From My Place: Teaching the Holocaust and J udaism at the University of Mississippi Fifty‐Three Years after J ames M eredith

This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teaching theology & religion 2016-01, Vol.19 (1), p.57-75
Main Author: Johnson, Willa M.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:This essay explores classroom dynamics when students identify and connect their own painful experiences to structural racism or ethnocentrism exhibited in the Holocaust or parts of Jewish history. The intrusion of this proximal knowledge can be an obstacle to student learning. If engaged by professors, however, I argue that proximal knowledge can be a catalyst that promotes learning. Social scientific theory provides a useful lens for helping students to better grasp and contextualize both their old experiences and the new materials that are being taught in the course within the larger structural frames of race, religion, and ethnicity that they have selected, but may not fully appreciate. Reflective guided journaling is an essential part of the learning experience.
ISSN:1368-4868
1467-9647
DOI:10.1111/teth.12320