Contextualize the interviewees stories within an historical context. How, in your opinion, does memory provide meaning to history? From a human rights perspective, does validating memory empower the individual and strengthen human rights studies as a moral compass? Your answer includes the following: transcripts, memoir read, historical framework, Ignatieffs article, article by Cotler, Matas and Urman, and your own readings/research.
in the background of egypt file the professor asked to “take me through from post WW 1—who are the Jews? Sephardi? Where did they come from collapse of Ottoman Empire? Any from Europe? What Jewish organizations were in place? How many people? Role of Zionism? 1948, 1956 wars, etc?”
Your essay only scratches the surface.
Articles/Readings
Irwin Cotler, et. al., Jewish Refugees from Arab Countries: The Case of Rights and Redress, NY,
November 2007.
Michael Ignatieff, Human Rights as Politics and Human Rights as Idolatry in Human Rights, Princeton, Princeton NJ, 2001.