When antisemitism is left out: Swedish teachers’ educational strategies and students’ understanding of the Holocaust during a study trip to memorial sites

Abstract

ABSTRACT By deploying critical discourse analyses (CDA) of interviews with teachers and students before, during, and after a study trip to Holocaust memorial sites, and contextualizing the various discursive practices through participant observations, this study terms the regulating discursive order of teachers’ and students’ talk decontextualized racist evilness. The overarching teaching strategy aimed at leveling the gap between past and present to encourage students to act against racism. This study demonstrates how the universalist concept of the Holocaust was linked to the understanding of antisemitism as racist prejudice, among others. Additionally, it shows how the specificity of historical content was rare as was the explanatory teaching. The study indicates that students developed reasoning connected to the “why” question on their own; however, this reasoning was limited because of the lack of explanatory content (e.g., antisemitism). The study argues that study trips may not be legitimized as a prime bulwark against antisemitism.