Ramapo College’s Center of Holocaust and Genocide Studies hosted its first Foundational Concepts Talk on Tuesday, Oct. 29. This talk was on genocide and invited Dr. A Dirk Moses from CUNY to share his insights and research on the topic.
This discussion series seeks to introduce the Ramapo community and the surrounding community to the basic set of terms that structure scholarly discussions on genocide and human rights. Dr. Jacob Labendz, the director of the Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, said in an email with The Ramapo News that, “The series acknowledges that words’ meanings and usages change over time—especially in challenging moments like these.” He continued, “We hope to provide them with the tools and knowledge to participate in global conversations.”
The discussion on genocide started with Dr. Labendz, who talked about the series and what they have to offer the Ramapo community. After Dr. Labendz finished, he brought Dr. Moses to the podium to talk about the concept of genocide. Dr. Moses is the Bernard and Anne Spitzer Professor of Political Science and researches different aspects of genocide.
At the heart of the discussion, Dr. Moses walked through studies done throughout the history of genocide and how it has come about in different countries and areas around the world. Genocide is not something that happens in one time period and in one space, it is something that has been around in different times throughout history and is something that is not always recognized.
Dr. Moses begins his conversation by giving students a sense of background on genocide. He references his own book that covers settlers and the massacre in 1840. He talks about the colonial dimensions of genocide and how it moved forward to becoming more of a national issue. He tackles the many years of history associated with genocide.
During the discussion, Dr. Moses claims that there is a set definition to the concept of genocide and another that seems to change with time and continues to be contested. The International Criminal Court is the system that the countries go to concerning war crimes and other criminal responsible crimes, deciding the punishment. The court also offers the alignment of the guidelines of what is considered genocide. Dr. Moses said that genocide is not only one thing, and if it was then more invasions and conflicts inside of different countries would be considered to be genocide with the mass destruction and the effects on the country.
A part of what Dr. Moses talks about with genocide comes mostly from his research from several of his books, in which he talks about the different points in our history with war crimes, mass destruction, crimes against humanity and, of course, genocide. He studies the cases in which people believe points of history should be considered or not considered to be genocide.
In several of his books, Dr. Moses touches on the definition of genocide, claiming, “Genocide addresses connective identity and it is an attack on the collective identity not just on the civilian as in the case of crime against humanity.” He said, “Genocide carries a stigmatic aura with biblical connotations of people disappearing from history not just lots of people killed.”
Dr. Moses also touched on genocide being seen as the “crime of crimes.” As a result, when people can not actively see genocide, they appear to be less shocked by mass violence against civilians, thus licensing non-genocidal civilian destruction. He shared that genocide is caused by the ideology of hatred in which racialized victims are targeted as such.
At the end of the discussion, Dr. Moses opened the floor for students to ask questions regarding the talk or just on genocide in general. He was asked questions regarding what can we do if we are presented with a genocide, what is the threshold for genocide and what his thoughts on genocide are.
Dr. Labendz said, “Dr. Moses is widely regarded as one of the top genocide scholars in the world, and he did not disappoint.” He said, “What I appreciated most is that he presented challenging ideas with respect and in a manner tailored to a mostly undergraduate audience.”
To find out more information about the Foundational Concepts discussions or other discussions done by the Holocaust and Genocide Studies Center, check out their website at https://www.ramapo.edu/holocaust/center-events/
rbleich@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Rebecca Bleich, Ramapo News
This has been edited to correct a mistake referring to The Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies as “The Gross Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies” and Dr. Labendz as Dr. Labenz. Both have been corrected accordingly.
