Overview

Sesame Street has taught generations of Americans their letters and numbers, and also how to better understand and get along with people of different races, faiths, ethnicities, and temperaments. But the show has a global reach as well, with more than thirty co-productions of Sesame Street that are viewed in over 150 countries. In recent years, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has provided funding to the New York-based Sesame Workshop to create international versions of Sesame Street. Many of these programs teach children to respect diversity and tolerate others, which some hope will ultimately help to build peace in conflict-affected societies. In fact, the U.S. government has funded local versions of the show in several countries enmeshed in conflict, including Afghanistan, Kosovo, Pakistan, Jordan, and Nigeria. Can Big Bird Fight Terrorism? takes an in-depth look at the Nigerian version, Sesame Square, which began airing in 2011. In addition to teaching preschool-level academic skills, Sesame Square seeks to promote peaceful coexistence-a daunting task in Nigeria, where escalating ethno-religious tensions and terrorism threaten to fracture the nation. After a year of interviewing Sesame creators, observing their production processes, conducting episode analysis, and talking to local educators who use the program in classrooms, Naomi Moland found that this child-focused use of soft power raised complex questions about how multicultural ideals translate into different settings. In Nigeria, where segregation, state fragility, and escalating conflict raise the stakes of peacebuilding efforts, multicultural education may be ineffective at best, and possibly even divisive. This book offers rare insights into the complexities, challenges, and dilemmas inherent in soft power attempts to teach the ideals of diversity and tolerance in countries suffering from internal conflicts.

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9780190903985

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Reviews

This is a rich and fascinating account of the use of children's television in Nigeria to teach ethnic and religious tolerance and cultivate a sense of national unity. Given the widespread use of educational interventions in peacebuilding efforts worldwide, the book is important and timely. -- Kathleen D. Hall, The University of Pennsylvania Naomi Moland ably investigates the promise and pitfalls of educational television's efforts to not only teach early childhood skills, but also promote ethnic and religious tolerance and national unity. With vivid narration, Moland offers a conceptually informed, empirically rich, extended reflection on the globalization of multicultural education and the capacity of educational television to shape society. -- Lesley Bartlett, University of Wisconsin-Madison The messages of this book are important and disturbing. From its probing analysis of Sesame Street in Nigeria, a much deeper minefield is revealed of fundamental contradictions and na ve aspirations of multicultural or 'equalising' education in a complex, conflictual state. Don't even start on education for diversity or peace until you've read this book. -- Lynn Davies, author of Unsafe Gods: Security, Secularism and Schooling This is a rigorous study that tells a fascinating story. Moland brings empirical rigor and skepticism to a field that too often is more focused on intentions than impacts. -- Joseph J. Tobin, University of Georgia A rich, nuanced, and well-executed study of the ways in which the best of the West breaks down in deeply-divided non-Western social and political spaces. A cautionary tale for those who would use television and other instruments of soft-power to teach tolerance in divided societies, and a must-read for those seeking a Global South perspective on multicultural education; for development specialists and peace-builders of all stripes. -- James H. Williams, The George Washington University

"""This is a rich and fascinating account of the use of children's television in Nigeria to teach ethnic and religious tolerance and cultivate a sense of national unity. Given the widespread use of educational interventions in peacebuilding efforts worldwide, the book is important and timely."" -- Kathleen D. Hall, The University of Pennsylvania ""Naomi Moland ably investigates the promise and pitfalls of educational television's efforts to not only teach early childhood skills, but also promote ethnic and religious tolerance and national unity. With vivid narration, Moland offers a conceptually informed, empirically rich, extended reflection on the globalization of multicultural education and the capacity of educational television to shape society."" -- Lesley Bartlett, University of Wisconsin-Madison ""The messages of this book are important and disturbing. From its probing analysis of Sesame Street in Nigeria, a much deeper minefield is revealed of fundamental contradictions and na�ve aspirations of multicultural or 'equalising' education in a complex, conflictual state. Don't even start on education for diversity or peace until you've read this book."" -- Lynn Davies, author of Unsafe Gods: Security, Secularism and Schooling ""This is a rigorous study that tells a fascinating story. Moland brings empirical rigor and skepticism to a field that too often is more focused on intentions than impacts."" -- Joseph J. Tobin, University of Georgia ""A rich, nuanced, and well-executed study of the ways in which the best of the West breaks down in deeply-divided non-Western social and political spaces. A cautionary tale for those who would use television and other instruments of soft-power to teach tolerance in divided societies, and a must-read for those seeking a Global South perspective on multicultural education; for development specialists and peace-builders of all stripes."" -- James H. Williams, The George Washington University"

Author Information

Naomi A. Moland is on the faculty of the School of International Service at American University. Her research and teaching focus on cultural globalization, international education, global media, and peace and conflict. In addition to her projects on international children's media, Moland is conducting research on the cultural dynamics of the global LGBTQ rights movement. Her work has been published in peer-reviewed journals such as Comparative Education Review and Urban Education.

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