April 16, 17, 19, 2014
The Institute for Global Studies in partnership with The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and the Human Rights Program are hosting a series of events to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the genocide that took place in Rwanda in 1994. The events will include a public conference, a student conference, and a K-16 teacher workshop. The objectives of the commemorative events are: promoting public understanding of what happened in Rwanda, discussing the immediate responses of the international community to the violence, and analyzing the long-term consequences that the cataclysmic failure to prevent the genocide had on international policy and action.
Sponsorship made possible in part by the Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Fund at the Minneapolis Foundation.
The Public Conference
Wednesday, April 16
Cowles Auditorium, Humphrey School of Public Affairs
The public conference is designed to bring together research and praxis. Academics, activists and diplomats will lead a public exploration of what we have learned from the Rwandan genocide and how we have been affected by, and should use, that knowledge to create more effective methods of intervention. Themes of the panels include: representations of atrocity, immediate aftermaths, transitional justice and its impacts, and preventing genocide and mass atrocity. This event will be free and open to the public.
Featured Speaker: Adama Dieng, UN Special Advisor on Genocide Prevention
Other Speakers Include:
Eric Schwartz, Dean, Humphrey School, former National Security Adviser to President Clinton
Curt Goering, Executive Director, Center for Victims of Torture and former Chief Operating Officer at Amnesty International USA
Alejandro Baer, Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at the University of Minnesota
Gregory Gordon, Director of the University of North Dakota (UND) Center for Human Rights & Genocide Studies and Former Legal Officer, at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
Barbara Frey, Director of Human Rights Program at the University of Minnesota
Samuel Totten, Ed.D, Professor of Curriculum and Instruction, University of Arkansas
Leigh Payne, Professor at Oxford and Senior Research Fellow for the Institute for Global Studies
The Student Conference
Thursday, April 17th
Coffman Union
The students' conference will bring together undergraduate students throughout the Midwest, from different disciplines, who are working on the genocide in Rwanda or other episodes of genocide and mass violence. Those interested in more information or submitting work should see the Call for Papers for more details and contact Wahutu j. Siguru at siguru@umn.edu by the 28th of February 2014.
The K-16 Teacher Workshop: Featuring Professor Samuel Totten
Saturday, April 19
Coffman Union
9:00a.m. to 3:00p.m.
Samuel Totten is one of the foremost scholars of curriculum on Holocaust and genocide education and has published several texts to aid educators integrate this curriculum in their classrooms.
CEU's are available.
Class will be limited to 25. For more information, contact Deborah Jane at djane@umn.edu.
Please check back for further details and updates in the coming weeks. Contact Kaela McConnon at mccon117@umn.edu with any questions or concerns.
Event Co-sponsors: The Center for Victims of Torture, The Advocates for Human Rights, Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas, St. Cloud State Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education, World Without Genocide, Department of History, Department of French and Italian, the Institute of Diversity, Equality and Advocacy, the Program in Human Rights and Health and the Human Rights Center of the University of Minnesota
Artwork: "Valentina's Nightmare (Face/Hand Rough)" by Peter Driessen, 1997.
