TORONTO, February 4, 2002 -- York University will host "The Future of Memory" an international conference examining the changing contexts for Holocaust and anti-racism education, Saturday, Feb. 9 and Sunday, Feb. 10.
The conference is part of a wider initiative by York’s Centre for Jewish Studies and the Canadian Centre for German and European Studies (CCGES) called "Learning from the Past, Teaching for the Future", intended to help future teachers in Germany, Poland and Canada develop curricular responses to racism and anti-Semitism.
Prof. Irwin Cotler, MP (L– Mount Royal), will deliver the keynote address "Durban to Ground Zero and Beyond: Lessons for Anti-Racism and Holocaust Education", on Saturday at 8 p.m. Cotler teaches Canadian and international human rights law at McGill University and was a member of Canada’s delegation to the world conference on racism in Durban, South Africa.
Panel sessions, featuring leading experts on Holocaust, multicultural, and anti-racist education from Canada, Germany and Poland will take place on Sunday, from 2 to 7:15 p.m.
The conference will also reassemble students from Germany, Poland, and Canada, including nine York Faculty of Education students. The students will present the results of project work begun during a summer field study in Europe where they visited a number of Holocaust-related sites and met with local representatives and experts in Germany and Poland.
The "Learning from the Past, Teaching for the Future" project was conceived by York professors Michael Brown, past director of York’s Centre for Jewish Studies, and Mark Webber, associate director, CCGES. Both have taught courses and conducted research on the Holocaust and on the history and present state of racism and anti-Semitism in Canada.
The "The Future of Memory" conference is also sponsored by Topography of Terror Foundation and the Heinrich Böll Foundation (both in Berlin), and the Department of Canadian Heritage. The conference will take place in the Founders College Assembly Hall, room 152, York University, 4700 Keele St.
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For further information, please contact:
| Prof. Mark Webber | Prof. Michael Brown | Ken Turriff |
| CCGES | Division of Humanities | Media Relations |
| York University | York University | York University |
| 416-736-5695 | 416-736-2100, ext. 77397 | 416-736-2100, ext. 22086 |
| mwebber@yorku.ca | michaelb@yorku.ca | kturriff@yorku.ca |
YU/017/02
