Course+Overview

**Essential Questions:** 1) What is the definition of genocide? -Does that definition vary across different societies? -What classifies an event as genocide? (What distinguishes it from civil war, tribal conflict etc.)
 * Genocide Studies: Course Outline **

2) How do the differing sources of genocidal conflict affect the process in which genocide takes place? -Do quests for Utopia and racial, tribal and religious eradication result in different processes of mass killing? -How do those differing sources affect the aftermath? (Reconciliation)

3) How do societies reconcile following genocide? -How does healing occur in places where perpetrators and victims live together? -Is justice necessary in order for a society to heal? -Does that justice need to be served from an outside party? (The UN, the Hague, the ICC) -Can justice be reached solely from within a society?

4) What role do bystander countries play in the “before, during and after” of genocides? -What outside factors allow genocide to occur? -What factors hinder intervention from other countries? -What role, as a world power, does the United States of America play in the occurrence of genocides? -How has the United States been able to remain a bystander in most genocidal conflicts, despite its international prowess?

5) What factors affect how societies choose to remember and learn from genocide? -Why do certain genocides go unrecognized? (Armenia) -Why are certain modern conflicts excluded from the category of genocide, specifically by politicians and members of the media? (Syria)

**Unit 1**: **Defining Genocide**

A. Constructing a definition of genocide to be used, and at times revisited, during this course -Definition will be based on expert texts and my own historical research (I will examine Raphael Lemkin’s original coining of the term along with the definition presented at the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide).

B. Examine the colonization of the America’s and the systematic relocation and slaughter of Native American Indians, in the context of this definition of genocide. -This will be the earliest time period that I look at during the course and I will use this example to test not only my definition, but also many of the guiding questions: -How is our role in modern genocides, affected by the genocidal acts of our founding? -How do we choose, to remember and teach the colonization of the Native American Indians?


 * Assessment:** Conduct a presentation for any faculty or students, providing an analysis of the topic based on my research and my definition. Facilitate a discussion about how we classify and teach the colonization of the Native American Indians in schools.


 * Unit 2: Comparing Origins, Process and Aftermath**

-In it I will compare the two based on: First, their respective motives and intentions. Second, the method and process in which the genocide took place Third, their aftermaths and reconciliation that followed. (Possibly examining America’s role in both)
 * 1) This unit will focus on two genocides that both fit its traditional definition: The Holocaust and the Cambodian Genocide


 * Assessment:** Most likely an analytical paper, focusing on how Cambodia and Germany (most of Europe as well) have moved on respectively from these events. (Possibly a movie screening: The Killing Fields, and/or Schindler’s List. Followed by discussion)


 * Unit 3: Recognition and Remembrance**


 * 1) In this unit I will focus on the world’s view of genocide and what factors affect it. I will examine this issue through the medium of the Armenian Genocide and possibly the Holocaust. Armenia is an example of a conflict that was never followed by reconciliation, thus denial has become a major issue. It is easy to see the divisions that caused these conflicts in the first place because often those tensions remain full-fledged today. As a result, Holocaust denial is prevalent in certain countries, and many countries (including the U.S.) have yet to recognize the Turkish-Armenian conflict as a genocide. This unit will also look at how perpetrator-victim relations unfold in post genocide societies.


 * Assessment:** Most likely an analytical paper, discussing how the holocaust is remembered in Germany compared to how the Armenian Genocide is denied in Turkey, and the affects that atonement and reconciliation can have on a country’s development post-genocide.


 * Unit 4:** **Never Again?: The United States of America’s Idle Stance on Genocide**


 * 1) This unit will revisit Cambodia and introduce Bosnia, a more recent conflict. Both genocides were drastically affected by the lack of American intervention. Using Power’s book here more than ever, I will focus on America’s role in the repeated occurrence of genocide over the past century. I will possibly invoke examples from the Holocaust and the Iraqi mass killings of the Kurds, but that may be too much for one unit. This unit will examine the politics that dictate how America decides or does not decide to act in the face of genocide.


 * Assessment:** I think this would be a great lesson to do a presentation and lead a discussion afterwards with faculty and students. As Americans, examining our own role in genocides would be fascinating and would hopefully spark good debate among people. If possible, we could screen a good movie related to our failures in the past.


 * Unit 5: Local Reconciliation in Rwanda**


 * 1) In this unit, I will examine the Rwandan genocide. About 800,000 Rwandans were killed in 100 days, so the event is unlike any other I have examined. I will research to gain a good historical context of the genocide, but the focus of the unit will be on reconciliation. Specifically, I will look at the effectiveness of local tribal justice in Rwanda. I will compare these “trials” with the United Nations Tribunal that took place in Tanzania regarding the Rwandan genocide. I may also invoke the UN Tribunals in Cambodia as an example of a method of justice that is “half external half internal”.


 * Assessment:** I think I will most likely write a paper for this unit about the effectiveness of different methods of reconciliation. But I also like the idea of screening Hotel Rwanda, presenting some information and research and then leading a discussion afterwards. Maybe it is worth showing parts of the movie the library bought as well. Ultimately, this is an important unit and it certainly is worth of two major assessments if need be.


 * Unit 6:** **Genocide Rages On**


 * 1) In what I believe will be one of the last units, I will examine the process of diagnosing genocide today through the medium of the conflict in Syria. I will focus on the media, foreign powers, and of course the United States and how each can dictate how this conflict will play out. I will test the theories of Power on a modern situation and examine whether the United States has the ability to put an end to a century of repeated genocides.


 * Assessment:** Most likely a final paper, but I cannot say exactly what I will focus on at the moment.