Coordinator: Ellen G. Friedman, English and Women’s and Gender Studies
The minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies provides a broad interdisciplinary education on the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries. This curriculum helps students develop a grasp of the history of the Holocaust, as well as its precipitating factors and legacy. In addition, students will gain an understanding of other genocides and be able to compare them. Students will be challenged to think critically and to examine the assumptions concerning issues of the Holocaust, genocide and peace. They will learn how extreme prejudice leads to state killing policies and how such ideas become “naturalized” and rationalized in social programs. They will also have the opportunity to explore ways to resolve conflict peacefully and study ethical decision making. With a deeper understanding of prejudice, discrimination, racism, and anti-Semitism, students should be able to better analyze contemporary local, national, and global political situations and movements and to think critically about ethical responsibility.
Click to view the Brochure or Spring 2013 Course Offerings.
Requirements
Five courses, two from “Required” and three from “Options”
Required: The required courses will introduce students to Holocaust and Comparative Genocide Studies.
HGS 200/Genocide and Human Rights
Choose one from list below:
HIS 325/Modern Germany
HON 344/Art and Literature of the Holocaust
LIT 380/Representations of the Holocaust
REL 320/Holocaust: Historical and Religious Perspectives*
Options:
HGS 210/Introduction to Peace Studies
HGS 370/Topics in Holocaust and Genocide Studies
HGS 391/Independent Study**
HGS 399/Internship**
HIS 252/Colonial and Modern Africa
HIS 325/Modern Germany*
HIS 456/Reading Seminar in History – Modern Africa***
HON 344/Art and Literature of the Holocaust*
LIT 380/Representations of the Holocaust*
REL 320/Holocaust: Historical and Religious Perspectives*
WGS 235/Gender and Violence
*This course may not be taken as an Option if already taken as a Requirement
**The fifth course may be earned by internship or an independent study, approved by the Holocaust and Genocide Studies coordinator and a faculty sponsor. Relevant courses in the student’s major may also be counted for the fifth course, with approval from the Holocaust and Genocide Studies coordinator.
*** When the topic is Conflict and Reconciliation in African History