Memory pedagogy in the context of fear: when experiencing fear and still engaging in action

Abstract

Fear can be paralyzing in education. Educational dilemmas of memory are a challenge for grandparents, parents, teachers, or witnesses to history. What to remember, how to tell stories, whether to speak only about positive moments, what language is appropriate when talking about trauma and death. At the center of education related to memory pedagogy, oral history, or thanatopedagogy is the meeting of the narrator and the listener, as well as stories and the life lessons they teach. Sharing memory, learning from someone else’s biography does not eliminate fear; it can help tame it, find epiphanies in a biography, understand the past retrospectively, or find inspiration to act despite fear, with acceptance of traumas and difficult parts of the stories heard.