Sheppard, Maia. “Creating a Caring Classroom in which to Teach Difficult Histories.” (2010)

The writer presents a case study of the classroom culture fostered by a university history professor whose pedagogical decisions encouraged students to make personal connections with difficult issues, events, and ideas in history and their own lives. The writer describes the efforts by this experienced teacher to create a classroom where students from diverse national, ethnic, and linguistic backgrounds could challenge their assumptions about Africa by learning about and from contested and traumatic historical events.