Becoming an Agent of Memory: Using Visual Literacy to Move beyond Tourism in Study Abroad
Keywords:
visual literacy, elaboration, digital storytelling, counter-monumentAbstract
In this article, we use an interdisciplinary, short-term study abroad program in Berlin, Germany, “Memorializing the Holocaust,” as a case study to demonstrate the importance of incorporating visual literacy competencies into study abroad course curriculum. By focusing on visual literacy, the program helps students navigate beyond their initial touristic relationship to the iconic images and sites in Berlin, allowing them to re-envision and reflect upon their significance. Through digital storytelling and counter-monument projects, students engage in reflection about and elaboration upon their knowledge of Holocaust remembrance and their experience abroad, allowing them to move from passive observers to empowered participants. As agents of memory, the students learn to map their own intellectual journeys through unfamiliar intellectual and geographic terrain, creating a new material reference for memory.
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