Teaching nonviolence in times of war.

Abstract

Through a critical analysis of a course entitled "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia," this article discusses the use of educational games, which are set in the past and assign students specific roles and tasks informed by primary sources, as an interactive pedagogy in teaching history. It argues that incorporating games into history courses with international, cross-cultural and comparative foci can not only arouse students' interest in the subject matter, but also make them aware of the contingency of history.

Introduction

The wars of the twentieth century and, thus far, of the twenty-first have been "total wars," exhausting huge amounts of resources, killing more civilians than soldiers and devastating the environment. The question of how to replace violent with nonviolent means of conflict resolution has now become extremely urgent (Lee, 2003; Weaver and Biesecher-Mask, 2003). Exploring this issue from interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives, this article reflects on the experience of teaching "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia" through the use of educational games at Pace University in New York. International in scope and interdisciplinary in approach, this course examines several well-known cases of nonviolent protests in relation to the history of Confucianism, Hinduism and Buddhism in Asia. It challenges students to appreciate the dynamics of nonviolent activism from historical and comparative perspectives.

At the pedagogical level, incorporating games into history course is known to expand the student-centered aspect of the learning process. Set in particular political and social settings, these innovative games assign students specific roles and tasks informed by primary sources. The games usually have winners and losers, and the roles are clearly structured and well-defined. While playing characters in history, students can relive the past and gain personal perspectives on the subject matter (Adams, 1973; van Ments, 1989). Because of the opportunity for greater student participation and reflective inquiry, the games create a dynamic learning environment that transforms students into active learners. The content to be learnt and discussed is acted out by students before it is assimilated. Students find out the complexity of the subject matter and the ways in which they can relate to certain historical characters in the games (Barab and Kirshner, 2001; Erwin, 2005).

What is more important is that the games encourage students to use trial-and-error strategies in the learning process. Students can test their ideas, understand their mistakes and benefit from watching others solve problems. The competitive nature of the games also allows students to develop such skills as attention to task, cooperation with others, leadership and communicative skills, and self-assessment (Landsberg, 2004; Shaftel, Pass and Schnabel, 2005). The combination of educational games, role-playing, and friendly competition is the main reason for increased student participation and performance. While the professor can observe what students know or do not know about the subject matter, students can assess their own progress (Lawrence, 2004). With the emphasis on creative group work and individual responsibility, students gain confidence to trust their judgments and show more interest in learning than in traditional classroom instruction (Roach and Gunn, 2002).

This study proposes that educational games can and should be used as an interactive and reflective pedagogy in history courses with international, cross-cultural and comparative foci. This pedagogy makes students aware of the contingency of history. Instead of subscribing to a pre-deterministic view of the past, students recognize that all events are unique and that any major change in history is dependent on everything that happened before. Contingency is a major principle of all historical interpretations. Whatever happens in the past is not random, but it is contingent on multiple factors, including the vagaries of individual acts (Windschuttle, 2000; Wineburg, 2001).

Beginning with an account of the origins of the course, "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia," this article discusses its learning objectives and structure. In particular, it examines the ways in which educational games incorporating dramas and debates can be used to enhance students' learning experience and to help them understand the contingency of the past. In so doing, it seeks to stimulate further discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of this pedagogy in teaching history.

Why Teach "Nonviolent Activism in Modern Asia"?

Nonviolence has long been used by leaders of political and social movements in twentieth-century Asia as an effective strategy for fighting against Western imperialism and colonialism, pursuing democracy and justice, creating social and political change, as well as resolving domestic and global conflicts. The most notable examples are Mohandas Gandhi in India, Dalai Lama in Tibet, Aung San Suu Kyi in Burma, the People's Power in the Philippines, the democracy movement in South Korea, and the Tiananmen pro-democracy student movement in China. Most students in the United States have little knowledge of these thinkers and activists in modern Asia, and of their significance in world history. Overcoming this ignorance is imperative for American students in the emerging global community of the twenty-first century.

Designed to cover roughly 150 years (1850-2000), this course focuses on nonviolent thinkers and activists in Indian subcontinent, China, Tibet and Burma. The assigned readings consist of different types of "texts": literary works, memoirs, translated documents, eyewitnesses' accounts, historical narratives and documentaries. Through a critical study of these texts, students gain a better understanding of the agency of social and political change in particular settings. For example, they see historical parallels between Dr. Martin Luther King in the United States and other Asian thinkers such as Gandhi, Dalai Lama and Aung San Suu Kyi. Even though there is no evidence that non-violence can work against modern terrorists at the beginning of the twenty-first century, it is important for students to acknowledge that nonviolence was an effective means of conflict resolution in some parts of Asia in the past.

Through a combination of innovative teaching techniques, this course differs from other Asian history courses on two levels. First, it helps students develop inter-Asian cultural perspectives in the study of Asia. Rather than seeing India, China, Tibet and Burma as totally separate regions as in many history textbooks in the United States, this course singles out the theme of nonviolent protest as a key to understanding the dynamics of political activism in modern Asia. This inter-Asian dimension enables students to situate the political development of these places within the wider contexts of domestic and global conflicts across Asia from the past to the present. Second, it contributes to East-West dialogue through a multicultural understanding of peace and nonviolence. It shows that the core values of Hindu, Buddhist and Confucian civilizations--decency, civility, concern for public good, idealism and critical thinking--are important to political and social movements in modern Asia. The study of the philosophical origins of nonviolent activism in the world's major civilizations highlights that the interactions among different civilizations today is not a "clash," as Samuel P. Huntington has argued, but an entanglement whose inspirations are worth exploring and whose mutual developments are worth promoting (Huntington, 1993; Wells, 2003; Harris, 2004). In essence, this course places nonviolent activism at the center of discussion, fostering an outlook of cultural sensitivity and global interdependence, as well as supporting a participatory and shared intellectual environment between students and teacher. Once placed in this context, students can not only engage in an active dialogue with the great minds of the past, but also develop a more sophisticated understanding of the world as opposed to a simplistic division of the globe into mutually hostile civilizations.

Why Use Games as a Learning Tool?

Over the past several years, Pace University has been one of "the Reacting to the Past consortium" members. The Reacting to the Past pedagogy, pioneered by Mark C. Carnes of Barnard College in 1995, consists of elaborate games, in which students are assigned "roles" with "victory objectives" informed by classic texts in the history of ideas, and class sessions are run entirely by students, with professors as advisors. The Reacting to the Past courses currently available at Pace University challenge students through intense role-playing games to debate the ideas and politics of great figures from the past, such as Socrates, Galileo, Rousseau, Burke and Gandhi. Incorporating the Reacting to the Past pedagogy into a subject combining by necessity an area studies approach with discipline-specific methodology presents particular challenges. A regular course in upper-level Asian History as part of the liberal arts education attempts to do several things at once. As a history course, it must introduce students to research methodology specific to the discipline. As a course dealing with nonviolent activism in modern Asia, it must provide sufficient knowledge for students to acquaint themselves with societies and cultures that are largely unfamiliar to them. The adoption of the Reacting to the Past pedagogy can be justified only if the games are designed to introduce students to the ideas and practices of nonviolent thinkers. For the purpose of this course, I adopted one of the Reacting to the Past games entitled Defining a Nation: India on the Eve of Independence, 1945 and developed a new one on "The 1989 Tiananmen pro-democracy student movement in China."

The first game is set at the Simla conference (1945) in which the British viceroy asked leaders of various religious and political constituencies to discuss the future of India. The focus of discussion is whether the British would transfer power to the Indian National Congress, which claimed to speak for all Indians, or whether a separate Muslim state, Pakistan, will be carved out of India to be governed by Muslims, as the Muslim League proposed. Through a critical reading of the literature of Hindu revival movement and of Islamic nationalism, and the writings of Nehru, Jinnah, and Gandhi, students try to reconcile religious and ethnic identities with nation-building. The second game is set against the dramatic political events that occurred in China between April and June 1989. Drawing on the newly published collection of hundreds of internal government and Communist Party documents, The Tiananmen Papers, it re-creates the historical scenario in which different factions at the top level of the Chinese Communist Party leadership debated how to deal with the pro-democracy student movement spreading across the country. By reading The Tiananmen Papers against the writings of pro-democracy activists, students learn to seek different solutions to the political unrest (Nathan and Link, 2002).

Traditional subject matter and innovative pedagogy are closely interconnected in these games, the goals of which are to advance the role of Pace University students as public intellectuals and global activists, and to challenge them through historical role-playing to debate the ideas and politics of nonviolent activism in the Indian and Chinese contexts. This course combines fourteen three-hour class sessions with a guided tour of the Headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Each class session is conducted as a seminar, and the professor acts as a resource person, analyzing a specific topic from a broader perspective and answering questions. In the two game sessions, students are divided into teams and assigned specific "roles". Each team is required to achieve its "victory objectives" based on primary sources. While students collaborate with each other in group discussion, debates and presentation, they are constantly reminded in the games to present their arguments in a logical, sensible and polite manner. The preparation proved to be a daunting task, but the results met and even sometimes exceeded my expectations.

What are the Learning Outcomes?

What distinguish this innovative pedagogy from a traditional class are the close interactions between students and teacher in preparation for each game, the students' thorough understanding of particular texts, and their enthusiasm and excitement in the games. Drawing on student evaluations and feedback, what follows is a critical analysis of the strengths and limitations of this pedagogy.

Most students found the games to be very challenging, stimulating and engaging. One often looks at the past and criticizes historical figures for their poor judgments and mistakes, but the games draw attention to the complexity of past events through a combination of primary sources, role-playing and debates. In particular, the re-acting nature of the games allows students to reconstruct the events and explore different patterns of statecraft and nonviolent struggles. By participating in the games as if they were living in the past, students find it easier to understand the complicated situations that Gandhi and Tiananmen student protesters encountered. As one student remarked,

   [The strength of the games] ... lies in the fact that it makes you
   aware of the battle faced by these individuals in achieving their
   goals through nonviolent tactics. You almost feel as it you were
   Gandhi, a student protestor or a Chinese Communist leader. As a
   learning tool, it makes you understand these events better. It is
   one thing to sit there and read about the events. It is another
   experience when you can actually relive these
   events.

This interactive pedagogy results in a very valuable learning experience. Students often refer to these games as an exciting way of learning history. Fascinated by the whole experience, one student made the following comments,

   I feel the games help you understand the events a lot better than
   just reading the book alone. It is a more hands-on approach and it
   is a lot of fun.... The games change one's perception of history
   in general.... A stereotype of history often states that it is
   boring and all you do is to sit and memorize dates, names and
   places. The games kill that stereotype because not only do you
   study history, but you actually live it out and have fun with it.

Through active involvement, students come to understand the past and develop effective interpersonal skills, which they would have otherwise had no opportunity to acquire in a traditional classroom setting. As another student expressed her excitement about these games at the end of the semester,

   For me, it was a new experience. I never learn history this way,
   and I find it very fascinating. Sometimes, it was confusing for me
   but these games helped me understand what was going on back then
   and what problems the governments of China, India, and Britain
   faced. Both games placed me in very unique historical situations
   and I was able to feel the passion of those figures with different
   visions for their countries' future.

Underlying this interactive pedagogy is a participatory learning experience between students and teacher. The ultimate goal of this cooperative and co-creative learning process is to transform students from passive recipients into active learners. As one student recalled,

   I would have to say that this interactive learning is my favourite.
   I believe people learn better when they participate rather than
   simply being lectured to. During these debates, my mind does not
   wander ... I am constantly on my toes about what is happening and
   this helps me remember the topics under discussion. I remember
   things because I want to, not because I must cram for an examination
   and then forget it all.... The games provide a creative outlet as
   well as a way for me and other students to take part in reacting
   major historical moments.

What is most gratifying to me is that students understand the content of the course and enjoy themselves tremendously in the learning process. They also come to grips with the methodology of interpreting historical sources. Given the competitive nature of the games, each team must be very critical of the sources and evidence used by the other teams to construct their arguments. As one student commented on the problematic nature of historical materials,

   Being a science major, I have not given much thought to the nature
   of primary sources since many of the subjects in my science classes
   are learnt through experiments performed in the laboratory, not
   through documents produced by people in the past. I think these
   games help me better understand the importance of primary sources.
   They provide so much background into the minds of different parties
   involved in various situations. I used to read newspaper articles
   and believe the story without thinking whether it is biased or
   not ... I think these debates have really added something special
   to this class. I have never seen debates in class run this well....
   I learnt that looking at significant events from the perspective of
   each party and the reason for their actions in history makes the
   topic even more interesting to me. These games have given me a new
   way to look at the past.

The effective use of primary sources is indeed a key to the success of the games. The primary sources take students back to the events and the mindsets of the past, and arouse a sense of curiosity and imagination among students throughout the learning process. Notwithstanding these strengths, these historical games have some limitations. First, the pace of the games can be too intense for some students. Because students from different backgrounds and cultures learn differently, it is important to modify the game materials and debate sessions according to the students' academic standards and cultural backgrounds. Second, given the competitive nature of the games, some students who lost in the games were extremely disappointed. It is always necessary to schedule a reflective session as a "healing" process.

Conclusion

Historical games combined with courses with international, cross-cultural and comparative foci can expand students' intellectual horizons and enrich their learning experience. Such innovative and interactive pedagogy is a very effective learning tool if it is closely tied in with the discipline and subject matter of the course. Students are highly likely to embrace this component if it is recognizably connected with the topics under discussion. With respect to my experience and the findings presented above, the following points are of primary importance in teaching a course on the history of nonviolent activism. At the empirical level, it is necessary to introduce students to the narratives of peace thinkers and nonviolent activists in different parts of the world. Their stories are wonderful examples of political and social activists who utilized their gifts and talents to fight for positive change. Their ideas give students a conceptual tool for dealing with the conflicts that they encounter on both a personal and global level. Therefore, the study of nonviolent activism is not just a scholastic exercise, but can help students articulate a vision of peaceful and nonviolent society from multicultural perspectives. Besides rejecting the dehumanization of the "enemy" in contemporary political rhetoric, the most effective way to create a culture of peace is to internalize the values of justice, compassion, and respect for the other.

Joseph Tse-Hei Lee, Pace University

Joseph Tse-Hei Lee is Associate Professor of History at Pace University and published The Bible and the Gun: Christianity in South China (New York: Routledge, 2003).