2019-20 Academic Catalog

Why is genocide particularly associated with modernity? What is the difference between ethnocide, genocide, and other forms of mass violence? Can there be genocide without the intent to commit genocide? What are the ethical implications of relativism and limits to state sovereignty? How can genocide be prevented? This course considers these and related questions though the lens of the field’s foundational thinkers, such as Raphael Lemkin, Hannah Arendt, Primo Levi, and Zygmunt Bauman, and focuses on specific cases of genocide, including those of indigenous peoples (with emphasis on Native America), Armenia, Stalin’s Terror, the Holocaust, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Kosovo.