Conceptual perspectives and strategies of teaching the recent past, in Mendoza, from a human rights approach

Abstract

The object of interest of this work is constituted by practices of transmission and elaboration of the recent past in which academic research and a pedagogy with a human rights perspective intersect, in Mendoza. The two dimensions through which the analysis is carried out consider, on the one hand, the ways in which teachers conceptualize the extermination plan that took place in our country, during the 1970s and 1980s, and on the another, the pedagogical strategies that are put into play in this process of transmission/ elaboration of the recent past in schools. The research methodology is qualitative. It presents the results of five in-depth interviews conducted with teachers who hold a human rights perspective. Their stories offer an overview of the conceptions about the recent past and repressive violence, as well as the ways in which they have approached this issue in secondary schools. The reflection focuses on the first two decades of this century, but also includes a historicized account about the entry of the so-called recent history into the school curriculum. The findings allow reviewing and putting into tension the scope of categories developed by academic research, and illustrate other uses and conceptualizations in the field of teaching.