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ZORYAN HOSTS 22 STUDENTS TO STUDY GENOCIDE AND PREVENTION
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/731878/zoryan-hosts-22-students-to-study-genocide-and-prevention.html
18:26, 5 September, 2013
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: The running of the 12th annual
Genocide & Human Rights University Program (GHRUP) couldn't have
been timelier considering the atrocities and human rights violations
currently taking place in Syria, Egypt, and several countries in the
Middle East and Africa. This year, 22 university students came to
Toronto from 10 countries to meet and study with 10 distinguished
genocide scholars, rpeorts Armenpress referring to Armenian Weekly.
Many of the students-Kurds, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Armenians, Jews,
Muslims, and Christians-came from backgrounds where gross violations
of human rights and genocide are a part of their national or personal
experience. There were several students who work to provide aid to
affected communities, such as those of Guatemala and Sudan. Perhaps
even more remarkable was the number of students who do not have a
direct connection, yet are deeply motivated to understand human rights
violations and genocide, and how to raise awareness to prevent them
around the world.
"Several students who are teachers commented on how much they
learned from watching the pedagogy of different instructors, as well
as from the course content," said the course director, Prof. Joyce
Apsel of New York University. "Other students consulted me and other
instructors about which directions and schools to pursue for graduate
education. They proved to be an outstanding group of students, and
it was a privilege to have two weeks in and out of the classroom to
exchange ideas and interests."
Indeed, the students brought many diverse experiences to the
classroom. One student, who is a journalist by trade, described to the
class, based on a personal visit to North Korea, the importance of
maintaining a critical perspective on decades-old yet still ongoing
human rights abuses there. Another student presented the current
and historical human rights abuses of disabled peoples affected by
policies of eugenics in the United States, a group she works with in
her field of social work and disability studies. Yet another brought
the class to tears by discussing her own family's history of having
suffered chemical attacks in the Halabja massacre of March 16, 1988.
The GHRUP allows students the opportunity to voice these backgrounds,
to analyze comparatively how genocides unfold, and their immediate
and transgenerational effects on people, and to explore how we can
stop them.
It was remarkable to see descendants of perpetrator and victim groups
in the Armenian Genocide-students of Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish
background-find common interests with each other and, within the
academic environment of the program and based on historical facts,
explore issues of stereotypes, memory, denial, and reconciliation
together, and see each other through the prism of humanity.
One student from Pakistan, currently a member of the UNAMID effort
in Darfur, Sudan, brought to the course the perspective and the
dedication of those who work to prevent genocide in the field.
This year, a business student audited the course. At the end of the
course, this student made a spontaneous and moving speech saying
the students had restored her faith in humanity. The GHRUP evokes a
powerful sense of enthusiasm and commitment from students and faculty
alike, and makes them reflect on their own lives and the lives of
others in the world.
Explaining his perception of the program's greatest strength, one
student commented, "I think the GHRUP does an amazing job of providing
an incredibly comprehensive course in such a short period of time. The
quality of the scholars and students, and the incredible range of
experiences and backgrounds, are unparalleled." Another student wrote,
"This program is life- and career-changing. It focuses on the history
of genocide, the patterns of genocide, the denial and prevention
of genocide.
The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute
for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit,
international center devoted to the research and documentation of
contemporary issues with a focus on genocide, diaspora and Armenia.
From: Baghdasarian
http://armenpress.am/eng/news/731878/zoryan-hosts-22-students-to-study-genocide-and-prevention.html
18:26, 5 September, 2013
YEREVAN, SEPTEMBER 5, ARMENPRESS: The running of the 12th annual
Genocide & Human Rights University Program (GHRUP) couldn't have
been timelier considering the atrocities and human rights violations
currently taking place in Syria, Egypt, and several countries in the
Middle East and Africa. This year, 22 university students came to
Toronto from 10 countries to meet and study with 10 distinguished
genocide scholars, rpeorts Armenpress referring to Armenian Weekly.
Many of the students-Kurds, Nigerians, Pakistanis, Armenians, Jews,
Muslims, and Christians-came from backgrounds where gross violations
of human rights and genocide are a part of their national or personal
experience. There were several students who work to provide aid to
affected communities, such as those of Guatemala and Sudan. Perhaps
even more remarkable was the number of students who do not have a
direct connection, yet are deeply motivated to understand human rights
violations and genocide, and how to raise awareness to prevent them
around the world.
"Several students who are teachers commented on how much they
learned from watching the pedagogy of different instructors, as well
as from the course content," said the course director, Prof. Joyce
Apsel of New York University. "Other students consulted me and other
instructors about which directions and schools to pursue for graduate
education. They proved to be an outstanding group of students, and
it was a privilege to have two weeks in and out of the classroom to
exchange ideas and interests."
Indeed, the students brought many diverse experiences to the
classroom. One student, who is a journalist by trade, described to the
class, based on a personal visit to North Korea, the importance of
maintaining a critical perspective on decades-old yet still ongoing
human rights abuses there. Another student presented the current
and historical human rights abuses of disabled peoples affected by
policies of eugenics in the United States, a group she works with in
her field of social work and disability studies. Yet another brought
the class to tears by discussing her own family's history of having
suffered chemical attacks in the Halabja massacre of March 16, 1988.
The GHRUP allows students the opportunity to voice these backgrounds,
to analyze comparatively how genocides unfold, and their immediate
and transgenerational effects on people, and to explore how we can
stop them.
It was remarkable to see descendants of perpetrator and victim groups
in the Armenian Genocide-students of Armenian, Kurdish, and Turkish
background-find common interests with each other and, within the
academic environment of the program and based on historical facts,
explore issues of stereotypes, memory, denial, and reconciliation
together, and see each other through the prism of humanity.
One student from Pakistan, currently a member of the UNAMID effort
in Darfur, Sudan, brought to the course the perspective and the
dedication of those who work to prevent genocide in the field.
This year, a business student audited the course. At the end of the
course, this student made a spontaneous and moving speech saying
the students had restored her faith in humanity. The GHRUP evokes a
powerful sense of enthusiasm and commitment from students and faculty
alike, and makes them reflect on their own lives and the lives of
others in the world.
Explaining his perception of the program's greatest strength, one
student commented, "I think the GHRUP does an amazing job of providing
an incredibly comprehensive course in such a short period of time. The
quality of the scholars and students, and the incredible range of
experiences and backgrounds, are unparalleled." Another student wrote,
"This program is life- and career-changing. It focuses on the history
of genocide, the patterns of genocide, the denial and prevention
of genocide.
The Zoryan Institute and its subsidiary, the International Institute
for Genocide and Human Rights Studies, is the first non-profit,
international center devoted to the research and documentation of
contemporary issues with a focus on genocide, diaspora and Armenia.
From: Baghdasarian