lectures to look at genocide

Fri., Apr 25

During the month of April, a series of campus events entitled "Genocide: Weeks of Remembrance and Reflection,"  has looked at issues pertaining to the genocides in Armenia and Cambodia, the Holocaust, genocide and women, and other related topics. This comprehensive reflection on genocide has sought to provide a thoughtful basis for bringing the catastrophe in Darfur to an end and for preventing or limiting the future occurrences of such crimes against humanity.

In the final event of the series, on April 25, three distinguished speakers will deliver lectures in Engleman A120, beginning at 1 p.m. Benedict Kiernan (right), Whitney Griswold Professor of History, professor of international and area studies and director of the Genocide Studies Program at Yale University, and author of the book "Blood and Soil," will speak on "A World History of Genocide." Claudia Card (left), Emma Goldman Professor in the Philosophy Department at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a co-editor of the book "Genocide's Aftermath," will discuss "The Paradox of Genocidal Rape Aimed at Forced Pregnancy." James E. Young (below, right), professor of English and Judaic studies and chairman of the Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, will speak on "Memory, Counter-memory and the Monument after 9/11:  From Berlin to New York." Professor Young is the author of "At Memory's Edge: After-images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture" (Yale University Press, 2000). The session will open with remarks by Armen T. Marsoobian, chairperson and professor of philosophy at Southern. Professor Marsoobian is the author of articles dealing with moral responsibility and genocide.

This event is free and open to the public. For more information, call Philosophy Professor Armen Marsoobian at (203) 392-6788.

Past events in the series

On April 11 at noon, poet and scholar Peter Balakian (right) gave a lecture, "The Armenian Genocide and Modernity," followed by a poetry reading. Balakian is Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor in Humanities, Professor of English, and Director of The Center for Ethics and World Societies (1998-99) at Colgate University. He has published two books on the Armenian genocide, Black Dog of Fate, winner of the PEN/Albrand Prize for memoir and a New York Times Notable Book, and The Burning Tigris: The Armenian Genocide and America's Response, which received the 2005 Raphael Lemkin Prize and was a New York Times Notable Book and New York Times and national best seller. He is also the author of five books of poems, including, most recently, June-tree: New and Selected Poems 1974-2000.

On April 14, Daniel Mendelsohn (left), a professor of humanities at Bard College, discussed his book, "The Lost: A Search for Six of Six Million," which looks at the fates of six of his relatives who perished at the hands of the Nazis during the Holocaust. His lecture was entitled "Finding 'The Lost': A Journey into the History, Family, and Judaism."

On April 16, the Cinéma du Monde film series presented a screening of "The Killing Fields," director Roland Joffé's award-winning British film drama about the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia. A post-film discussion was hosted by Jerry Dunklee, professor of journalism.

This series of events is sponsored by Judaic Studies, History, Philosophy, Women's Studies, and the Multicultural Center, and supported by the Office of Faculty Development.

Mendelsohn photo credit: Matt Mendelsohn

For a downloadable, printable version of this agenda, click here (opens as a PDF file).