Go to the U of M home page

Pages

Monday, August 25, 2014

First Meeting of the HGMV 2014-2015 Workshop Announced

Holocaust, Genocide and Mass Violence
Studies (HGMV) Interdisciplinary Graduate Group
2014-2015 workshops

First Meeting
Thursday, September 18
12:00 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Room 710 Social Sciences Building
Lunch will be provided

The group was founded to foster interdisciplinary conversations on the subject areas of Holocaust studies, genocide and memory, peace and conflict studies, human rights, nationalism and ethnic violence, representations of violence and trauma, conflict resolution, transitional justice, historical consciousness and collective memory.

The HGMV Graduate Group also provides funds for graduate students whose work has been accepted for conference presentations.

To RSVP to the September 18 meeting or for more information on how to become involved please contact Erma Nezirevic at nezir001@umn.edu.


Thursday, August 21, 2014

Call for Applications: Introduction to the Holocaust in the Soviet Union

The Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum invites applications for the seminar "A Research Introduction to the Holocaust in the Soviet Union." This seminar will be held January 5-9, 2015, at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC.

expo4_01_l.jpg

The objective of the seminar is to acquaint advanced undergraduate, MA, and early PhD students with the central topics, issues, and sources related to the study of the Holocaust in the Soviet Union, including mass shootings, evacuation and rescue, forced labor, and issues of commemoration and memory. Mandel Center scholars will lead discussions, and the seminar will include group analysis of many of the types of primary source material available in the Museum's collections. In addition, participants will have the opportunity to explore the Museum's extensive library, archival, and other collections.

All application materials must be received by Tuesday, September 30, 2014. Selected participants will be notified by November 1, 2014.

Please click here for full details and application requirements.

Friday, August 15, 2014

Seats still available for new course, Never Again! Memory and Politics after Genocide

SOC 4090 and GLOS 4910
Tue/Th 1.00 to 2.30 (FALL 2014) /Room 15 Humphrey Center
Instructor: Alejandro Baer, Associate Professor Sociology, Feinstein Chair and Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

NA.png

Course overview: This course focuses on the social repercussions and political consequences of large-scale political violence, such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. How do individuals, communities and societies come to terms with these atrocities? How do successor regimes balance the demands for justice with the need for peace and reconciliation? How is public memory of the atrocities constructed?

Section I provides an overview of the basic concepts and themes of this class: defining mass violence, collective memory and forgetting in post-atrocity contexts, and transitional justice. In Section II we will look at memory of the Holocaust among descendants of victims and descendants of perpetrators and its impact on the way other communities shape and represent their memories of mass violence and victimhood, i.e. their specific demands, symbolic politics and judicial strategies. In Section III we will address cases from around the globe and different historical settings, including the legacies of State terror in Latin America, the aftermath of Stalinist mass violence in Eastern Europe and American Indian struggles for memory and justice.

We will also examine public remembrance projects such as monuments and museums, film and television series, visual art and other initiatives which operate in conjunction or in tension with legal and political procedures (tribunals, truth commissions, reparations, etc.) and are often initiated by human rights NGOs, victim organizations, intellectuals and artists.

Course Format: This course will be conducted as a combined lecture and discussion course. This basic format will be supplemented by occasional in-class exercises.

Course Requirements: In addition to regular attendance and active participation in discussions, students are required to complete short in-class writing based on the readings, write two 4-5 page, double spaced, critical essays, complete one mid-term exam and a end of semester essay.


Section I provides an overview of the basic concepts and themes of this class: defining mass violence, collective memory and forgetting in post-atrocity contexts, and transitional justice. In Section II we will look at memory of the Holocaust among descendants of victims and descendants of perpetrators and its impact on the way other communities shape and represent their memories of mass violence and victimhood, i.e. their specific demands, symbolic politics and judicial strategies. In Section III we will address cases from around the globe and different historical settings, including the legacies of State terror in Latin America, the aftermath of Stalinist mass violence in Eastern Europe and American Indian struggles for memory and justice.
We will also examine public remembrance projects such as monuments and museums, film and television series, visual art and other initiatives which operate in conjunction or in tension with legal and political procedures (tribunals, truth commissions, reparations, etc.) and are often initiated by human rights NGOs, victim organizations, intellectuals and artists.
Course Format: This course will be conducted as a combined lecture and discussion course. This basic format will be supplemented by occasional in-class exercises.
Course Requirements: In addition to regular attendance and active participation in discussions, students are required to complete short in-class writing based on the readings, write two 4-5 page, double spaced, critical essays, complete one mid-term exam and a end of semester essay.
Visit One Stop to register.

Tuesday, August 5, 2014

Registration open for Holocaust and Genocide related courses

Registration for University of Minnesota's fall 2014 semester is now open with a number of courses that fall within the Center's interdisciplinary approach to the study of the Holocaust and genocide.

The following courses are designed to provide direct and comprehensive instruction on the topic of the Holocaust, as well as the social, memorial and political impact of genocides:

History 3729, Nazi Germany and Hitler's Europe
Professor Gary Cohen
Comprehensive exploration of Third Reich. Students will examine How the Nazis came to power, transformations of 1930s, imposition of racial politics against Jews/others, nature of total war. Students read historical accounts, memoirs, state documents, view films.

Global Studies 4910, "Never Again!" Memory and Politics After Genocide
Professor Alejandro Baer
This course focuses on the aftermath of large-scale political violence. How do individuals, communities and societies come to terms with these atrocities? How do successor regimes balance the demands for justice with the need for peace and reconciliation? How is public memory of the atrocities constructed?

For an extended list of multi-disciplinary courses that present contextual studies of conflicts, human rights violations, power dynamics, social memory and transformation that are mirrored in the Holocaust and other genocides, please see the Fall 2014 Courses List.pdf

To register please visit the University of Minnesota's One Stop Home.