ABSTRACT
In previous chapters, I argue that doing work around the Holocaust requires us to examine both historiography and fiction. I stress that studying these two competing forms of representation does not mean that we can get a complete picture of this horrific event called the Holocaust. A partial picture is all we can ever get. Our understanding of the Holocaust also concerns the nature of thinking, generally speaking. Thus, this final chapter will take a turn toward thinking in general. The question I raise here is, what kind of thinking conceals or reveals the wish to murder 6 million people? I suggest that utopian thinking, the wish phantasy for the perfect place, the wish phantasy for the perfect world may conceal a murderous intent. In this chapter, I trace a brief history of utopian thinking to show how this thinking, in part, created conditions to enable the Holocaust to occur. I argue that educators might embrace what I call a dystopic curriculum. Dystopic thinking is skeptical of happy places and happy worlds. Happy places and happy worlds conceal othering. Those who do not fit into happy places are exiled or annihilated. Before turning to utopic and dys topic thinking it is important, at this juncture, to ask generally why we do curriculum work in the first place.
