Introduction to Genocide Studies

This course provides students with an introduction to the study of genocide. 

In this class, we will take a critical approach to understanding genocide, meaning:

• we will try to avoid easy moralizing and distancing of genocide;
• we won’t take existing legal and political definitions of genocide for granted; and
• we will think about power in relation to genocide perpetration and prevention.

Our strategy will be interdisciplinary, meaning:

• we will explore the ways historians, psychologist, lawyers, political scientists, and others have tried to understand genocide; and
• we will reflect on the limits on what and how we can know about genocide as a human experience.

This course aspires to be practical and applied, meaning

• this course fundamentally anti-genocidal in its purpose, and
• students will have the opportunity to contribute to and/or develop practical efforts commemorate, advocate against, or prevent the perpetration of genocide.