Genocide scholars often refer to the 20th century as “the century of genocide.” It is estimated that more than 150 million people were murdered by governments in the 20th century, 20-40 million of them in events that meet the legal definition of genocide in international law. In this course, we explore what a classic collection of essays called “the specter of genocide.” We begin by discussing the history of the term, its ambiguities, its legal definition and the controversies surrounding it. We then turn to discuss several case studies that will help us explore some key themes in Genocide Studies: Rwanda and Congo; the Armenian genocide; the extermination of the Roma and Sinti by the Nazis; the Cambodian "auto-genocide"; Indonesia and East Timor; and the "forgotten" war in Yemen.

2024-2025 Course Syllabus

This course explores the history and politics of anti-Semitism. We begin with “traditional” Jew-hatred in the middle ages, particularly in the Christian world, and discuss its religious, political, and economic causes. We then examine the gradual transition in the character of the hostility towards the Jews against the background of modern developments such as the emergence of the modern state; the age of Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the shift to a capitalist economy and the rise of nationalism. In the second part of the course, we discuss the rise of modern anti-Semitism at the end of the 19th century, the particular character of German anti-Semitism as a “cultural code” in this period, and the re-emergence of anti-Semitism as an essential political force in Germany after WWI.

2024 Course Syllabus