Researching and Teaching Social Issues

by Samuel Totten (Editor), Jon E. Pedersen (Editor)

(orginally published by Lexington Books, A division of Rowman & Littlefield)

Researching and Teaching Social The Personal Stories and Pedagogical Efforts of Professors of Education is comprised of original personal essays in which notable teacher educators delineate the genesis and evolution of their thought and work visavis the teaching of social issues. In relating their personal stories, the authors were asked to discuss among other issues those individuals and/or scholarly works that have most influenced them and how, their own aspirations in the field, the frustrations they have faced, their perceptions of the field, their major contributions, and their current endeavors. Our goal was that each and every story be as informative, instructive, and engaging as possible. We believe that readers will be thoroughly engaged as they read the stories of these individuals—stories that are inspiring, filled with passion, and reflective in nature. We also believe that readers will gain unique pedagogical insights into the field and ample food for thought.

The individuals selected for inclusion in the book dedicated a great amount of time, thought, energy, and commitment to creating powerful and pedagogically sound ways to teach about social and/or controversial issues. Many have done so for well over forty years, and have been among the strongest advocates visàvis the place social issues have in the extant curriculum and beyond.

290 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 8, 2005

About the author

Samuel Totten is a genocide scholar, Professor of the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, a Member of the Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, Jerusalem.

Samuel Totten earned a master's degree and a doctoral degree at Teachers College, Columbia University.[2]

In 2004, he served as an investigator on the U.S. State Department's Darfur Atrocities Documentation Project.

In 2005 he became one of the chief co-editors of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal, the official journal of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS).[3]
In 2008 He served as a Fulbright Scholar at the Centre for Conflict Management, National University of Rwanda.

Between 2004 and 2011, he conducted research along the Chad/Darfur, Sudan border into the genocide perpetrated by the Government of Sudan in Darfur. Between 2010 and today he has conducted research into the genocidal actions of the Government of Sudan in the Nuba Mountains in the late 1980s to mid 1990s, and the crimes against humanity being perpetrated today (July 2011-ongoing through at least June 2012)
During the 2009-2010 academic year Totten served as the Ida King Distinguished Visiting Professor of Holocaust and Education at the Richard stockton College of New Jersey.

In 2011, Totten was honored by Teachers College, Columbia University with The Teachers College Distinguished Alumni Award of 2011.

In December 2012-January 2013, Totten traveled throughout the war torn Nuba Mountains as he conducted research into both the genocide by attrition experienced by the people of the Nuba Mountains in the 1990s and the ongoing crisis today (June 2011-present). While there, Government of Sudan Antonov bombers dropped 55 bombs on civilian areas, resulting in deaths and grievous injuries.

Source: Wikipedia