CENTER FOR HOLOCAUST & GENOCIDE STUDIES 2014-2015 Our work is motivated by the hope to inspire future genera- tions to fight hatred and strengthen democracy, thus en- suring a more peaceful and just world. promoting academic research, education and public awareness on the Shoah, other genocides and current forms of mass violence Commemorative Events From the director Greetings from the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, th th 70 Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz and which continues to grow and develop, now in our 19 year. conclusion of WWII in Europe • January 26 “Bearing Witness” exhibit of portraits by art- Over the 2014-2015 academic year and summer we honored ist Felix de la Concha, video testimonies of Minnesota our mission to provide premiere academic programs and to cul- survivors, and Q&A with the artist at the Weisman Art tivate the essential connection between scholarly inquiry, edu- Museum. Attended by over 180 guests. cation, and outreach. We have completed a very active year • May 8 international symposium “War, What is it Good filled with events ranging from lectures and workshops to time- For?” with keynote lecture by sociologist Daniel Levy. ly community and arts events. Students, educators, scholars and community members have found in CHGS a welcoming learn- “Can One Laugh at Everything? Satire and Free Speech ing and sharing space with academically rigorous, intellectually after Charlie” in response to the attack on the magazine Charlie Hebdo challenging and professionally enriching programs. • Co-organized CLA panel on January 29: discussion with scholars and experts from the Twin Cities including Pu- Our success this past year was catalyzed by the involvement of litzer Prize wining cartoonist Steven Sack. Attended by our distinguished affiliate faculty, the help of engaged graduate an engaged audience of over 120 students and communi- students, our co-sponsors both inside and outside the university, ty members. and a valued community of participants and donors. Armenian Genocide Centennial Thank you for your interest in and support of CHGS. We look • Spring 2015 1-credit course, “The Armenian Genocide: forward to seeing you in the new academic year. Disrupted History, Fractured Identities.” • April 23-25 events: keynote lecture by scholar Bedross Alejandro Baer Der Matossian; student conference with 11 young Stephen C. Feinstein Chair and Director scholars from around the world; and teacher workshop with K-12 educators. Inside this issue 2 Collaborators and Partners. Institutions within the university, community, and around the world. 2-3 Student Opportunities. HGMV Graduate Group, Badzin Fellowship, student conference, courses. 4 Scholarly Lectures and Public Events. Complete listings for 2014-2015. 5 Programs for Educators. Teacher Workshops. 5-6 Research Activity. Recent publications, conferences and symposia. Student conference participants on guided 7 People. CHGS staff and Affiliate Faculty members. tour of Bdote, sacred Dakota site, April 25. 1 CHGSLorem Accomplishments, Ipsum 2014-2015 Co-sponsorships & partnerships Strong partnerships and intellectual collaborations yield rewarding experi- ences for audiences and organizers. We thank the institutions that helped to make 2014-2015 so successful: UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair Center for Austrian Studies Center for German & European Studies Center for Jewish Studies College of Liberal Arts Confucius Institute Department of Anthropology Department of Art History Department of English Department of French & Italian Department of German, Scandinavian & Dutch CHGS guides and mentors undergraduate and Department of History Department of Sociology graduate students by organizing courses and work- Department of Spanish & Portuguese shops, offering fellowships and providing unique Department of Political Science European Studies Consortium opportunities for interaction with leading experts Government of Finland / David and Nancy Speer Visiting Professorship in the field. The Graduate School Hillel: The Jewish Student Center Human Rights Program HGMV Interdisciplinary Graduate Group Institute for Advanced Study The Holocaust, Genocide and Mass Violence (HGMV) group is an Institute for Global Studies active collaborative of graduate students, faculty, and invited schol- Minnesota International Relations Colloquium Program in Human Rights and Health ars. CHGS co-facilitates the workshop series with the Human Rights Religious Studies Program Program. Our 2014-2015 presentations provided opportunities for School of Journalism and Mass Communications students to engage in the development of research projects by Silha Center for the Study of Media Ethics and Law S Weisman Art Museum providing and receiving constructive feedback. Tangible results in- clude conference presentations and travel awards, sponsored by the COMMUNITY U of M Graduate School, to the following students: Center for Holocaust and Genocide Education (St. Cloud State University) • Paula Cuellar: “Genocide in El Salvador: Where Ethnicity and Pol- Children of Holocaust Survivors of Minnesota itics Collided” as the Salvadoran Ombudsperson (San Salvador, El (CHAIM) STUDENT Salvador; February 5). Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas • Joe Eggers: “The Role of Nationalism in the Armenian and Native Ohanessian Endowment Fund for Justice and Peace American Genocides” at the International Association of Genocide Studies at the Minneapolis Foundation Rimon: The Minnesota Jewish Arts Council, an Scholars conference (Yerevan, Armenia; July 8-12). initiative of the Minneapolis Jewish Fed- • Satty Flaherty-Echeverria: “A Voz da Raça: Race, Power and eration Sabes Jewish Community Center Transnational Discourses of Black Elites in 1930s” at the Interna- Twin Cities Jewish Film Festival tional Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (San Juan, Puerto Rico; May 28-31). INTERNATIONAL • Yagmur Karakaya: “Remembering to Forget: Holocaust Memory Centro Sefarad-Israel (Spain) Politics in Spain and Turkey” at the American Sociological Asso- Centro Internacional de Estudios de Memoria y ciation’s annual conference (Chicago, IL; August 22-25). Derechos Humanos (Spain) International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance • Amber Michel: “Countering Violent Extremism: Islamophobia, the Department of Justice and American Islamic Organizations” at 23 3 the 6th annual International Islamophobia Conference (Berkeley, CA; April 23-25). (continued) • Erma Nezirevic: “Goytisolo in Bosnia: The Problem of Writing the Witness” at Intercultural Poetics (Bra- ga, Portugal; June 18-19). Badzin Fellowship For the past three years, CHGS and the Department of History have awarded the Bernard and Fern Badzin STUDENTS Graduate Fellowship in Holocaust and Genocide Stud- ies to graduate students in the College of Liberal Arts. This award pays the cost of tuition and health insur- ance, and a stipend of $18,000. Paula Sofia Cuellar (PhD candidate, Department of History, minor in Hu- cluded a keynote lecture by Middle East scholar man Rights) was awarded the fellowship for 2014- Bedross Der Matossian, a teacher workshop, and an 2015, and Wahutu Siguru (PhD candidate, Department international student conference. The student con- of Sociology) had an extension of his fellowship from ference brought together 11 young scholars from Ar- the previous year for Spring semester 2015. Cuellar menia, Hungary, the UK, and the US, and was mo- spent the year preparing for her preliminary exams and derated by Der Matossian and U of M professors writing her dissertation prospectus, titled “Defining Joachim Savelsberg, Barbara Frey, and Alejandro Mass Atrocities in El Salvador: The Scorched Earth Baer. Session topics included the causes and preven- Operations during its Civil War and the Question of tion of genocide, responses to the Armenian gen- Genocide.” She also ran a Friday film series for CHGS ocide, Armenian-Turkish relations, and the psycho- during Fall semester, “A Cinematic Look at Political logical effects of genocide and post-traumatic stress Violence in Latin America.” Siguru travelled during the in Armenia, clearly identifying inherited trauma as an spring to Kenya and Nigeria to collect data for his dis- effect. sertation on media coverage of the atrocities in Darfur 2014-2015 and other instances of mass violence on the continent. Conference participants Course Offerings were treated to a guid- Siguru is the author of the CHGS Newsletter series “Eye on Africa.” ed tour the following Fall 2014 day of the Bdote sacred SOC 4090 and GLOS Student Conference Dakota site at Ft. Snel- ling State Park, led by 4910: Never Again! 100 Years of Genocide: Remembrance, Memory and Politics after Professor Iyekiyapiwin Education, Prevention (April 24, U of M) Genocide (Alejandro Baer) On April 23-25 the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Darlene St. Clair (St. SOC 4104: Crime and Studies, along with the Human Rights Program, Insti- Cloud State Universi- Human Rights (Joachim tute for Global Studies and the Arsham and Charlotte ty). Commonalities and Savelsberg) Ohanessian Chair, marked the centennial of the Arme- differences between HIST 3729: Nazi Germany nian Genocide of 1915 with a series of events. This in- genocidal events were and Hitler’s Europe (Gary highlighted. Cohen) Spring 2015 HIST 3727: History of the Holocaust (Adam Blackler) GLOS 5900: The Armeni- an Genocide: Disrupted History, Fractured Identi- ties (Artyom H. Tonoyan, Baylor University) 12 LoremCHGS Accomplishments,