HIS 260 The Holocaust and Genocide
Why do people commit genocide? Seeking to answer this question this course analyzes the contexts, causes, and developments that drive human beings to seek to exterminate whole groups of people based solely on the perception that they belong to a specific group. The class examines the role played by racism and paranoia in the radicalization of individuals and whole societies, and explores the contexts of imperialism, violence, and de-individualization in the modern world. The focus is on the Holocaust as the event which defined the concept of genocide, analyzing its history and using insights from sociology, political science, religious and cultural studies, and psychology. The class further investigates indigenous genocides, sexual violence and the politics of famine, the question of just war, and the attempts to cope with genocide-related trauma.