AP/HREQ 4820 6.00
Atrocity, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity
This course uses a critical human rights approach to explore examples of historical and contemporary atrocities, genocides, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, with special focus on prominent cases including the Holocaust and the decimations of Indigenous populations in the New World.
We will examine the historical, social, economic, and cultural conditions that produce and give rise to genocide. We will begin by examining the different scholarly perspectives. Is genocide a product of a particular set of political circumstances? Does it emerge in a context of war in which the lines between external and internal enemies become blurred? Is it important to have an ideological set of precepts and ideas about the targeted group? Is it important, in other words, to create a diabolical image of an absolute other? Can we look to the depths of human nature as a guide to what human beings are capable of? Can we understand the process through which a normal citizen becomes a participant in mass murder on a regularized basis? We will delve into the intricate and diverse stories of genocide from the Holocaust to Indigenous genocide. Are there particular patterns, social processes, and cultural conditions that determine the likelihood of its appearance? Why, in other words, does genocide appear when it does? We will seek answers as to how and why societies turn to the use and practice of violence against identified minorities and ask why mass murder becomes a viable political option.
Prerequisites: 78 credits or permission from the undergraduate program director.