2023-2024 Academic Catalog

Dec 21, 2024

2023-2024 Academic Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

HGS 130 - Genocide and Struggles for Justice

“Never forget” and “never again” are promises-to remember the horrors of the past and to prevent their reoccurrence in the future. Present circumstances shape the possibilities of what can be done to realize both goals. This course examines: 1) how changing circumstances affect understandings of the varied forms genocide takes; and 2) justice-oriented responses to such violence in different contexts (e.g., criminal proceedings, truth and reconciliation commissions, reparations, and memory projects). The course is divided into two sections. The introductory section is philosophical and historical in orientation. The focus is upon the ethical issues, political events, and the legal mechanisms out of which the concept of genocide emerged and the debates surrounding it. The next section consists of thematic case studies. The studies include selected aspects of the Holocaust, the Rwandan genocide, “genocidal acts” against Muslim Rohingya, and “politicide” in Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The patterns provide students with the theoretical and methodological framework for more multi-disciplinary and comparative understandings of genocide and justice.

Course Designation/Attribute: GP

Anticipated Terms Offered: Biannually