Anth 414/Hist 499                                                                              Dr. Ben Lapp

Spring 2005                                                                                        Dr. Kate McCaffrey

Wed 5:30-8:00                                                                                   

Violence and Memory

The twentieth century witnessed the mass murder of civilians on an unprecedented scale. This course will consider how nations and communities seek to confront and recover from the trauma of mass violence. How do societies choose to address, commemorate, or repress painful memories of mass violence? What are the possibilities of creating a response to mass violence that forges a path between vengeance and forgiveness? How do formal responses to atrocity shape a society’s chances of transcending violence or repeating patterns of brutality?  We will consider these issues from the vantage point of both perpetrators and victims of collective violence.

                                                            Professors                                                                              Dr. Ben Lapp                                                   Dr. Kate McCaffrey

Dickson 424                                                     Dickson 412

            655-4121                                                         655-7560

            bnlapp@aol.com                                              mccaffreyk@mail.montclair.edu

            Office Hours:                                                    Office Hours:

            Wed 3-5                                                          Mon 1-2

            Fri 10-11                                                         Wed 1-3                                                                                 

Readings

The following books are required and are available in the campus bookstore:

• Balakian, Peter.  Black Dog of Fate.

• Paris, Erna. Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History.

• Stern, Steven. Remembering Pinochet’s Chile: On the Eve of London 1998.

• Rosenberg, Tina. The Haunted Land: Facing Europe’s Ghosts after Communism.

All other required readings are available on e-reserve, and at the reserve desk of the library.

Course Outline

The following are the readings to be completed by the indicated class period. As the course relies on classroom participation (which will constitute a significant part of your course grade) rather than course lectures, it is essential to do the reading on time.

January 18  Introduction

 

January 25 The Armenian Genocide: Film Ararat

Balakian, Part 1-4, pp 1-143.

February 1 Black Dog of Fate

Balakian, Part 5-6, pp 147-289.

February 8 Memory and the Second World War: Germany

Paris, Chp 1, pp 1-74.

E-Reserve: Moeller, “War Stories and the Search for a Usable Past in the Federal Republic of Germany.”

PAPER ONE DUE

February 15 Memory and the Second World War: France

Paris, Chp 2

E-Reserve: Judt, “From the House of the Dead.”

February 22 Memory and the Second World War: Japan

Paris, Chp 3

E-Reserve: Dower, “An Aptitude for Being Unloved.”

March 1 War, Memory and Race: The United States and South Africa

Paris, Chps 4,5

March 8 War, Memory and Identity: The Holocaust and Yugoslavia

Paris Chps 6,7

PAPER TWO DUE

March 15 No Class

March 22 Chile

Stern, Introduction, Chps, 1, 2

March 29 Chile

Stern, Chp 3, 4, Conclusion

April 5 Haunted Land: Czechoslovakia

Rosenberg, Introduction, Part One

April 12: Haunted Land: Poland

Rosenberg, Part Two

April 19: No Class

April 26: Haunted Land: Germany

Rosenberg, Part Three and Conclusion, “Haunted Lands.”

April 27: Conference: Mass Violence and Collective Memory

May 3  Conclusion: Is there Justice?

Paris, Chp 8 and Coda

PAPER THREE DUE