The twentieth century has been dubbed by some historians and politicians the “century of genocide.” And while the colonial mass killing in the Belgian Congo, the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, and the genocides in Bosnia and Rwanda have moved the international community to define, prohibit and punish genocide and crime against humanity, we unfortunately cannot speak of an end of large-scale genocidal atrocities, as mass killings continue to be daily news items. To understand the reasons behind genocidal moments, this course examines modern genocides through a comparative lens to determine patterns of violence and hopes to inspire students to critically think about methods of prevention.

Drawing on a number of case studies such as, but not limited to, the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide, the course focuses on the larger themes of ‘Modernity and Genocide’, ‘Mechanism of Genocide’, ‘Memory and Genocide’, Media and Genocide’, ‘Denial’ and ‘Justice, Reconciliation and Prevention.’ The study of genocide and the possibility to compare one atrocity to another is not uncontroversial. This course by no means seeks to determine which genocide was the worse nor judge the degree of horrors based on a pornography of pain. Instead the goal is—through a variety of primary and interdisciplinary scholarly works, literature, oral histories, court cases, film and material culture—to dive into a critical comparative analysis while at the same time preserving the historic specificity of the various genocides. Questions we will ask are: How do genocides come about? What motivates people to partake or oppose the violence? How is genocide remembered, forgotten, and taught? And how may it be prevented?

Course Requirements:

Students are expected to attend seminar sessions, to do a good amount of reading, submit a number of short reading responses, participate in a field trip, and complete a substantial research paper.

Intended Audience:

International Studies Majors and Minors