Teaching SIVs

For several years now, I've been using this John Oliver clip to teach students about SIVs for wartime translators. It's amazing. I particularly like this segment because, as I've blogged about before, a translator appears on the program and talks with a very flat affect about the murder of his father and the kidnapping of his young brother. I've found this to be a good introduction to discussion of how client trauma presents in wildly different ways and in ways that students may not be expecting.

I plan to continue to use this clip in 2022 because, as you know, the U.S. is still processing SIV applications for wartime translators.

This year, however, I'm adding a second video. Immprof Phil Schrag (Georgetown) recently shared a video about the rescue of an Afghani translator who worked closely with Schrag's son (Sam Lerman -- he's in the video) at Bagram Air Force Base. The video does an amazing job of capturing the chaotic U.S. pull-out from Afghanistan. And it's a terrific leaping off point for discussing both the legal hurdles facing translators who made it out but who still need to navigate the SIV process as well as the hurdles facing those who remain in Afghanistan.

-KitJ