A critical question for societies emerging from conflict is what should be done about the traumatic memories of the past. In post-conflict societies political issues of memory and identity are at the same time issues for curriculum construction. Using the examples of post-conflict Rwanda and South Africa, I raise questions about the competing interests and political processes that attempt to shape the way the history curriculum is constructed in post-conflict societies, and the extent to which they open or close possibilities for teacher identities and dialogue about a traumatic past. I suggest that teacher education needs to be reconceptualised and that Lederach's concept of "moral imagination" provides a particularly appropriate conceptual framework for teacher development in post-conflict societies.