Genocide and Human Behavior:
Facing History and Ourselves
When confronted with the horror of genocide, a natural response for many is the question, “ How are such events possible?” This course is an attempt to investigate the hows and whys of genocide and human behavior in the 20th century. At it’s core, the course is a study in human behavior and interpretations and understandings of “human nature”, group membership, and obligation. Issues of personal and group identity and obligation are critical to understanding both the potential causes and subsequent responses to genocide.
Despite international promises of “never again”, genocide has been a consistent fixture in modern world history. The great philosopher Isaiah Berlin called the 20th century, “The most terrible century in Western history.” This course will focus on historical and modern case studies of genocide. There is a certain power that arises in us from knowing something well. It is not possible in a semester long course to “do it all”. Thus, this course values depth over breadth.
The particular historical case studies that we will in the course include:
• Armenian genocide
• Definitions of Genocide: The case of R. Lempkin
• Eugenics in America and the changing notion of race
• Weimar Republic- Learning from the Fragility of Democracy
• The Rise of the Nazi’s
• Genocide under Nazi Occupation
• Post War Genocide: Never Again? (Cambodia, Rwanda, Sudan)
Students will explore the ways that conformity, obedience, opportunism, and terror affect individual and group responses during times of genocide. The essential questions of study for this course include: What factors influence the choices of perpetrators, rescuers, resisters, and bystanders in times of genocide or collective violence? What does resistance mean during a time of genocide—a time of diminished choices?
Through the study of the history of modern genocide, we will explore the intersection of judgment, memory, and legacy. Students will wrestle with questions of justice and judgment including: Who should decide guilt and responsibility for crimes against humanity? How can and should individuals and nations acknowledge histories of collective violence and genocide? What are the consequences of refusing to confront the past?
Learning Goals and Objectives:
In addition to the course content and essential questions, students will further develop and strengthen their habits of mind and historical thinking. In particular, students will be asked to:
• Looking for evidence- The habit of asking, “How do we know what we claim to know?”
• Point of view- The habit of asking, “Who is speaking? What perspective does this person have?”
• Connections and pattern- The habit of asking, “What are the causes? What are the effects? Where are the similarities between historical events and modern events and ways of thinking?”
• Supposition- The habit of asking, “How might things have turned out differently?”
• Determining importance- This is the habit of asking, “Who cares?”
Content goals:
By the end of the semester, students should be able to:
• Articulate and understand the ways in which personal and group identity and obligation impact the causes of and responses to genocide
• Recognize and analyze the positions of bystander, perpetrator, and resister in times of genocide
• Read, review, and teach a historical text on the topic of genocide
• Grapple with the issues of judgment and memory. Understand the role of memorials and museums in preserving legacies of genocide.
• Identify the origins of and the legal distinction for the word “genocide”
• Understand the Weimar Republic in Germany and how it can serve as a useful point of comparison for periods of instability leading to genocide elsewhere.
• Identity and analyze the “tools” and organizations for preventing genocide or bringing justice to perpetrators (UN, ICC, etc)
• Recognize the role that the media, government propaganda, and the arts have played in the promotion, cessation, and prevention of genocides.
• Closely monitor and critique current world events that share themes with those of the course (in particular the events of Sudan and the Congo)
