Noam Schimmel Published in UC Berkeley Blog

In April 2022, two articles by Senior Fellow Noam Schimmel have been published on the UC Berkeley blog.

The first opinion piece, titled “Personal Narrative in the Study of Ethics and International Affairs,” explores the need to engage with individuals and their personal experiences in the study and practice of international affairs. Noam explains that the statements of survivors need to be central in academic studies. “To those individuals who do not have the power to raise their voices and be heard we must not wait passively for someone to tell their story—we must seek them out, we must share them and amplify them,” Noam emphasizes.

• The full article is available on this UC Berkley blog page.

In the second opinion piece, titled “Towards an Ethic of Friendship in Academic Research: A Reflection on Rwanda and Survivors of the Genocide Against the Tutsi,” Noam comments on the way research is typically carried out in the African state. According to Noam’s sources, while only few countries in Africa have achieved such academic research attention as Rwanda, many locals are frustrated by the lack of care and follow-up of many researchers coming to the region. This should be improved, Noam suggests. “Friendship adds a dimension – both ethical and emotional – that can make research in both process and product more ethically and socially responsible, equitable, sensitive, responsive and consequential to locals,” he explains. What is more, the “lack of engagement with genocide survivors in Rwanda contributes to their marginalization and disadvantage.” Therefore, “intentional ethics of friendship would go a long way to beginning to address these injustices,” Noam concludes.

• Visit this UC Berkley blog page to read the full article.

The UC Berkley blog is not the only publisher of Noam’s work. In 2021, the Boston Globe published Noam’s letter to the editor. In the letter, Noam comments on Jewish vulnerability and discrimination as well as a rise in hate crimes against Jews. “There has been far too much silence and indifference,” Noam notes.

• The letter is publicly available on this Boston Globe page.

Finally and most recently, one of Noam’s academic articles titled “An Overview of Contemporary Human Rights Scholarship” was published in Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice. The writing is focusing on the interdisciplinary approach to Human Rights and provides an overview of this emerging field.

• Access the Peace Review article via this Taylor & Francis Online page.