Genocide and Human Rights

Instances of genocide and mass violence – from the Herrero people in German Southwest Africa in the first decade of the 1900s to the Rohingya minority in Myanmar in recent years – punctuate the 20th and 21st-centuries as all-too-frequent reminders of man’s inhumanity to man. However, individual and collective responses to genocide and mass violence also highlight human resilience and efforts towards social justice and human rights. This course will explore the many facets of genocide through an interdisciplinary study of history, literature, art, sociology, political science, and international law. Using the Holocaust as our foundation, we will examine several examples of genocide and mass violence from the 20th and 21st centuries. Case studies analyzed in the course will be selected based on student interest and may include genocides in Armenia, Ukraine, Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur, and the genocide of Indigenous peoples in Minnesota and the United States. Considering the particular events of each case, students will analyze how and why genocides occur. Ultimately, students will examine individual and collective responses to genocide, especially efforts to define human rights and promote peace and human dignity around the world. Throughout, students will read and analyze primary and secondary source material, testimony and memoirs, and fictional and artistic responses. Students will also meet with several genocide survivors, participate in class discussions, and engage in individual and group projects.