The Gross Center embraces Ramapo College’s commitment to the Digital Humanities. Many of our courses include assignments that provide opportunities for students simultaneously to practice using digital tools in their studies and, while doing so, to share some of what they have learned with the public. Our goal is to help student researchers learn to become storytellers for the twenty-first century.

Virtual Exhibit for the 30th Kwibuka (Remembrance) of the 1994 Genocide of Tutsi in Rwanda

Ramapo students in Dr. Jacob Ari Labendz’s Fall 2023 course, “Paradigms of Genocide,” created the stations that compose this exhibit as part of their final research project. Each contribution explores one aspect of the history and enduring legacy of the genocide in Rwanda. You may view the exhibit in two forms: as a component of this website or in virtual space. We thank Dr. Hollie Nzitatira and Luc Bernard for their invaluable partnership in bringing this project to fruition.

Beth Haverim Sim Shir Shalom Holocaust Survivor Testimony Project (2023-2024)

In partnership with the Gross Center, the religious school at Beth Haverim Shir Shalom in Mahwah has been working all year to produce an online exhibit about the lives of Holocaust survivors who settled in our region. The initiative was based upon a class assignment undertaken by Ramapo students in Fall 2002. We divided the students into four groups and assigned each a Holocaust survivor testimony selected from a collection of 136 testimonies recorded by the Gross Center for the Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies at Yale University. The students produced StoryMaps, narrative mapping tools, to share what they learned with their friends, family, and the community.

Virtual Holocaust Film Festival (“Holocaust and Media,” Spring 2023)

Ramapo students created this virtual Holocaust film festival as a final project in Dr. Jacob Ari Labendz’s course, “Holocaust and Media,” in Spring 2023. Each student contributed a festival-style video introduction to a film of their choosing, which they believe people interested in Holocaust cinema should watch, enjoy, and consider.

Kristallnacht Story Maps (“The Holocaust,” Fall 2022)

Ramapo students in Dr. Jacob Ari Labendz’s Fall 2022 course on the history of the Holocaust used free, online narrative-mapping tools to create “Story Map” presentations based upon testimonies from survivors who witnessed Kristallnacht and settled in our region. Students also drew from the material they covered in class. Each Story Map follows the entire lifepath of a single survivor and includes clips from their testimonies. A map traces their movement through Europe and beyond.