Apsel, J --- "Educating a new generation: the model of the 'genocide and human rights university program'" [2012] LegEdDig 22; (2012) 20(2) Legal Education Digest 20

• Educating a new generation: the model of the ‘genocide and human rights university program’

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Educating a new generation: the model of the ‘genocide and human rights university program’

J Apsel

Human Rights Review, Vol 12, No. 4, 2011, pp 465-486

Since the 1960s, the histories of groups including workers, women, children, and other peoples who had long been ignored or written out of history increasingly became the subject of courses, research, and panels at professional conferences. New areas of study emerged such as ethnic, immigration, black, labour, and women’s studies along with study of historic inequities and oppression such as slavery, colonialism, massacres, and other atrocities. The result was new scholarship and areas of study including interdisciplinary and comparative work about genocide and human rights.

Into the 1970s, the Armenian genocide was largely written out of the curriculum and history. From 1915-1917, between 800,000 to over one million Armenians living in the Ottoman Empire were killed under the leadership of the Committee of Union and Progress. Besides direct killing, the majority of people died during a series of forced expulsions to the desert regions of present-day Syria. This destruction took place within a context of processes of state homogenisation and cleansing of Christian minorities.

The Republic of Turkey established in 1923 denies this history of intentional destruction of the Armenian minority both to domestic and international audiences. This ‘silencing of the past’ and erasing of memory includes the ongoing use by Turkish officials of ‘the national educational system to shape citizens’ understanding of the “Armenian question” and to bolster domestic support for its official position’.

Initially, interest in the Armenian genocide was almost exclusively by scholars and other intellectuals, community members, and organisations of Armenian background.

Interest in study and research on issues of genocide and human rights has multiplied among undergraduate and graduate students since the late 1980s. In part, this builds on programs in Holocaust education in middle and high schools in the United States where some states mandate Holocaust education, and Holocaust education in Europe.

Study of genocide is one area within a broad range of topics that may or may not be part of human rights courses. Originally, human rights courses were taught primarily in law, philosophy, and politics/international relations. New courses and scholarship are expanding in sociology, anthropology, literature, and other disciplines. From the 1990s on, degree and certificate programs in human rights and humanitarianism are also flourishing.

The Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation was founded in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1982. The goal to educate future generations about the Armenian Genocide serves as one of the foundations of the Institute’s mission.

In 1985, the Zoryan Board of Directors made the decision to implement an educational initiative about the Armenian genocide and other genocidal events for students in higher education. The pedagogical goal is for students to ‘gain an understanding’ of the following: (1) The development and meaning of Human Rights; (2) The background, sources, causes and effects of genocide; (3) How to define and predict genocide; (4) The social, economic and psychological impact on survivors and their descendants; (5) How to resolve past conflicts and help reconciliation between perpetrator and victim groups; and (6) How to help prevent genocide.

In summer 2001, funds and resources became available for the Zoryan Institute to create a course that included teaching about the Armenian genocide. A committee of Zoryan members was set up to oversee the development of the course curriculum. The first ‘Genocide and Human Rights University Program’ (GHRUP) with 26 students took place for 10 days in August 2002 at the University of Toronto.

While originally, the program was open to all interested university students, it became clear, given the challenging content of the material, that the course was best suited for graduate and postdoctoral students and undergraduates who had completed at least three years of study.

Students come from various academic backgrounds including anthropology, cultural studies, drama, filmmaking, history, human rights, international relations, journalism, law, peace studies, philosophy, politics, and sociology. Over half of the participants are M.A., doctoral, or postdoctoral students; several lawyers and a university professor also enrolled.

A distinctive feature of GHRUP is that faculty specialists from different disciplines and areas of concentration in genocide studies and human rights are invited each summer to teach; this enhances the profile and quality of the course. Since 2003, there are between nine and 12 faculty each year; the variation reflects a number of factors including student evaluations, curricular needs, faculty availability, and costs.

Each year, GHRUP includes sections on definitions and theories of genocide, issues of denial, and study of the Armenian genocide, the Holocaust, and Rwanda. Other cases studies are Cambodia, Bosnia and Kosovo, and Darfur. The theme of genocide and groups has included study of Indigenous peoples, women, and children, among others. While, on occasion, there is a cultural/literary or philosophical approach, the course is primarily taught by specialists trained in history, law, political science, and other social sciences.

In a number of ways, GHRUP directly addresses issues of the future of Armenian–Turkish relationships and possibilities of dialogue. Ninety-two of the 195 students who attended the course from 2002-2010 list themselves as of Armenian ethnicity and came from Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Lebanon, Mexico, Turkey, Uruguay, United States, and Venezuela. Thirteen students list themselves as of Turkish background; most live in Turkey.

Themes from study of the Armenian genocide and other cases are linked in later classes on gender and children, diaspora, denial, trauma and memory, reparations, reconciliation, and legal accountability.

A number of participants are in graduate and professional programs including law, public policy, anthropology, history, sociology, political science, human rights, etc. and comment that the course gave them new resources for research or help with new perspectives and theories about genocide.

Given the diverse international background, work experiences, and interests of students, part of the teaching challenge is to pick up on the cues and try to be fast on your feet in finding threads that resonate with students each summer while also pushing to introduce new disciplines and research. One pedagogical technique I use is to divide the class into groups to analyse different human rights conventions such as the Convention on the Rights of the Child or Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; and students present their analyses to the class. This provides the students with an opportunity early on to cooperate and hear each other’s voices and different levels of critique.

The course encourages student–faculty interaction during the class and afterward, and students speak with faculty about concerns ranging from scholarly sources to graduate school and professional opportunities. A number of times each year, sessions are team-taught such as a final session on ‘Making Comparisons: Drawing Conclusions’. This provides an opportunity for students to see debate and dialogue between scholars comparing and contrasting teaching styles and interpretations. Hence, there develops another level of a shared learning community from discussing student projects and course development to their own scholarly projects.

The final day of the course focuses on student oral presentations. Students are given a suggested list of topics and bibliography and have the option of doing an individual or group presentation.

The GHRUP accomplishes a number of its goals. The course establishes a learning community both within the classroom and continuing afterward through email contacts, visits of students with each other, consultation with faculty, professional conferences, and outreach by the Zoryan Institute. Graduates of the program undertake research on case studies and comparative analysis of genocide and other human rights issues, publishing and presenting papers at conferences and public forums worldwide.

All of the respondents who publish on issues of genocide and human rights report that the course enriched their understanding of these subjects contributing directly or indirectly to their scholarship.

Former students use the word ‘intense’ and ‘comprehensive’ to describe the course and faculty as ‘passionate’ about their subject.

Respondents gave only a few suggestions for improving the course or any substantial critique. One area of critique is student requests for less focus on one area of study and to include additional case studies or topics (such as more literature). Several students recommend more study of indigenous peoples and colonialism; other areas that students suggest are genocide during Stalin’s rule and to include human rights violations in Latin America, such as those of the disappeared in Argentina. Another student suggests in-depth case study of the history in Bosnia/Croatia/Serbia, ‘and a general discussion on the current status in Israel/Palestine’.

Keeping students focused and engaged for 10 days, 6.5 h a day on such difficult subjects presents an ongoing challenge.

There are a series of challenges ahead. The program is expensive to run, and even those students who pay full tuition do not cover the actual cost. Hence, finding resources such as an endowment or other funding to continue the program is an ongoing challenge. Most faculty are trained in history, political science, and law and bringing in specialists who represent new directions and perspectives in study of genocide and human rights is important. Most students and faculty are from North America. Bringing in more scholars from Europe where there are significant new directions in study of genocide and including more participants from Africa and Asia presents an opportunity to further enrich the dialogue. However, in some cases, funding, and securing visas and permits may be complicated as the Zoryan Institute found out several times when it tried to bring students from countries in Africa and Asia.

There is growing literature critiquing genocide studies along with study of human rights and humanitarianism; there continue to be definitional, political, and other debates at conferences and a range of perspectives in the literature on the content, theory, methodologies, and goals of genocide studies.

Part of the dynamic of the course is to raise new issues, integrate new research, and continue to adjust the curriculum to respond to new questions and directions in study of genocide and human rights. GHRUP is a training ground for a new generation of students and scholars about the Armenian genocide, other genocides, and a range of human rights issues. Graduates of the course may go on to critique or revise methods and/or content, but they are introduced to a series of foundational issues and important content about genocide and human rights. After a decade, the challenges are ongoing from funding to organization to how GHRUP will continue innovative and critical pedagogy. To date, this educational initiative is a model creating a dynamic classroom laboratory for learning and dialogue about history and reconciliation and forming a community and network of committed, informed citizens and scholars worldwide.