Natalie Bormann 
The Ethics of Teaching at Sites of Violence and Trauma [PDF ebook] 
Student Encounters with the Holocaust

This book chronicles a professor’s experience with a group of US undergraduate students at Holocaust memorials, museums, and sites of remembrance as part of a yearly Holocaust study abroad program to Germany and Poland. Narrated through a series of personal encounters, The Ethics of Teaching at Sites of Violence and Trauma synthesizes a concrete experiential teaching account – on issues ranging from trauma tourism to the ethics of spectatorship – with contemporary debates on Holocaust education. In doing so, this book seeks to offer a critical assessment on the possibilities and limitations of teaching at sites that were central to the planning and execution of the Holocaust.

Table of Content

1. The Problem with ‘Being There’.- 2. ‘I was there!’ The Conjunction of Study Abroad and Dark Tourism.- 3. ‘And now you are going to see something shocking’:Atrocity Footage in Holocaust Education.- 4. ‘We didn’t know there was a women’s camp’: The Haunting Qualities of Ravensbrück.- 5. ‘My Therapist told me not to visit Auschwitz’: The Problem with Crisis Pedagogy.- 6. Conclusion: Looking back at a Holocaust Study Abroad Program. 

About the author

Natalie Bormann is Teaching Professor in Political Science at Northeastern University, USA.