Conference Panels

2010/03/25: Teaching with Testimony: Case Studies

March 25, 2010: This session covers four presentations by faculty who have integrated the Institute’s testimonies into their courses in disciplines ranging from French and Italian, Didactics, Communication Studies, and Religious Studies. This session is moderated by Carolyn Ellis, Professor of Communications and Sociology, University of South Florida. The presenters are: Colin Keaveney (Senior Lecturer, French and Italian, University of Southern California), Martin Lücke (Lecturer, Didactics of History, Freie Universität Berlin), Roy Schwartzman (Professor of Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro), and Gregory Kaplan (Anna Smith Fine Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University).

  • 2010/03/25: Teaching with Testimony: Case Studies

    Language: English

    March 25, 2010: This session covers four presentations by faculty who have integrated the Institute’s testimonies into their courses in disciplines ranging from French and Italian, Didactics, Communication Studies, and Religious Studies. This session is moderated by Carolyn Ellis, Professor of Communications and Sociology, University of South Florida. The presenters are: Colin Keaveney (Senior Lecturer, French and Italian, University of Southern California), Martin Lücke (Lecturer, Didactics of History, Freie Universität Berlin), Roy Schwartzman (Professor of Communication Studies, University of North Carolina at Greensboro), and Gregory Kaplan (Anna Smith Fine Assistant Professor of Religious Studies, Rice University).

  • 2010/03/25: Teaching with Testimony: Lessons Learned

    Language: English

    March 25, 2010: This plenary session follows up on earlier breakout sessions that addressed issues related to how context, teaching methodologies, and teaching objectives differ based on course discipline. This session is moderated by Mark Baker (Associate Professor, Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia). One representative from each of the four groups reports on:

    • Which teaching methodologies work best when integrating testimonies into courses?
    • How important is providing context for testimony in courses?
    • What challenges and problems arise when integrating testimony into courses?
    • What library and Institute support can be provided to encourage and help faculty and students to use testimonies in course work?
  • 2010/03/25: Testimonies: Reliability, Methodology, and Theory

    Language: English

    March 25, 2010: Since the Institute’s testimonies were given around 50 years after the events described, researchers must confront issues of memory and reliability. In this session moderated by Andrea Pető (Associate Professor, Gender Studies, Central European University), Robert Rozett, (Director of Yad Vashem Libraries) addresses problems that revolve around memory and reliability. He asks whether testimonies and memoirs bring us closer than other kinds of historical documents to understanding what people went through. Wolf Gruner (Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies and Professor of History, University of Southern California) addresses the question of whether video testimonies require a different methodological approach than other primary sources and whether testimonies can be used as primary sources on their own? Michael Renov (Associate Dean, Academic Affairs and Professor of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California) speaks about current theories relating specifically to studying testimony and what new critical approaches are most profitable for studying video testimonies.

  • 2010/03/26: Testimonies: Emotions & Balance

    Language: English

    March 26, 2010: Audio-visual testimonies of traumatic historical events arouse profound emotions in their viewers. The pedagogical questions raised in this session focuses on the appropriateness and/or usefulness of emotionality in teaching about the Holocaust. While many participants were eager to regulate student emotionality in order to ensure an understanding of the larger historical events and a critical distance from the experience of the survivors, others argued that emotion can be a highly useful tool to awaken students empathy and understanding of their past and present surroundings.

    This session is moderated by Beth Meyerowitz (Professor of Psychology and Preventive Medicine, University of Southern California) and includes Carolyn Ellis (Professor of Communications and Sociology, University of South Florida), Sharon Gillerman (Adjunct Associate Professor, History, Director of the Edgar F. Magnin School of Graduate Studies and Associate Professor of Jewish History, Hebrew Union College), and Michael Renov (Professor of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California). Panelists discussing the following topics:

    • How do students respond emotionally to testimony? How do faculty strike a healthy balance of providing a safe place to emote while maintaining a critical evaluation of content?
    • How do the emotions of the interviewee and the response of the interviewer influence the narrative?
    • What are the emotional effects or repercussions of using survivor testimonies in the classroom? How does emotionality affect the learning process?