This event is part of the Art and Testimony Webinar Series 2024 co-hosted by the University of Victoria’s Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives project and the UBC-V Public Humanities Hub.
“Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives” is an international project funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada under the title “Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education” (SSHRC Partnership Grant; 2022-2029).
Graphic narratives can express the voices of trauma in a way that cannot be fully captured by written testimony alone, and narrative art can be a human rights tool in Holocaust education. But, this can be very challenging for teachers – In these instances of mass violence, the enormity of the crimes is often overwhelming. Educators may not want to bring such topics into the classroom; they are difficult and upsetting. But it is unconscionable to ignore these events or avoid them. Studying about the Holocaust helps students think about the use and abuse of power, and the roles and responsibilities of individuals, organizations, and nations when confronted with horrible human rights violations.
Join Dr. Andrea Webb as she discusses the process and approach to developing educational materials for the award-winning graphic novel ‘But I Live: Three Stories of Child Survivors of the Holocaust’. She is joined in conversation with Alyssa Wood, to discuss how graphic narratives can be used to teach genocide and the educational materials to accompany But I Live can be implemented and adapted in the classroom.
Thursday, September 26, 2024
9:00 AM – 10:15 AM Pacific Time
Online via Zoom
Speaker Bios
Dr. Andrea Webb: Dr. Webb spent a decade as a classroom teacher and department head before returning to higher education as a teacher educator. Her research interests lie in teaching and learning in higher education and trauma-informed Genocide education. She is involved in research projects related to Threshold Concepts, the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL), Social Studies Teacher Education, and is currently the is Co-Director of the SSHRC-funded project Survivor-Centred Visual Narratives (https://visualnarratives.org/).
Alyssa Wood: Teaching is a significant passion of Alyssa’s. She believes that being able to connect to students through instruction, while inspiring a desire to learn, is rewarding and the ultimate goal of all teachers. She is currently in her 3rd year teaching at HJ Cambie secondary where she specializes in Social Studies and English. In addition to teaching, her work experience has included extensive program and curriculum development for organizations she has worked for prior to becoming a formal teacher. Beyond classic teaching, Alyssa is also a certified Red Cross First Aid Instructor up to the level of Emergency Medical Responder and a licensed Primary Care Paramedic with experience working in the not-for-profit sector in the Downtown Eastside. It was through these diverse experiences that she learned how important individual stories are to fully understanding our history.