General provisions

The Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University, is responsible for the course.

Entry requirements

A Bachelor's degree, equivalent to a Swedish Kandidatexamen, from an internationally recognised university. Proficiency in English equivalent to the Swedish upper secondary course English 6.

Learning outcomes

After completed course the student will be able to:

• Describe and critically analyse the most important cases of genocide and mass killing until the second half of the twentieth century
• Acquire knowledge about the state of research in the field and apply such knowledge in empirical and theoretical analysis
• Compare different types of genocidal violence, taking into account specific historical, political, social and cultural aspects
• Problematise and discuss the diversity and spread of the phenomenon of genocide and mass political violence
• Understand and apply theoretical and other concepts of relevance for the study of genocide and other forms of mass violence
• Through independent reflection compare different empirical cases of mass violence through well-structured comparative methods
• Discuss and display an ability to independently analyse the research themes that dominate the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Content

For decades, the Holocaust, the Armenian genocide and the terror in the Soviet Union have represented the suffering that has affected millions of innocent civilians throughout history, sometimes with the aim of eliminating groups of people in whole or in part. The fact that the worst cases of genocide and other mass killings happened outside the context of a armed conflict between victim groups and perpetrators has meant that standard theoretical models from the field of conflict theory cannot explain this type of extreme behaviour. In order to provide in-depth explanations and increase knowledge about the character of extreme forms of violence, one therefore neeeds to place specific events in their proper historical, cultural, social, political, ideological and other contexts. After completing the course students will have a deepknowledge about some of the most important cases of genocide and mass killing that happened up to the mid-twentieth century, with a particular focus on the nineteenth-century colonisation processes, the growth of nationalist, fascist and communist ideologies during the first half of the twentieth century, and the two world wars. The students will obtain knowledge about some key theoretical concepts, while acquiring important skills in comparative method.

Instruction

The course will consist of seminars.

Assessment

Assessment will be based upon written and oral assignments. Students that have missed a small number of mandatory assignments may complete them by the end of the term at the latest. If there are special reasons for doing so, an examiner may make an exception from the method of assessment indicated and allow a student to be assessed by another method. An example of special reasons might be a certificate regarding special pedagogical support from the University's disability coordinator.