CCGL 9055

Dr Adam J Sacks

University of Hong Kong

School of Humanities: Common Core
GENOCIDE: Nightmare from History

Genocide, defined as the use of state-sanctioned power to pursue the eradication of a minority
group in a non-military context raises fundamental questions about co-existence, morality, and
viability, security and survival within the modern world system. Known as the “problem from
hell, “or, alternatively, as the “nightmare of history,” Genocide is arguably the most disturbing of
all of the innovations of modernity. Emerging in the 20th Century, Genocide has been perpetrated
upon adherents of almost all major world religions and continents and its occurrence has
repeatedly challenged the outside world to adequately recognize, represent, understand and
adjudge this distinctly modern crime that constitutes an assault on human biology itself. On a
case by case basis, drawing from the main examples of Genocide globally recognized by
scholars (Nama/Hereo, Armenian/Assyrian, Jewish/Roma, Cambodian/Chinese/Cham,
Hutu/Tutsi), we shall pursue a theoretical framework and a comparative analysis of this topic. In
our exploration we shall highlight what is fundamental and common to each case, namely, the
role of media propaganda in the demonization of victim groups by perpetrators and the
unsatisfactory search for justice in the aftermath. Finally, our class will allow us to meditate
upon what brings humans to participate in the destruction, measures which may be deemed as
preventative and which narratives of this topic may be easily accessible to a wider public.

Course Instructors:
Lecturer: Dr Adam J. Sacks, School of Humanities (History), Faculty of Arts
Email: adamjs@hku.hk
Tutor: Ms Penelope Pang, School of Humanities (History), Faculty of Arts
Email: pangpcy@hku.hk

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Semester: Second Semester 2023/24
Time: 12:30pm-14:20pm, Wednesday
Venue: LE4

Course Learning Outcomes – On completing the course, Alignment with Common

students will be able to: Core Programme
Learning Outcome(s)
1. Articulate critical understanding of instances of genocide as CC PLO(s): 1
a global issue, and the broader implications of genocides
past and present for individuals and societies.
2. Critically assess questions of cultural/ethnic belonging in CC PLO(s): 2
relation to cases of genocide; identify power hierarchies and
instances of scapegoating and ‘othering’.
3. Reflect on their roles as members of the global human CC PLO(s): 3
community, and articulate their awareness of associated
rights and responsibilities.
4. Acknowledge and respect the value of their own and others’ CC PLO(s): 4
humanity, and articulate responses to genocide
demonstrating the social, moral, and political
responsibilities incumbent upon a global citizen.

Teaching and Learning Activities: This course provides a range of teaching and learning
opportunities to enable students to achieve the learning outcomes listed above. The degree to
which students have achieved these learning outcomes in their learning activities will be
evaluated using the forms of assessment listed below:

Assessme Details of Assignment Weighting Alignment with Course

nt Learning Outcome(s)
Method
Group A form of group work. Details of the 40 CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4
Project / available options can be found below.

Logbook 10-15 sentences per class meeting

(with the exception of the final week)
in a thematically developed fashion as
an alternative to the group project.
Quizzes Complete a short quiz during the 30 CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4
lecture with direct input via Moodle
to reinforce and support ongoing
comprehension of main themes, ideas
and concepts. Each quiz will be
graded.
Participati Attend all lectures and tutorials. 30 CLOs: 1, 2, 3, 4
on and Each week, scan through the readings
attendance of the previous class and choose 10

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 pages which are of most interest.
Prepare a short (3-5 minutes)
summary of the 10 pages for
presentation in tutorials. (Assessment
at discretion of Tutor.)

Quizzes

All students will be required to complete a short each lecture with direct input via Moodle to
reinforce and support ongoing comprehension of main themes, ideas and concepts. Students will
be permitted to access their notes, but there is a strict time limit on the completion of the quiz.
While there will not always be a strict right or wrong answer, as this is a course in the
humanities, there will be an answer that best satisfies the question. Each quiz will be graded and
the cumulative grade will serve as 20% of the final grade.

Group Projects for CCGL9055

The final cumulative assessment will take the form of a group project for which there are specific
prompts to be found here. Students will be formed into groups during tutorial, will receive
general templates for formats, and time will be devoted during tutorial for both peer-review as
well as presentation. Groups should be prepared to present by the final class meeting and the
final grade will account for 40% of final grades.

Each project must include a 1-2 page document of introduction and curation. This document
should introduce the objective and main idea of the project as well as a survey of its constituent
parts. You may think of this document as a guide or handbook to your project.

Here are the prompts:

#1: Imagine you are tasked with delivering an introductory lecture for this course. Design a state
of the art visual learning tool on the subject of Genocide. This tool should include an
animated/video component (e.g. a la YouTube Vlog or infotainment short) as well as a
cartographic and chronological dimension so that users may deepen an awareness of time and
space of this subject matter.

#2: Design a memorial for one of the case studies discussed in class. This should include a
drawing, as well as a document of curation that explains placement and symbolism of all of the
elements included. This memorial should reflect educational as well as artistic concerns.

#3: Design a learning tour to raise Genocide awareness. Include elements of geography and
chronology as well as a detailed program of site visitations and encounters. This should include a
timeline and map, as well as a document of curation that explains the significance of all of the
elements included which should emphasize particular contexts and locations.

#4: Create and design a podcast based on course materials including a schedule for at least a
first season of said podcast, as well as a unique format for each individual episode. This podcast

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should be distinct in design and concept from the list provided on the syllabus. Your podcast
should have a name, a logo, a discrete focus and season that expands upon that offered by pre-
existing podcasts.

Logbook

For Students Who Choose to Work Independently (those wishing to work independently will
need to inform Course Co-ordinators by the 31st of January at 12 noon):

The remaining assessment option for students who choose to work independently encompasses
as weekly log-book. At the end of every lecture, with a time limit enforced via Moodle, students
will be required to submit a 10-15 sentence digest of the main points of every lecture. At the end
of the semester these submissions will be assessed cumulatively and serve in the stead of a group
project, in the same amount of 50% of the final grade.

Assessment Grades: Because this course uses an outcomes-based approach, your assignments
will be graded according to the degree to which they meet the outcomes listed above and
demonstrate the following standards:

A (A+, A, A-) Excellent work. Students with this grade exhibit evidence of original thought,
strong analytical and critical abilities, and a thorough grasp of the topic. The
work should also demonstrate excellent organisational, rhetorical and
presentational skills.
B (B+, B, B-) Good to very good work. Students with this grade are critical and analytical but
not necessarily original in their thinking. They demonstrate an adequate grasp of
the topic and strong organisational, rhetorical and presentational skills.
C (C+, C, C-) Satisfactory to reasonably good result. Students with this grade show a
reasonable grasp of their subject but most information is derivative with relatively
little evidence of critical thinking. Their work ought to demonstrate some
organisational, rhetorical and presentational skills.
D (D+, D) Barely satisfactory work. Students who receive this grade will have assembled
the bare minimum of information, and it will be poorly digested and not very well
organised in presentation. There is no evidence of critical thinking.
Fail Unsatisfactory work. Students who receive this grade will have failed to submit
work, or will have submitted work which is hopelessly muddled with a great deal
of irrelevant information and containing fundamental errors. This work fails to
reach degree level.

Consultation: Students should feel free to consult with Dr Sacks during his virtual online as
well as in-person office hours concerning problems or questions relating to the course. (email:
adamjs@hku.hk).

Topics and Class Schedule: Lectures on Wednesdays 12:30-14:20, Tutorials on Thursdays.

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Electronics Policy
Students may bring laptop computers to class for the purpose of taking notes. The use of cell
phones, except in the case of emergencies, is not permitted during class.

SFTL results: SFTL (sftl.hku.hk) results to be completed during the last class are used for
course improvements. CC Student Consultants, as part of a Student-Staff Consultative
Committee are also available as a way of improving the feedback loop and to reflect critically on
your own learning process.

Texts for the Course

Students do not need to purchase any texts for this course. All required readings will be on the
course Moodle site.

Suggested Supplementary Reference Texts:

• Bloxham, Donald, and A. Dirk Moses. The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies.
Genocide Studies. Oxford, New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Bartrop, Paul R. Fifty Key Thinkers on the Holocaust and Genocide. Ed. Jacobs, Steven
L., ebrary, Inc. 1st ed. ed. Abingdon [England], London, New York: Routledge, 2011.
• Jones, Adam. Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction. Ed. ebrary, Inc. London, New
York, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2006.

Academic Calendar

Week I - 17 January
Introduction: Homo Necans, Ritual Murder and Death Penalties
Reading Assignment:
• Burkert, Walter. “Preface.” Homo Necans: The Anthropology of Ancient Greek
Sacrificial Ritual and Myth. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1983.
• Moussaieff, Jeffrey. “The Other.” Beasts: What Animals Can Teach Us About the
Origins of Good and Evil. New York: Bloomsbury USA, 2015.

Discussion Text:
• Girard, René. “The Unity of All Rites.” Violence and the Sacred. 1st Johns
Hopkins paperback ed. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1979.

Week II - 24 January
What Made Genocide Possible, Origins: Nationalism, Racism, Imperialism
Reading Assignment:
• Irvin-Erickson, Douglas. "Crime of Crimes." Raphael Lemkin and the Concept of
Genocide. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2016.
• Weitz, Eric D. "Introduction” and “Chapter 1.” A Century of Genocide: Utopias
of Race and Nation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.

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 Discussion Text:
• Erichsen, Casper, and David Olusoga. “King of the Huns.” The Kaiser's
Holocaust: Germany's Forgotten Genocide and the Colonial Roots of Nazism.
London: Faber and Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, 2010.
• (Film) Watchers of the Sky. 2015. Belzberg, Edet, et al.

Week III - 31 January

The Contours of Genocide: The Modern State, Minorities and Eliminationism
Lecture Assignment:
• Tatz, Colin Martin. “Definitions.” With Intent to Destroy: Reflecting on Genocide.
New York, N.Y., London: VERSO, 2003.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Goldhagen, Daniel Jonah. “Eliminationism” and “The Modern State.” Worse
Than War: Genocide, Eliminationism, and the Ongoing Assault on Humanity. 1st
ed. New York: Public Affairs, 2009.

Discussion Texts:
• Bartrop, Paul. “The Relationship between War and Genocide in the Twentieth
Century: A Consideration.” Journal of Genocide Research 4.4 (2002): 519-32.
• Fleming, Marie. "Genocide and the Body Politic in the Time of Modernity." The
Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in Historical Perspective. Eds. Gellately,
Robert and Ben Kiernan. New York, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2003.

Tutorial 1: 1 February

CHINESE NEW YEAR BREAK (NO LECTURE AND TUTORIAL)

Week IV- 21 February

1905, Nama/Herero: A Colonial Order of Extermination
Lecture Assignment:
• Lindqvist, Sven. “Lebensraum, Todesraum.” Exterminate All the Brutes: One
Man's Odyssey into the Heart of Darkness and the Origins of European Genocide.
Ed. Tate, Joan. New York: New Press: Distributed by W.W. Norton, 1996.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Schaller, Dominik J. “Every Herero Will Be Shot: Genocide, Concentration
Camps, and Slave Labor in German South-West Africa.” Forgotten Genocides:
Oblivion, Denial, and Memory. Ed. Lemarchand, René. Philadelphia: University
of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

Discussion Texts:
• (Film) Namibia Genocide and the Second Reich. 2004. BBC.

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 • Starzmann, Maresi. "Germany Needs to Own up to the Horrors of Its Colonial
Past in Africa." Jacobin 07.03.2020. https://jacobinmag.com/2020/07/german-
colonialism-herero-nama-genocide-court-case.
• Friedman, Jonathan C., and William Hewitt. “Chapter 5.” The History of
Genocide in Cinema: Atrocities on Screen. London: I.B. Tauris, 2017.

Tutorial 2 – 22 February

Week V – 28 February
1915, Armenia: Erasing a Homeland and a Century of Denial
Lecture Assignment:
• De Waal, Thomas. “Chapter 1” and “Chapter 2.” Great Catastrophe: Armenians
and Turks in the Shadow of Genocide. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Bloxham, Donald. “Introduction: Genocide and the Armenian Case.” The Great
Game of Genocide: Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the Ottoman
Armenians. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.

Discussion Texts:
• (Film) The Promise. 2016. Esrailian, Eric, Mike Medavoy and William Horberg.
• (Film) The Ottoman Lieutenant. 2017. Brown, Stephen Joel.
• Melson, Robert. “The Armenian Genocide as Precursor and Prototype of
Twentieth Century Genocide.” Is the Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives on
Comparative Genocide. Ed. Rosenbaum, Alan S. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press,
1996.
• Winter, Jay. “Under Cover of War.” The Specter of Genocide: Mass Murder in
Historical Perspective. Eds. Gellately, Robert and Ben Kiernan. New York,
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
• Akçam, Taner. “Chapter 4.” From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and
the Armenian Genocide. London, New York: Zed Books, 2004.
• Hovannisian, Richard G. “Introducing the Armenian Genocide.” Facing History
and Ourselves. (2015) https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-
library/video/introducing-armenian-genocide.
• Armenian National Institute. https://www.armenian-genocide.org/index.html.

Tutorial 3 – 29 February

READING WEEK (NO LECTURE AND TUTORIAL)

Week VI – 13 March

1942, the Holocaust: “Final Solution” and Global Conspiracies

Lecture Assignments:

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 • Hilberg, Raul. “The Anatomy of the Holocaust” and “The Significance of the
Holocaust.” The Anatomy of the Holocaust: Selected Works from a Life of
Scholarship. Eds. Pehle, Walter H. and Rene Schlott. 1st ed: Berghahn Books,
2020.
• Arendt, “The Final Solution” and “The Wannsee Conference.” Hannah.
Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil. London: Faber, 1964.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Friedlander, Henry. “Step by Step.” The Origins of Nazi Genocide from
Euthanasia to the Final Solution. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1995.

Discussion Texts:
• (Film) Shoah. 2010. Lanzmann, Claude, et al.
• Alon, Confino. “Epilogue.” A World without Jews: The Nazi Imagination from
Persecution to Genocide. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014.
• Landau, Ronnie S. “Introduction,” and “The Holocaust – the Futility of
Definition.” Studying the Holocaust: Issues, Readings, and Documents. London,
New York: Routledge, 1998.
• USC Shoah Foundation. The Institute for Visual History and Education.
https://sfi.usc.edu/.
• Yad Vashem. The World Holocaust Remembrance Center.
https://www.yadvashem.org/.

Tutorial 4 – 14 March

Week VII – 20 March

1975, Cambodia: Auto-Genocide in Buddhist Asia
Lecture Assignment:
• Becker, Elizabeth. “Chapter 5” and “Chapter 6.” When the War Was Over:
Cambodia and the Khmer Rouge Revolution. New York: Public Affairs, 1998.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Hinton, Alexander Laban. "Oppression and Vengenace in the Cambodian
Genocide." Genocides by the Oppressed: Subaltern Genocide in Theory and
Practice. Eds. Robins, Nicholas A. and Adam Jones. Bloomington, IN: Indiana
University Press, 2009.

Discussion Texts:
• (Film) The Killing Fields. 1994. Joffe, Roland, and David Puttnam.
• (Film) First They Killed My Father. 2017. Jolie, Angelina, et al.
• (Film) Duch: Master of the Forges of Hell. 2011. Panh, Rithy.
• Shapiro-Phim. "Dance, Music and the Nature of Terror in Democratic
Kampuchea." Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide. Ed.
Hinton, Alexander Laban. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2002.
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 • Weitz, Eric D. “Racial Communism.” A Century of Genocide: Utopias of Race
and Nation. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 2003.
• The Digital Archive of Cambodia Holocaust Survivors.
http://www.cybercambodia.com/dachs/.
• The Sleuk Rith Institute. http://www.cambodiasri.org/.

Tutorial 5 – 21 March

Week VIII – 27 March

1994, Rwanda: Post-Modern Manual Genocide in Africa
Lecture Assignment:
• Melson, Robert. "Modern Genocide in Rwanda." The Specter of Genocide: Mass
Murder in Historical Perspective. Eds. Gellately, Robert and Ben Kiernan. New
York, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
Tutorial Assignment:
• Moghalu, Kingsley Chiedu. “The “Final Solution” to the “Tutsi Problem.”
Rwanda's Genocide: The Politics of Global Justice. 1st ed. New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2005.
Discussion Texts:
• (Film) Hotel Rwanda. 2013. Geraghty, Naomi, et al.
• (Film) 7 Days in Kigali. 2018. Ba, Mehdi, et al.
• Mukasonga, Scholastique. "Grief." The New Yorker. June 15, 2020 2020.
• Taylor, Christopher C. "Cultural Face of Terror in the Rwandan Genocide of
1994." Annihilating Difference: The Anthropology of Genocide. Ed. Hinton,
Alexander Laban. Berkeley, Cal.: University of California Press, 2002.
• "Post-Genocide Reconstruction." Genocide Archive of Rwanda. 2015.
http://genocidearchiverwanda.org.rw/index.php?title=Post_Genocide

Tutorial 6 – 28 March

Week IX – 3 April
Questions of Comparison, Singularity and Uniqueness
Lecture Assignment:
• Bauer, Yehuda. “Holocaust and Genocide. Some comparisons.” Rethinking the
Holocaust. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2001.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Moses, Dirk. "The Holocaust and Genocide." The Historiography of the
Holocaust. Ed. Stone, Dan. Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2004.

Discussion Texts:

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 • Curthoys, Ann, and John Docker. "Problems of Comparative Genocide
Scholarship." The Historiography of Genocide. Ed. Stone, Dan. Basingstoke:
England, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2008.
• Chorbajian, Levon, and George Shirinian. “Chapter 1” and “Chapter 2.” Studies in
Comparative Genocide. Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan, New York: St.
Martin's Press, 1999.
• Kiernan, Ben. “Hitler, Pol Pot, and Hutu Power: Common Themes in Genocidal
Ideologies.” Is the Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives on Comparative Genocide.
Ed. Rosenbaum, Alan S. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996.
• Kiernan, Ben. “From Mekong to the Nile.” Blood and Soil: A World History of
Genocide and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. World History of Genocide
and Extermination from Sparta to Darfur. New Haven, London: Yale University
Press, 2007.
• “Holocaust and Genocide.” University of California Television. 2012.
https://www.uctv.tv/shows/Holocaust-and-Genocide-24017

CHING MING FESTIVAL HOLIDAY (NO TUTORIAL)

Week X-XII - 10 April / 17 April/ 24 April

The Politics of Memory:
Forgotten Genocides: Assyria, Roma and Cham, et al
Lecture Assignment:
• Hancock, Ian. “Responses to the Porrajmos: The Romani Holocaust.” Is the
Holocaust Unique?: Perspectives on Comparative Genocide. Ed. Rosenbaum,
Alan S. Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1996.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Travis, Hannibal. “The Assyrian Genocide.” Forgotten Genocides: Oblivion,
Denial, and Memory. Ed. Lemarchand, René. Philadelphia: University of
Pennsylvania Press, 2011.

Discussion Texts:
• Stewart, Michael. “The ‘‘Gypsy Problem’’: An Invisible Genocide.” Forgotten
Genocides: Oblivion, Denial, and Memory. Ed. Lemarchand, René. Philadelphia:
University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011.
• (Film) Yeger, Aaron, et al. A People Uncounted. Untold story of the Roma. First
Run Features, New York, 2014.

Tutorial 7 – 11 April

Memorials, Denial and Trauma

Lecture Assignment:
• Bauman, Zygmunt. "The Duty to Remember-but What?" Enlightenment and

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 Genocide, Contradictions of Modernity. Eds. Kaye, James and Bo Stråth.
Bruxelles: P.I.E.-Peter Lang, 2000.

Tutorial Assignment:
• Hovannisian, Richard G. "Denial of the Armenian Genocide: With Some
Comparisons to Holocaust Denial." Remembrance and Denial: The Case of the
Armenian Genocide. Ed. Hovannisian, Richard G. Detroit, Mich.: Wayne State
University Press, 1997.

Discussion Texts:
• (Film) Architects of Denial. 2017. Williams, Montel, et al.
• Rittner, Carol Ann, John K. Roth, and James M. Smith. Will Genocide Ever End?
1st ed. ed. Laxton, UK, St. Paul, MN: Aegis, Paragon House, 2002.
- Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 12, Chapter 15 and Chapter 18.
• Evans, Richard J. "The Pathology of Denial." How Was It Possible?: A Holocaust
Reader. Ed. Hayes, Peter. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2015.
• Young, James Edward. “Chapter 4” and “Chapter 5.” At Memory's Edge: After-
Images of the Holocaust in Contemporary Art and Architecture. New Haven,
Conn., London: Yale University Press, 2000.
• Wiedmer, Caroline. “Chapter 2” and “Chapter 3” Claims of Memory:
Representations of the Holocaust in Contemporary Germany and France. Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 1999.
• Stone, Dan, ed. “Memory, Memorials and Museums.” The Historiography of the
Holocaust. Basingstoke, Hampshire, New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004.
• (Film) Angkor's Children. 2017. Lauren Shaw, Paul Feinberg, Mimi Edmunds.

Kitawaki Noboru (1901-1951), Quo Vadis. 1949. Oil on canvas, 91x117 cm. National Museum of Modern Art,
Tokyo.

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