Final Essay:
Refugee witnessing brings a new perspective to the metanarrative of minorities and brings individual voices to be table. It shifts the focus from whether the interviewees account is historically accurate to the meaning of the story and the nature of memory.
During the course, we have had the privilege of listening to many Sephardi witnesses displaced from Islamic Lands (Morocco, Algeria, Egypt, Iran, Tunisia, Iraq). You have read a memoir from an individual who wrote about their experience and also presented an historical framework to contextualize the memoir.
Each student has received (or will receive) 2 transcripts from witnesses that were displaced from the country that they selected.
Question:
Contextualize the interviewees stories within an historical context. How, in your opinion, does memory provide meaning to history? From a human rights perspective, does validating memory empower the individual and strengthen human rights studies as a moral compass? Your answer includes the following: transcripts, memoir read, historical framework, Ignatieffs article, article by Cotler, Matas and Urman, and your own readings/research.
Length of essay: 6 pages.
Powerpoint can replace submission of essay. Powerpoint presentation means a 10 minute presentation in class of the powerpoint.
