Genocides and Ecocides: A Planetary Perspective

Timetable

Module aim (aims)

1. to introduce students to various cases of ecocides and genocides in contemporary history and to demonstrate the events’ interdependence
2. 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)
3. to encourage students to critically reflect on the problem of anthropocentrism and dehumanization 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 human and non-human condition, environmental humanities, genocide studies, extinction of species, climate change and anthropogenic natural disasters.

Syllabus

1. Studies on ecocides and genocides in the context of the ongoing discussions on the Anthropocene, environmental degradation and species extinction
2. Differences and similarities between the concepts of genocide, ecocide, holocaust and mass killings
3. Ecocides and genocides as results of colonialism, modernity and global capitalism
4. Jewish Holocaust as a paradigm of modern genocide versus other types of holocaust (nuclear, spiritual, animal holocaust, environmental holocaust)
5. Atomic bombing on Hiroshima and Nagasaki and the Vietnam War as examples of the simultaneous extermination of people and nature
6. Pathological anthropocentrism and dehumanization as premises for the occurrence of ecocides and genocides
7. The humanists’ role in building a vision of the past that has survival value for the species and the planet.

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.
• Richard C. Foltz, "Does Nature Have Historical Agency? World History, Environmental History, and How Historians Can Help Save the Planet"?" The History Teacher, vol. 37, no. 1, November 2003: 9-28.
• 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.
• 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.