The Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) has the pleasure of inviting you to a seminar with Joyce Apsel on:
Teaching about Genocide, Human Rights and Citizenship:
Challenges and New Directions
Friday, 30 November, 14.00-16.00
Danish Institute for International Studies
Main Auditorium
Strandgade 71, ground floor, 1401 Copenhagen K
Please be aware that the venue has been changed!
Background
The 20th century and now the 21st century have been described as both the age of genocide and the age of human rights. Clearly, the concepts of human wrongs and human rights are inextricably linked. At the same time, issues of diversity, citizenship and cosmopolitanism remain crucial for creating global citizens.
How as educators do we teach about issues of genocide and human rights and connect this with issues of citizenship? And what are the challenges in doing so?
This lecture will propose a shift in how we teach about atrocities, moving away from teaching single events such as the Holocaust or the Rwandan genocide in isolation. An alternative is to explore the recurrent patterns of destruction through a comparative genocide studies model. Also, by teaching students about a range of human rights norms, languages and practices, students are introduced to an alternative discourse of being part of creating human communities that are inclusive and working toward realizing human rights from free speech to the right to human dignity and difference.
Joyce Apsel, an historian and attorney, is Professor of Humanities at the College of Arts & Sciences at New York University. She is the former President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, the founder and Director of Rights Works International, an international human rights education project, and a juror for the Lemkin Award, a biennial award for the outstanding work on genocide. Her publications include Darfur: Genocide Before Our Eyes (Institute for the Study of Genocide, 2005, rev. ed. 2007), Teaching about Human Rights (American Sociological Association, 2005) and Teaching about Genocide (American Sociological Association, 1992, 3rd ed. 2002) as well as articles on topics including children’s rights, educating about genocide and human rights, and the history of genocide studies.
Programme
14.00-14.10 Welcome
Solvej Berlau, Department for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, DIIS
14.10-15.10 Teaching about Genocide, Human Rights and Citizenship:
Challenges and New Directions
Joyce Apsel, Professor, New York University
15.10-16.00 Discussion
Practical Information
The seminar will be held in English.
Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use the registration form no later than Thursday, 29 November 2007 at 12.00 noon. |
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