Anne Johnson CAPS 2

Giving voice to absent histories is a crucial step in the progress of a global community. The voices that were not given access or tools to be heard need that opportunity to speak. These absent histories tell of a past of brutal oppression. Without these histories, we are stuck in an androcentric worldview that does not give credit where credit is due. By adding stories and voices to the grand narrative, our one history dissolves into a truer discourse of many gathered histories. Judaism’s past and present is complex and rich in history.

Many people in today’s United States society have studied the Holocaust in school. In Nazi Germany in the 1930s and 1940s, Jewish people, as well as gypsies and homosexuals, were sent to concentration camps and massacred. Roughly six million Jews were slaughtered during this time. Even though this terrible injustice was a huge part of the Jewish history, it is not the only part. Judaism is an enormously old religion and culture, dating back as far as 3800 BCE (American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise). Many Jewish people have added significant contributions to history in areas like science, the arts, medicine, and government.

With a more thorough understanding of the rich history that Judaism and Jewish people carry, it is easy to appreciate Jews’ identities and culture in relation to others. Understanding more than just the androcentric textbook account of the past gives us a more nuanced perspective, transforming us, as students, into more sensitive and aware global actors. We are better prepared to appreciate the multi-layered nature of intercultural communication.

References:

1.     About AICE | Jewish Virtual Library. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/about/

2.     http://www.buzzle.com/articles/judaism-afterlife.html