Coordinator: Mindi McMann
The minor in Holocaust and Genocide Studies provides a broad interdisciplinary education on the Holocaust and other genocides of the 20th and 21st centuries. This curriculum helps students develop a grasp of the history of the Holocaust, as well as its precipitating factors and legacy. In addition, students will gain an understanding of other genocides and be able to compare them. Students will be challenged to think critically and to examine the assumptions concerning issues of the Holocaust, genocide and peace. They will learn how extreme prejudice leads to state killing policies and how such ideas become “naturalized” and rationalized in social programs. They will also have the opportunity to explore ways to resolve conflict peacefully and study ethical decision making. With a deeper understanding of prejudice, discrimination, racism, and anti-Semitism, students should be able to better analyze contemporary local, national, and global political situations and movements and to think critically about ethical responsibility.
Click to view the Brochure or the most recent course offering flyer.
Requirements
Five courses, two from “Required” and three from “Options”
Required: The required courses will introduce students to Holocaust and Comparative Genocide Studies.
HGS 200/Genocide and Human Rights
Choose one from list below:
HIS 325/Modern Germany
LIT 380/Representations of the Holocaust
REL 320/Holocaust: Historical and Religious Perspectives*
Options:
HGS 210/Non-Violence and Peace Action
HGS 370/Topics in Holocaust and Genocide Studies
HGS 391/Independent Study**
HGS 399/Internship**
HIS 187/Topics in World History (When Topic is Memory & WWII)
HIS 324/Women in Eastern Europe 1848 – Present
HIS 325/Modern Germany*
HIS 352/Colonial and Modern Africa
HIS 456/Reading Seminar in History – Modern Africa***
LIT 317 The Witch in Literature
LIT 380/Representations of the Holocaust*
LIT 499/Seminar in Research and Theory****
REL 320/Holocaust: Historical and Religious Perspectives*
WGS 222/Non-Violence and Peace Action
WGS 235/Gender and Violence
WGS 310/Women in Eastern Europe 1848 – Present
*This course may not be taken as an Option if already taken as a Requirement
**The fifth course may be earned by internship or an independent study, approved by the Holocaust and Genocide Studies coordinator and a faculty sponsor. Relevant courses in the student’s major may also be counted for the fifth course, with approval from the Holocaust and Genocide Studies coordinator.
*** When the topic is Conflict and Reconciliation in African History
**** When topic is “Post-memory and the Holocaust” or “Representations of the Holocaust”, or “Testimony and the Holocaust”