Learning Lessons: The Holocaust and Comparative Genocides

Please note

This document only provides information for the academic year selected and does not form part of the student contract

School:

School of Arts and Humanities

Credit Rating:

Level (including FHEQ):

M (FHEQ Level 7)

Graded or Non Graded:

Graded

Version Valid From:

2022-09-01

Module Leader:

Rebecca Gill

Version Number

2023.01

Learning Methods

Guided Independent Study

Supervised Time in Studio/Workshop

Synopsis

This module is intended to give students the opportunity to study various case studies of mass violence in modern history alongside that of the Holocaust. Taking a global perspective, students will analyse and critically evaluate scholarship and a range of different primary source materials in order to develop a comparative perspective on genocide studies. These case studies will be drawn from instances of mass violence in numerous regions including the Global South as well as the industrialised world. In addition to understanding the differing local conditions in which mass violence can take place, students will also consider the various ways in which the international community has sought to prosecute, punish, and prevent genocide.

Learning Strategy

The module will be taught through workshops and through directed activities in preparation for workshops. These will have the combined function of framing each week’s topic and covering relevant theoretical material which may be new to students. Workshops will also encourage discussion of this scholarship and the preparatory reading. Students will summarise the scholarship and debates constituting each weekly topic via introductory presentations (10 mins), making use of audio/visual aids and the VLE, which will serve as the basis for further group discussion. Moreover, this exercise will serve as preparation for the first summative assessment with the introductory workshop offering presentation training. Students will use a combination of varied sources (written, audio/visual, film, TV, online) in order to critically evaluate the conclusions of the initial presentations. The critical skills and knowledge they have developed from these sessions will be demonstrated in a final summative essay. These workshops also relate to the PDP, as students on this module get a chance to hone their presentation skills and are encouraged to reflect the significance of the Holocaust in terms of developing judicial and political responses to genocides.

Use will be made of C&IT resources, including the University’s VLE, to provide students with learning resources but also to increase their ability to select and access materials on the internet, in text/visual databases and in a virtual learning environment.

Outline Syllabus

This module will compare the causes and experience of the Holocaust with other instances of ‘mass killing’ around the globe. In order to do this, students will examine both the theoretical literature on comparative genocides alongside a range of global case studies (e.g. ‘tribal’ genocide in Rwanda) in order to test and critique the existing scholarship. Students will also analyse the circumstances in which resistance, collaboration and non-action occur in comparative genocides and how these conflicts are brought to an end. It will also examine the retrospective use of the legal definition of genocide in instances of mass-killings prior to the Holocaust. Finally, the module also considers the international commitment to ‘prevention’ in the aftermath of the Holocaust and explores the extent to which these measures have proven successful across a range of different contexts; for example, gendercide or conflict resolution in Africa.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this module students will

be able to understand, to an advanced level, the current scholarship on the comparative dimensions of Holocaust and Genocide Studies.

be able to understand, to an advanced level, key theories and approaches to genocide punishment and prevention.

be able to critically and evaluatively understand divergent scholarly approaches to genocide studies and prevention.

be able to critically and evaluatively understand different definitions of ‘mass violence’ in a global context.

be able to synthesise the module themes of comparative genocide studies and punishment/prevention in order to reflect critically on the most appropriate methods of prevention for different types of ‘mass violence’.

be able to communicate findings both orally and in writing, constructing a coherent argument in relation to existing scholarship and primary evidence.

be able to employ the scholarly approaches and conventions required in postgraduate historical work, using standard academic referencing conventions.

be able to make use of libraries, archives, VLE, online and other sources of secondary and primary material appropriate for effective and detailed research in connection with both taught modules and the dissertation.

be able to learn in self-directed and independent ways through the analysis of comparative genocide.

Formative Assessment

Assessment 1: Project work

Summative Assessment

Assessment 1: Presentation

Assessment 2: Written Assignment

Assessment Criteria

The module will be graded in line with University regulations. The assessment criteria will be those used by the Department of English, Linguistics and History, designed in accordance with the appropriate Benchmark statements, and promulgated to students in module handbooks and on feedback sheets. Students will also be advised of… For more content click the Read More button below.

The module will be graded in line with University regulations. The assessment criteria will be those used by the Department of English, Linguistics and History, designed in accordance with the appropriate Benchmark statements, and promulgated to students in module handbooks and on feedback sheets. Students will also be advised of best-practice ethics in relation to their research practices, with assessment criteria in turn reinforcing this need for ethical scholarship.

My Reading

Reading List

Bloxham, D. (2009). The Final Solution: A Genocide. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Conley-Zilkic, Bridget. (2016). How Mass Atrocities End. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jones, A. (2012). New Directions in Genocide Research. London: Routledge.

Krammer, A. (2010). War crimes, genocide, and the law: a guide to the issues. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.

Mann, M. (2005). The Dark Side of Democracy: Explaining Ethnic Cleansing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Randall, A. (2015). Genocide and Gender in the Twentieth Century. London: Bloomsbury.

Schabas, W. (2009). Genocide in international law: The crime of crimes (2nd ed.). Cambridge, UK; New York: Cambridge University Press.

Strauss, S. (2016). Fundamentals of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. Washington D. C: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

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