Does teaching and learning History matter?

June Jordan is an African American poet and activist who holds the pedagogical agency to explore the ground realities of class, gender, race, immigration, and the political complexities of representation generated by the capitalist structure.

- BY ARUNI SAMARAKOON

The above poem was written in 1982, following the killing of Palestinian refugees in Sabra and Shatila, near Beirut, Lebanon. In this poem, Jordan not only expresses the pain of the Palestinian people but also highlights the courage of Israeli human rights activist and educationist Shulamith Koenig, who challenged the Israeli government’s violent approach. She transforms the realities of pain and the bravery of women into a powerful stance against the militarisation and violent approaches of both the Israeli and Lebanese governments—governments that, at the time, consisted of 112 men and only eightwomen in the Knesset (Parliament) and no female representation in the Lebanese government. Through the symbolism of mothers and the creative power of women, she portrays how women create remarkable spaces from their own wombs, holding their sense of self and embodying the courage to confront and challenge the realities of violence. Readers might then ask why June Jordan matters and how her pedagogical methodology is relevant to the Sri Lankan context.

Therefore, this article is divided into three sections: Section One explores feminist scholarship and how it redefines the teaching and learning of history through everyday lived experiences. Section Two explains why and how reforms to the pedagogy of history are necessary. Section Three presents the conclusion of the article.

The historical pedagogy of June Jordan emphasises reading historical events through the lived experiences of grassroots communities, as these communities are often the subjects of events rather than the agents who create them. In other words, her pedagogy foregrounds the ‘everyday experiences’ of ordinary people to interpret historically organised and ongoing events.