion of the course structure as a whole. Here I not only describe the various assignments, readings, and lectures but also what did and did not work best for the students. Although my primary goals in this chapter are pedagogical, I hope this discussion sparks a broader dialogue about the politics of representing violence in the classroom.

Agnes Scott College is one of the last remaining women's colleges in the nation. In the bustling urban environs of Atlanta, Georgia, the school functions as an intellectual refuge for students and faculty alike. During my one-year fellowship as a visiting lecturer, I had the opportunity to engage with students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Many of the women on campus were nontraditional students, meaning that they were married, had children, or were over twenty-four years of age. A large number also came from underrepresented racial and ethnic groups or identified themselves as lesbian or queer. The diversity on campus guaranteed that classroom discussions would be lively and engaging.

When I taught the course in the spring of 2007, the country was deeply embroiled in the “war on terror.” Although the battlefields of Iraq and Afghanistan seemed far removed from this idyllic college campus, most of my students had been touched by the war in some way or another. With their friends and family members serving in the U.S. military overseas, I found it incredibly difficult to articulate many of my criticisms of the war.