So That We Do Not Fall Again

This vertical case study applies a transitional justice approach to analyzing curricular reform, as intended, enacted, and experienced in the aftermath of Guatemala’s civil war. Drawing on ethnographic data, I juxtapose the teaching and learning of historical injustice in one urban and one rural classroom, examining how particular depictions of war are positioned as civic narratives for different identity groups, while set against the backdrop of particular ways of understanding the “postwar” period. This study illustrates how young people construct the role and relevance of a history of violence and authoritarianism in relation to their civic identity in a postauthoritarian democracy. It also illuminates how the educational sector addressed legacies of war and how these legacies have been reproduced and challenged through an unequal education system.