SSWI-234G Century of Genocides

3 Credits

This course surveys and examines legal, political and historical contexts, causes and consequences of the crime of all crimes, i.e. the deliberate and systematic destruction of an entire people or ethnic group. Understanding that further devastation can only be prevented with a sharper historical imagination, awareness and responsibility of global citizenship, the course focuses on comprehending historical and social conditions of genocide and identifying diverse legal and cultural conceptualizations of violence against groups. Political claims regarding state-formation, nation-building, homogenization and assimilation that may establish grounds for ethnic cleansing are compared. Historical and critical engagements with the multifaceted consequences of mass violence are examined.