In cooperation with the department of Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), our visiting researcher Dr. Tatia Gruenbaum has designed an innovative course for a mixed-discipline student cohort that explores the contribution visual Holocaust children and young adults' literature can make to supporting global citizenship education and promoting the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC).
The course is titled Picturing the Unimaginable (PtU) and shares its name with the 2024 graphic novel edited by Erik de Graaf and Christine Braun. This publication, which presents ‘ten stories about the Holocaust and other Nazi crimes,’ serves as the foundation for the course, alongside its traveling exhibition organized by Camp Westerbork, set to be displayed at TU Braunschweig in 2025.
PtU follows a hybrid model: It consists of three synchronous online sessions, three optional complementary online book talks, two asynchronous self-study units, and concludes with two in-person workshop days. An online-only option is provided for international students. Guest speakers will join the workshop kick-off to provide insights from their perspective.
Throughout the course, students will, amongst others, learn to analyse and evaluate visual Holocaust literature, develop visual literacy skills, establish the context of the narrative, analyse language within the context of the narrative, and discover suitable pedagogies and frameworks. This course includes a reflective portfolio to offer moments of framed silence and a creative group project based on a chapter from the graphic novel ´Picturing the Unimaginable´.
PtU combines story-based pedagogy and human rights pedagogy with a global citizenship education framework, offering an entry point to take action against not only antisemitism but any kind of discrimination, intolerance, and prejudice. Ultimately, the course aims to empower critical thinking and inspire unity and hope.
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Course information:
The course will be offered as part of the following study programmes/modules:
- 2-Subject-Bachelor: Projekt-Modul, Profilmodul 3: Bildung für nachhaltige Entwicklung
- Master of Education: Modul M1 “Teaching English”
- Culture of the Techno-scientific World (Master KTW): V2: Fachkulturen, SQ-Modul: Schlüsselqualifikationen
Additionally, the course is open to everyone interested in the topic and is designed with students from an applied linguistics, education, literature, philosophy, music, art, performing arts, and history background in mind.
Registration: Please register, as usual, via Stud.IP in March.
Lecturer: Dr. Tatia Gruenbaum
When: 15.04. – 13.06.2025; Workshop days: 10.06. & 11.06.2025
Where: Online / Campus Nord TU Braunschweig