Educating a New Generation: The Model of the “Genocide and Human Rights University Program”

Abstract

This paper examines the design and teaching of "Genocide and Human Rights," an innovative, higher education course introduced in 2002 to provide training for a new generation of scholars and teachers. The course was developed and funded by a small non-profit organization, the Zoryan Institute, in Toronto, Canada. One purpose of the course is to teach about the Armenian genocide within a comparative genocide and human rights framework. Another goal is to fill a gap in the curriculum in response to increased student interest and research in genocide and human rights. The course serves as a valuable pedagogical model including its comparative framework, teaching by invited specialists, adjusting the curriculum to reflect student interest and new scholarship, and setting up and maintaining formal and informal scholarly networks. Features of critical pedagogy include classroom dialogue and critique and respect for differences in background and opinion. For example, interactions between students of Turkish and Armenian background provide an opportunity to explore issues of stereotypes, memory, denial and reconciliation. The course provides training for a new generation in research, publications, teaching and advocacy in fields related to genocide and human rights.

Citizenship and Citizenship Education According to the Perspective of Non-Muslim Minorities in Turkey

“…The demands from different groups that constitute a society concerning mutual living space can only be realized through mutual relationships and interactions. As a matter of fact, in a study by Apsel (2011), Armenian and Turkish youth were gathered to talk about incidents in 1915, and they stated that based on the 1915 incidents there had been some changes in viewpoints as well as strategies to understand and assess these incidents. The same type of gathering could take place among this study's participants concerning the War of Independence.…”