The March of Remembrance and Hope: Critical Pedagogy and Social Justice Activism

Abstract

The March of Remembrance and Hope is a nine day Holocaust genocide study that takes a diverse group of University students from across Canada to Germany and Poland. Together with survivors, academics, and social workers, the participating students engage in a critical, place-based study of the Holocaust. This thesis explores the experiences of nine individuals, including the researcher, on the 2010 March. Informed by critical theory with its focus on identifying and analysing structures of dominance, power and privilege, the research is attentive to the influence of critical pedagogical practices during the March for participants. More specifically, critical empathy and social justice activism are considered in light of the participants’ stories of their experience. Using qualitative methodology, and drawing on aspects of Indigenous Methodology that value the ethical aims of research and research as being in relation, interviews were conducted with the eight participants and emergent themes identified using an inductive approach to data analysis. Additionally, the researcher’s experiences on the March are highlighted through reflective writing and analysis. Conversations with participants highlight the value of particular pedagogical approaches on the March, including survivor testimony, place-based learning, a pedagogy of discomfort and testimonial reading were meaningful and may have contributed to participants’ heightened commitments to social justice action and their expressions of critical empathy.