Genocides and Ecocides: A Planetary Perspective

Timetable

Wednesday, 12:30-14:00, room 3.104 (Faculty of History, ul. Uniwersytetu Poznańskiego 7 - campus Morasko). FIRST CLASS: WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 11TH, 2023.

Module aim (aims)

This course intends to explore the relationship between history, environment and various eco- and genocides. It will discuss comparative approaches to genocide studies and the problem of the universalization of the notion of holocaust, its usage to integrate indigenous history and nuclear holocaust into genocide studies, and the ethical dilemmas posed by the idea of  "animal holocaust." While the focus of the course is theoretical and methodological, the case of different forms of mass-killings will be examined in order to discuss a problem of survival value of human knowledge.

A1 - to introduce students to various cases of ecocides and genocides in contemporary history and to demonstrate the events’ interdependence

 A2 - to deepen students’ understanding of the diverse ways that the concept of the Holocaust has been universalized and to introduce students to its various usages (Jewish Holocaust, nuclear holocaust, animal holocaust, environmental holocaust)

 A3 – to encourage students to critically reflect on the problem of anthropocentrism and dehumanization as well as eurocentrism through analysis of ecocides and genocides

Pre-requisites in terms of knowledge, skills and social competences (where relevant)

Advanced knowledge of English; scholarly interest in the environmental humanities, genocide and ecocide studies, extinction of species, Anthropocene, climate change and anthropogenic disasters and bridging Western and indigenous knowledges.

Syllabus

1. Genocide and Ecocide Studies in the Framework of Anthropocene Humanities
2. Ecocide as a Genocidal Project
3. Ecocide as International Crime
4. Ecocide as “Environmental Holocaust”
5. Genocides - Comparative Perspective
6. Nuclear Holocaust (Hiroshima)
7. Dehumanization
8. Animal Holocaust
9. War as Environmental Disaster
10. Genocide of Humans and Non-Humans (Indigenous Perspective)
11. Non-Humans as Persons
12. Ecocide, Colonialism and Global Capitalism
13. Genocides and Ecocides as Human Suicide (or self-extinction)
14. Conclusions

syllabus available online here

Reading list

• Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide, ed. Alexander Laban Hinton. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
• Franz J. Broswimmer, Ecocide. A Short History of the Mass Extinction of Species. London: Pluto Press, 2002.
• Ward Churchill, Struggle for the Land. Native North American Resistance to Genocide, Ecocide and Colonization. City Lights Books, 2002
• Paul Crutzen, “Geology of Mankind.” Nature, vol. 415, 3 January 2002: 23.
• Erin O'Donnell, "Repairing Our Relationship With Rivers: Water Law and Legal Personhood." Research Agenda for Water Law, eds. R. Larson and V. Casado Perez. Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd., 2023.
• Lauren J. Eichler, "Ecocide Is Genocide: Decolonizing the Definition of Genocide," Genocide Studies and Prevention, vol. 14, no. 2, 2020: 104-121.
• Nick Haslam, "Dehumanization: An Integrative Review." Personality and Social Psychology Review, vol. 10, no. 3, 2006: 252-264.
• Kübra Kalkandelen & Darren O’Byrne, “On Ecocide: Toward a Conceptual Framework”. Distinktion: Journal of Social Theory, vol. 18, no. 3, 2017: 333-349.
• Ben Kiernan, Blood and Soil. A World History of Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007.
• Charles Patterson, Eternal Treblinka. Our Treatment of Animals and the Holocaust. London: Lantern Books, 2002.
• Deepak Rawtani et al. "Environmental Damages due to War in Ukraine: A Perspective." Science of The Total Environment, vol. 850, 2022: 2-7 [157932].
• Edmund Russell, War and Nature. Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
• Damien Short, Redefining Genocide. Settler Colonialism, Social Death and Ecocide. London: ZED Books, 2016.
• David Sztybel, "Can the Treatment of Animals be Compared to the Holocaust." Ethics and Environment, vol. 11, no. 1, 2006: 97-132.
• James P. Sterba, “Understanding Evil: American Slavery, the Holocaust, and the Conquest of the American Indians”. Ethics, vol. 106, no. 2, January 1996: 424-448.
• William M. Tsutsui, “Landscapes in the Dark Valley: Toward an Environmental History of Wartime Japan.” Environmental History, vol. 8, no. 2, April 2003: 294-311.
• David Zierler, Invention of Ecocide. Agent Orange, Vietnam, and the Scientists Who Changed the Way We Think About the Environment. Athens: University of Georgia Press, 2011.