SOC 101: The Roots of

Professor: Robert Braun [email protected] 1808 Chicago Avenue, room 103 RING DOOR BELL!! Office Hours: TTH 5:00-6:00 PM www.wejoinin.com/robert.braun Winter 2018 Elder Hall 032 TTH 3:30-4:50PM

Course description

In this course we will examine one of the most destructive, evil and perplexing phenomena haunting society: genocide - i.e. , the on a large scale organized ex- clusion and killing of populations defined by race, ethnicity, nationality, political affiliation or religion. In the first section of this course students will be intro- duced to ideational, rational and psychological explanations of genocide. Causes of genocide can be found at different levels of analysis. We will focus on theories at three different levels. First, we will look at how national and international processes such as modernization and political leadership cause genocide (macro level). Second, we will look at why individuals, both victims and non-victims, accept or even participate in mass killings (micro level). Third, we will look at what role subnational groups such as religious congregations, organizations, local communities and militias play in linking micro and macro forces (meso level). In the second part of this course, we will assess the validity of different explanations through the comparative study of four particular cases: the Holo- caust, the Armenian Genocide, Cambodia and Rwanda. Students will explore and present a fifth case on their own. We will end the course with a discussion on resistance and foreign intervention. Students will improve their analytical skills by drawing connections between social science theory, historical monographs, journalistic accounts and policy documents. Upon completing the course, students will not only be acquainted with the main types of explanations offered for genocide, but they will also be able to evaluate the evidence supporting the various explanations. In turn, this should help students to develop and evaluate proposals to end and prevent and recognize opportunities for resistance against genocide.

1 Required Texts

The following book is available for purchase at the Norris bookstore (and most other vendors): • Doris L Bergen. and genocide: A concise history of the Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016 Other texts are available on CANVAS, ONLINE or via the library website as EBOOKS or EJOURNALS.

Requirements and Grades

The formal requirements and grade calculation are as follows: • 6 short assignments: pass or fail. • An in-class presentation: 35% of grade. • A final paper: 60% of grade. • In-class participation: 5% of grade The 6 assignments act as building blocks which will help your write your final paper/presentation.

Case Selection

For 4 of the 6 assignments as well as for the presentation and paper you need to work on a particular episode of mass killing not discussed in class. You can choose the episode yourself but the Ottoman destruction of other christian minorities and other victims of the Nazi’s cannot be studied as they are too closely related to the cases discussed in class. Examples of cases you could choose are: • Genocide in the Balkans. • Stalin’s against national minorities. • Mao’s Cultural revolution. • Killing of Herero’s in Namibia. • Many others. For your assignments, presentation and paper you will have to collect and read additional literature on your own. You will have to read at least 5 academic sources. Your Professor can be consulted for help. As a first step you might want to look at what the following reference works, which have been put on course reserve in the main library, have to say about your case:

2 • Paul R Bartrop and Steven Leonard Jacobs. Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection [4 volumes]: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection. ABC-CLIO, 2014 • Dan Stone. The historiography of genocide. Springer, 2008 • Leo Kuper. Genocide: Its political use in the twentieth century. Yale University Press, 1983 • Ben Kiernan. Blood and soil: A world history of genocide and extermina- tion from Sparta to Darfur. Yale University Press, 2008 • Adam Jones. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2006 • Donald Bloxham and A Dirk Moses. The Oxford handbook of genocide studies. Oxford University Press, 2010 • Robert Gellately and Ben Kiernan. The specter of genocide: Mass murder in historical perspective. Cambridge University Press, 2003

In addition, there are three high quality journals dedicated to the study of genocide -the Journal of Genocide Research, Genocide Studies and Prevention and Holocaust and Genocide Studies- that you might want to consult. To guarantee sufficient variation in case selection, I will circulate a case selection sheet on 1/30 and reserve the right to assign you, in consultation, a different case. On 2/1 you will have a one-on-one meeting with your professor (1808 Chicago Avenue, room 103). During that meeting you have to bring a draft of assignment 3. A sign up sheet for the meetings will be made available on 1/18.

Assignments

Students will have to complete 5 small assignments. The five assignments to- gether build up to part of your presentation/paper and will be graded as pass fail. 1. Summary assignment (<1 page). 2. Intertextual dialogue assignment (<1 page) 3. Literature and Citations assignment (<1/2 page) 4. Apply theory assignment (<1 page) 5. Schematic paper outline (<1 page) 6. Intro and conclusion assignment (<1 page) Assignments will be distributed via CANVAS a week before they are due. I will often ask you to bring drafts of your assignments to class for peer editing. Assignments need to be submitted hard copy during class time.

3 Presentation

You will give a 15 minute presentation about the episode of mass killing you choose. In your presentation you will:

1. Use three of the 5 sources you collected. 2. Explain why this episode qualifies as a genocide. This requires you to apply definitions (1 min). 3. Give a general overview of how the violence unfolded (5 minutes). 4. Deploy three of the seven perspectives introduced in this class to explain why and how this episode of mass killing took place OR explain why none of the perspectives are useful. In case of the former explain why you choose these perspectives and not others. Also explain which perspective works best (5 minutes). 5. Draw out similarities between your case and cases discussed in class or explain why you think your case is incomparable (4 min).

Use slides, maps and pictures to illustrate your work. Also provide your audience with all relevant citations.. Presentations take place the last week of class. I will randomly assign time slots.

Paper

Your final paper builds on your presentation. You will write a 10 page paper in which you explain the same genocide you picked for your presentation. However, there are 2 additional requirements: 1. You need to consult 5 instead of 3 academic sources. 2. Apply four instead of three perspectives. 3. The paper is due the first Tuesday after reading week before midnight (3/20).

1/9: Introduction

• Syllabus Soc 376/Poli SCI 390. CANVAS.

• University of Denver John Evans Study Report, pp. iii-V and 88-90. AVAILABLE ONLINE HERE.

4 1/11: Library Introduction

• Professor traveling • Jason Kruse will lead our seminar

• B234 in the Lower Level of the University Library

1/16: Definitions and Origin

• I will distribute Assignment 1 via CANVAS.

• Samantha Power. A problem from hell: America and the age of geno- cide. Perseus Books Group, New York, NY, 2013, pp. XI-85. LIBRARY EBOOK.

1/18: Macro-Level Explanations 1

• Bring draft of Assignment 1. • Sign up for one-on-one meeting in class. • . Final solutions: The causes of mass killing and geno- cide. Security Studies, 9(3):1–59, 2000. LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

• Barbara Harff. No lessons learned from the holocaust? assessing risks of genocide and political mass murder since 1955. American Political Science Review, 97(1):57–73, 2003, SKIP 65-69. LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

1/23: Macro-Level Explanations 2

• DUE: Assignment 1. • I will distribute assignment 2 via CANVAS. • Eric D. Weitz. The Modernity of Genocides. The specter of genocide: Mass murder in historical perspective. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, MA, 2003. CANVAS. • Michael Mann. The dark side of democracy: the modern tradition of and political cleansing. New Left review, 235(235):18–46, 1999. LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

5 1/25: Micro-Level Explanations

• Bring draft of Assignment 2. • Adam Jones. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2006, Chapter 10. CANVAS. • TED-talk Zimbardo on the psychology of evil. AVAILABLE ONLINE HERE. • Zygmunt Bauman. Modernity and the Holocaust. Cornell University Press, 1989, Chapter 5. CANVAS.

1/30: Meso-level Explanations

• DUE: Assignment 2. • Case selection due in class. • I will distribute Assignment 3 via CANVAS. • Stathis N Kalyvas. The ontology of âĂIJpolitical violenceâĂİ: action and identity in civil . Perspectives on Politics, 1(3):475–494, 2003 • Alex Alvarez. Genocidal crimes. Routledge, 2009, Chapter 4. CANVAS.

2/1: One-on-one meetings

• Bring draft of Assignment 3. • Chicago Avenue, room 103 at allocated time.

2/6: Holocaust Macro

• DUE: Assignment 3. • Doris L Bergen. War and genocide: A concise history of the Holocaust. Rowman & Littlefield, 2016, at least until pp. 215. PURCHASE.

2/8: Holocaust Micro and Meso

• I will distribute Assignment 4 via CANVAS. • Götz Aly. Hitler’s beneficiaries: plunder, racial war, and The Nazi welfare state. Macmillan, 2007, Chapter 4. CANVAS. • Daniel J. Goldhagen. Hitler’s willing executioners: Ordinary Germans and the Holocaust. Knopf, New York, NY, 1996, chapter 15. CANVAS.

6 • Christopher R. Browning. Ordinary men: Reserve Police Battalion 101 and the final solution in Poland. Harper Perennial, New York, NY, 1993, chapter 18. CANVAS.

2/13: Armenia Macro and Comparisons

• Bring draft Assignment 4. • Adam Jones. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2006, Chapter 4. CANVAS. • Robert Melson. Revolution and genocide: on the origins of the Armenian genocide and the Holocaust. University of Chicago Press, 1992, Chapter 8. CANVAS. • Steven T Katz. The unique intentionality of the holocaust. Modern Ju- daism, 1(2):161–183, 1981. LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

2/15: Rwanda Macro and Negative Cases

• DUE: Assignment 4. • I will distribute Assignment 5 via CANVAS.

• Adam Jones. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2006, Chapter 9. CANVAS. • Scott Straus. The order of genocide. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2006, pp. 17-41. LIBRARY EBOOK.

• Scott Straus. Retreating from the brink: Theorizing mass violence and the dynamics of restraint. Perspectives on Politics, 10(2):343–362, 2012 ONLY 351-355

2/20: Rwanda Micro and Meso

• Bring draft of Assignment 5. • Scott Straus. The order of genocide. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, 2006, Chapter 3, 5 and 6. LIBRARY EBOOK.

2/22: Cambodia Macro, Micro and Meso

• DUE: Assignment 5. • I will distribute Assignment 6 via CANVAS.

7 • Adam Jones. Genocide: A comprehensive introduction. Routledge, 2006, Chapter 7. • Ben Kiernan. Blood and soil: A world history of genocide and extermina- tion from Sparta to Darfur. Yale University Press, 2008, pp. 540-554.

EITHER • Alexander Laban Hinton. Why did you kill?: The cambodian genocide and the dark side of face and honor. The Journal of Asian Studies, 57(1):93– 122, 1998.

OR • Peter B Owens. The collective dynamics of genocidal violence in cambodia, 1975–1979. Social Science History, 38(3-4):411–436, 2014.

2/25: Intervention

• Bring draft of Assignment 6.

CHOOSE 2 OF THE FOLLOWING: • Benjamin A. Valentino. Final solutions: Mass killing and genocide in the 20th century. Cornell University Press, 2013, Conclusion. LIBRARY EBOOK. • Benjamin A Valentino. True costs of humanitarian intervention. the hard truth about a noble notion. Foreign Affairs, 90:60–69, 2011. LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

• Alan J Kuperman. The moral hazard of humanitarian intervention: Lessons from the balkans. International Studies Quarterly, 52(1):49–80, 2008 LI- BRARY EJOURNAL. • Séverine Autesserre. The responsibility to protect in congo: the failure of grassroots prevention. International Peacekeeping, 23(1):29–51, 2016 LIBRARY EJOURNAL.

2/27: Resisting Genocide

• DUE: Assignment 6.

• Robert Braun. Religious minorities and resistance to genocide: The col- lective rescue of jews in the netherlands during the holocaust. American Political Science Review, 110(1):127–147, 2016, SKIP PP. 134-146.

8 • Claire Andrieu, Sarah Gensburger, and Jacques Semelin. Resisting Geno- cides. The Multiple Forms of Rescue. Columbia University Press, 2011, Chapter 23 OR 29. CANVAS.

3/1: Student presentations

• Schedule TBA

3/6: Student presentations

• Schedule TBA

3/8: Finish Presentations/Review

• Schedule TBA

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