Panel 2 will examine where and how terminology pertaining to the history of the Holocaust and the concept of genocide is applied, and will discuss the potential and limitations of cross-fertilization between scholarly and political / activist and legal agendas. Despite the existence of a legal definition brought forward by the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, the concept of genocide is at times expanded by scholars and activists to encompass different categories and methods of extreme violence, including state terror against political enemies, war crimes and other massive human right violations committed by state and non-state actors. We strive to foster a discussion on the varying effects of the genocide frame when it is adopted in different contexts. How have such frames facilitated or inhibited knowledge and action vis-a-vis unfolding events of mass violence, as well as remembrance, justice, and reconciliation in their aftermath?

Chair: Erma Nezirevic; Speakers: Carlos Pabón, History, University of Puerto Rico; Joachim Savelsberg, Sociology, University of Minnesota & Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair; Alejandro Baer, Sociology, University of Minnesota & Director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Related insight from ongoing dissertations projects: Paula Cuellar (History), Suzy Maves McElrath (Sociology), Wahutu Siguru (Sociology)


Comparative Genocide Studies and the Holocaust:Conflict and Convergence. International Symposium: April 6-8, 2017

This symposium will address the particular place of the Holocaust against the background of recent knowledge on genocide and mass violence across the globe, delivered and disseminated by a new generation of historians, social scientists, and educators. We plan to discuss definitional, methodological, theoretical, and pedagogical challenges in the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies from a range of disciplinary perspectives. Special focus will be placed on the debates around comparison and singularity, as they have unfolded with regard to the status of the Holocaust in the context of genocide studies in recent years. The symposium aims to foster an intellectual space for productive dialogue between scholars, curators, and educators dealing with the Holocaust and with genocides in various contexts.

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