Facilitated dialogues with teachers in conflict-ridden areas: In search of pedagogical openings that move beyond the paralysing effects of perpetrator-victim narratives

This paper shows some mechanisms as well as the paralysing implications of the perpetrator-victim positioning in the context of inservice education with Jewish- and Palestinian-Israeli teachers who teach in Palestinian-Jewish integrated schools. It examines how these teachers remain rooted in the hegemonic historical narratives of their own community, even when their attitudes are challenged and clearer alternatives to the reigning narratives are consid-ered. The findings highlight failures in terms of the potential of educational efforts to help overcome situations of intractable conflict, even within contexts specifically devised for this purpose. However, some openings become apparent in the process of negotiating competing narratives and inventing new dialogic possibilities. The implications of this work suggest that schools and their historical traditions are difficult places in which to effect change and that teacher training may not always be the answer for the need to bring about change. Ongoing agonistics of raising critical issues regarding one's identifications with hegemonic narratives offers openings to take responsibility for both the challenges and the dialogic possibilities that are created in the process.