“My Therapist Told Me not to Visit Auschwitz”: The Problem with crisis pedagogy

Abstract

That the teaching of a topic that principally deals with mass atrocity, death, and annihilation has the potential to produce a set of powerful feelings is perhaps self-evident. But what the exact nature of these feelings is, how to foresee them, and how to mediate and deal with them is far more complex and difficult. Surveys at sites of trauma and violence have shown that visitors predominantly encounter negative emotions during their presence at sites and that these feelings may have long-lasting effects. This should raise some serious ethical concerns for educators whose students may experience feelings of shock, sadness, and anxiety in their encounter with the material. The structure of a five-week long study abroad program can significantly intensify students’ emotional experience; the intimacy with the material at sites of trauma and violence can be particularly burdensome and is compounded by the length of the program, the quantity of sites visited, and the length of time spent at sites. This chapter narrates the emotions reported by my students at sites and contextualizes them within the debates on the effect of vicarious experiences on compassion and empathy. Underscoring the importance of students’ intimate understanding of the material, I offer a set of suggestions on a more controlled engagement with the traumatic effects of “being there.”