Overview:
The required readings this week look at the questions surrounding genocide in the 21st century and how countries have addressed (or failed to address) ongoing cases of genocide. Since its definition and signing into the UN Convention in 1948, the concept of “genocide” has continued to plague our world, and repeatedly throughout the latter half of the 20th century, genocides occurred across the globe with little to no intervention from the outside world. It begs the question: Can we prevent genocide? And if so, how? The articles included here speak directly to the roundtable discussion with Dr. Bruner, Dr. Langille, and Dr. Flaws.
Readings:
- Read: Erica A. Heinze, “The Rhetoric of Genocide in US Foreign Policy: Rwanda and Darfur Compared,” in Political Science Quarterly 122, no. 3 (Fall 2007): 359-383.
- Read: Samantha Power, “Stopping Genocide and Securing ‘Justice’: Learning by Doing,” in Social Research: An International Quarterly 69, no. 4 (Winter 2002): 1099-1113.
- Read: Marianne Hirsch, “The Generation of Postmemory,” Poetics Today 1 (2008): 103-12.
Question:
(2) How would you define the relationship between memory and preventing genocide? How does Holocaust (and genocide) denial and distortion threaten these ideas?