{"id":967,"date":"2016-05-21T07:05:54","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T07:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/?p=967"},"modified":"2019-11-08T10:38:48","modified_gmt":"2019-11-08T10:38:48","slug":"experts-call-attention-to-promoting-large-scale-studies-on-the-history-of-genocides-at-conference-on-mass-violence-memory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/2016\/05\/21\/experts-call-attention-to-promoting-large-scale-studies-on-the-history-of-genocides-at-conference-on-mass-violence-memory\/","title":{"rendered":"Experts Call Attention to Promoting Large Scale Studies On the History of Genocides at Conference on Mass Violence & Memory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

New Delhi, May 21, 2016:<\/strong> Revisiting holocaust and other abhorrent genocides in\nworld history, and the factors that led to such episodes of mass violence, is\nimportant to prevent recurrence of such events in future, concurred experts at\na major international conference held at O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU)\nhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two-day conference on \u2018Mass Violence & Memory\u2019\nwas organized by the Jindal Centre for Israel Studies based at Jindal<\/strong> School\nof International Affairs in association with the United States Holocaust\nMemorial Museum, the Middle East Institute at New Delhi & Society for\nSocial Regeneration & Equity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Attended by academicians, Genocide Studies scholars\nand Holocaust Studies experts from across the world, the conference deliberated\nin detail about the causes and factors that have led to situations of mass\nviolence in history \u2013 use of propaganda to demonize a group of people,\nexploitation of cultural nationalism, hate speech, denial of human rights, mass\natrocities and suppression of facts, among others. The speakers also touched\nupon several abominable episodes of mass violence in recent history and\nunderlined the need for instituting dedicated studies on these subjects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Sreeram Sundar Chaulia, Dean, Jindal School of\nInternational Affairs<\/strong> said\nover the years varying scales and magnitudes of mass violence have attracted a\nrange of definitions and nomenclatures and triggered debates about their usage.\n\u201cThe aftermath of mass violence is just as troubling as mass violence itself,\u201d\nhe said, pointing to the debates, assertions, justifications, obliterations and\ndenials that follow as societies try to make sense of their brutal\ndegradation.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Professor David Patterson, Hillel Feinberg Chair in\nHolocaust Studies, University of Texas<\/strong> spoke at length about the unquestioned operation of\nthe Auschwitz concentration camp from 1942 to 1944 where almost 1 million Jews\nwere sent to gas chambers by German authorities of the Third Reich.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally speakers at the conference underlined the\nneed of promoting large scale studies of these violent episodes in history,\ntheir scales, and factors that led to the atrocities. The experts agreed that\nmuted international response, denial or minimization, resistance to genocide\nand mass atrocities have been major causes of mass violence in the past that\nhave led to troublesome memories. They concurred that educating students about\nour collective troubled past and its memories is an important deterrent to\nrepeating of history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Dr. Dan Porat, School of Education, Hebrew\nUniversity of Jerusalem <\/strong>pointed out at another aspect of Holocaust\neducation in Israel and the inappropriate projection of Holocaust to the\nchildren who are taught about it right from kindergarten through storybooks,\ntextbooks, ceremonies, memorial days, museum visits and witness account. \u201cAll\nthese means focus on communicating to students of the survivors thereby\ninculcating a deep sense of victimization. The curricula focus on factors and\nsocial circumstances that motivated the perpetrators to commit such horrendous\ncrimes. Thereby, it only helps Israel to produce more soldiers who would defend\ntheir country at all cost, leaving behind the true essence of holocaust,\u201d he\nsaid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting Dr Porat, Prof Suzanne Rutland, Emerita,\nDepartment of Hebrew, Biblical and Jewish Studies, University of Sydney <\/strong>concluded\nthe conference by stressing on the need to include Holocaust in the curricula\nwith a more holistic approach. \u201cHolocaust is a genocide that would promote\nexcitement to hate and kill, to which the current holocaust education becomes a\ntemplate. Therefore, in academics, while there is a need to highlight the\nissues of holocaust, its presence in the textbooks would keep reminding the\ndanger of forgetting it. We need to equip and educate the educators first with\ncomplete knowledge and nuances of holocaust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other scholars touched upon more recent episodes of\nmass violence in history. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Ran Shauli from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem<\/strong> discussed the ethnic war which occurred\nduring the Japanese occupancy of Malaya and the ensuing Malayan emergency,\nranging from a period from 1941 to 1960, involving Chinese, Malays and Indian\ngroups of population.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to a roundtable on Holocaust Education\nwith experts from across the world the conference altogether had ten panels\nfocused on a range of themes, viz., Mass Atrocities, Memory, Responses,\nConflicting Narratives, Displacement, Refuge, Reconciliation, etc. India\nfigured prominently throughout the conference, with discussions on several\nepisodes of mass violence in India, right from the partition in 1947. Literary\nresponses to mass violence (like Amitav Ghosh\u2019s The Hungry Tide<\/em> and\nHasan Ajijul Haque\u2019s Agunpakhi<\/em>) and the denial and\/or minimization of\nincidents of mass violence were also discussed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The conference saw the participation of scholars from\nthirteen different countries along with a strong presence of Indian scholars\nfrom multiple disciplines from different parts of the country interested in\nmass violence studies. A presentation on Polish Refugee Children in India\nduring the Holocaust was also found to be very interesting.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Scholars who participated in the conference\nincluded Dr. Adam Sutcliffe, Head, Department of History, King’s College,\nUniversity of London; Dr. Krista Hegburg,\nProgram Officer, University Programs Division of the Jack, Joseph and Morton\nMandel Center for Advance Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum; Tali\nNates, Director, Johannesberg Holocaust and Genocide Centre; Karel Fracapane, Senior\nProject Officer, Focal Point for Holocaust Education, Section of Education for\nSustainable Development and Global Citizenship & Division for Inclusion,\nPeace and Sustainable Development, UNESCO; <\/strong>among others participants<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Delhi, May 21, 2016: Revisiting holocaust and other abhorrent genocides in world history, and the factors that led to such episodes of mass violence, is important to prevent recurrence of such events in future, concurred experts at a major international conference held at O. P. Jindal Global University (JGU) Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-newsroom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":968,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/967\/revisions\/968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jgu.edu.in\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}