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Scholars at the Starting Line
Then and Now
Glenn Kendall
Charles Merrill-
Osenbaugh
Border Lines
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Education is about growth—about examining what we think we know
is true and asking ourselves how we came to that conclusion. It
means analyzing the sources of the information we use and questioning
our own assumptions about the "truths" passed on to us by our
culture, our family, and our friends. This process of examination,
investigation, and realization is at the heart of Professors Carol
Edelman and Sam Edelman's course, Genocide in the 20th Century.
The Edelmans have been researching, writing, and lecturing about
the Holocaust for the last fifteen years. Since 1992, they have
team-taught the Genocide course for the Departments of Sociology
and Communication Studies. Last year they offered the course via
the Internet for the first time, reaching beyond Chico's campus
to students from across the country and as far away as Western
Europe.
The course explored the rhetorical, historical, and social effects
of genocide perpetrated against ethnic groups around the globe
in the twentieth century. Studying the social and communicative
actions that brought about each genocide, with emphasis on mass
persuasion, the class also examined the victims' responses to
their extermination. Case studies of genocide in Eastern Europe,
Armenia, Turkey, Africa, Cambodia, as well as current hot spots
around the world, were used to encourage students to examine their
own moral understandings in light of the realities of twentieth
century genocide. The case studies also provided examples of the
use of modern technology without moral or ethical bounds. The
Edelmans hope the course helps students understand both individual
and corporate responsibility for moral and ethical acceptance
of diverse peoples and perspectives.
Rather than meeting in a real-time, physical classroom, students
and teachers met online, using e-mail lectures, readings, and
numerous Internet sites, including the archives at Jerusalem 1,
Shamash, the U.S. Holocaust Museum, and the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Each week, the Edelmans disseminated lectures and reading assignments
via e-mail. Students responded to specific questions or wrote
reaction statements to the readings or lecture topics through
e-mail. The Edelmans shared several responses each week with the
whole class to stimulate further discussion. Periodically throughout
the semester, the instructors joined discussion groups and downloaded
texts of all the discussions.
The ability to save and analyze classroom conversations is one
advantage of an electronic course. Another is that the format
"forces students to be self-motivated and self-reliant," according
to Sam Edelman. "Students are also freer to interact and comment
on sensitive issues" in the electronic environment because there
is a certain amount of anonymity. "This anonymity had its disadvantages,
too, of course," explained Edelman, "because they didn't know
whom they were talking to in some respects." This disadvantage
was compensated for by the diversity of students that the format
allowed. "There was tremendous diversity in age, geographic location,
ethnic background, and economic class levels," said Carol Edelman.
"All of this diversity brought an energy to the class that isn't
found in a typical university classroom." While the European students
brought to the discussion a historical background quite different
from that of many American students and the students' different
geographical and ethnic backgrounds enriched the course, the age
differences were especially valuable because they revealed how
much we can be influenced by our peers and our historical "place."
Studying genocide from these various perspectives produces a fertile
environment for self-discovery. "We see a definite growth in the
students," said Carol Edelman. "They begin to understand more
about their own responsibilities. They leave with a greater commitment
not to be perpetrators or bystanders. We're quite proud of this."
Casey Huff, Publications Office
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Sam and Carol Edelman have worked with several departments on
campus to expand course offerings in Jewish Studies. A new Jewish
Studies minor within the college of Humanities and Fine Arts was
recently approved. At present, only three CSU campuses offer Jewish
Studies. |
