teaching theory, international relations, international studies and political science are often not
effective means of having students become engaged in the study of politics. As Preston (2000:11)
has argued, “book or lecture learning is complemented and reinforced by engaging students in
active learning exercises.” This paper outlines our attempts to have students be active learners
and critical thinkers about rights, both within a domestic and international setting.
We are often reminded that students do better when they have hands on experience rather
and I remember, I do and I understand.” The difficulty in this is that “experiencing” or “doing”
rights violation is not a viable or desirable course of action. While committed to objectivity, most
scholars, as are most citizens and policymakers, are opposed to the use of abuse of human rights;
still, it remains a pernicious problem in international politics and a danger in domestic politics
and the temptation to use these techniques resurface over and over again.
One specific problem, which is a topic of specific interest in international relations, is
genocide. People have trouble understanding genocide – it is overwhelming. The numbers and
sheer enormity of genocides boggle the mind, challenges theoretical understandings, and frankly,
seems removed from life in Western countries. Individuals understand the catastrophe, brutality,
and tragedy of events occurring to a single person. As individuals we can personalize these
events; we can empathize. However, if we multiple a tragedy exponentially, we have difficulty
comprehending these situations. It is important to remind students that Joseph Stalin is reported
to have said that, “a single death is a tragedy, but a million deaths are a statistic.” Genocide is a
technique used by some to achieve an aim; however, the crime is so abhorrent to many of us that
it is difficult to grasp the psychological ability to carry out such acts. It has been my experience
that students do not really comprehend the reasons, process, or aftermath of genocide (nor do
most citizens). This is why it is beneficial to incorporate active learning and visual representation
to help detail genocide. There have been recent studies to detail the beneficial use of alternative
teaching techniques in the political scientist and international studies classroom.
Diebel (2002:131) identified four major benefits of using texts written by foreign policy
decision makers about their actions. These four benefits can be transferred to narratives written
by those who experienced or related their experiences of rights violation: First, memoirs are
usually interesting and they rarely fail to pique students’ interests. Second, the reading of such
materials provides students with a detailed accounting of historical events. Third, memoirs also
provide a rich understanding of the decision-makers’ reasoning for their actions. At first glance,
this may seem more appropriate to an understanding of foreign policy decision-making (as Diebel
was examining), but understanding why individuals failed to read the signs pointing to massive
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Convention