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NEW ISSUE OF 'GENOCIDE STUDIES AND PREVENTION' RELEASED
Aremnian Weekly
Tue, Oct 18 2011
Now in its sixth year of publication, "Genocide Studies and Prevention"
Volume 6.2 features in its latest issue a diverse mix of original
articles that cover a wide range of topics related directly to
the field of genocide studies. This issue features articles by the
Zoryan Institute's chairman, Roger W. Smith, its associated scholar,
Bedross Der Matossian, and a graduate of the Genocide and Human Rights
University Program (GHRUP), Regine King from Rwanda.
"The African Standby Force, Genocide, and International Relations
Theory" by Stephen Burgess, a professor at the U.S. Air Wave College,
examines the proposal to create an African Standby Force (ASF) to
intervene when genocide threatens the continent. In launching the
ASF, African leaders over-promised to stop genocide, given their
lack of political will, the weak capacity of their states, and the
weak military capability of the Force's subregional brigades. Burgess
notes that the leaders of various countries have failed to come close
to meeting the 2010 deadline and questions an "African solution for
African problems," reinforcing the international responsibility of
its prevention.
Regine King, a Ph.D. candidate at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of
Social Work at the University of Toronto, and a graduate of GHRUP,
writes about "Healing Psychosocial Trauma in the Midst of Truth
Commissions: The Case of Gacaca in Post-Genocide Rwanda." Writing as
a Rwandan community-based mental health researcher and practitioner
concerned with the mental wellbeing of individuals and communities
that survive mass violence and genocide, she critiques the exclusive
use of community-based truth commissions, regardless of their emphatic
endorsement by post-conflict governments and multilateral organizations
since the end of the Cold War. She concludes by suggesting that other
models should be adopted to supplement gacaca.
In "From Bloodless Revolution to Bloody Counterrevolution: The
Adana Massacres of 1909," Dr. Bedros Der Matossian writes that the
historiography of the Adana Massacres of 1909 are represented by two
diverging views: While some Turkish scholars deny the involvement
of local government officials in the massacres and put all of the
blame on the Armenians who revolted as part of a conspiracy to
establish a kingdom in Cilicia, some Armenian scholars, whose work
is overshadowed by the Armenian Genocide, accuse the Committee of
Union and Progress (CUP) of acting behind-the-scenes to destroy the
Armenian economic development in the area. By breaking free from the
existing historiography, the present article contends that the Adana
Massacres should be viewed as part of the revolutionary process that
led to the erosion of social and political stability in the region,
the creation of weak public institutions, and the intensification
of existing economic anxieties, all of which led to the enactment of
violence against the vulnerable Armenian population of Adana.
The fourth contribution to the volume, "Did 'Newsnight' Miss the
Story? A Survey of How the BBC's 'Flagship Political Current Affairs
Program' Reported Genocide and War in Rwanda Between April and July
1994," examines the role of the news media in exposing or ignoring
an ongoing genocide. It is authored by Georgina Holmes, a scholar
of international relations theory and media, currently writing a
book on the gendered politics of mediatised conflict in Rwanda. She
writes that at the time of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the
BBC's late-night political discussion program, Newsnight, was one
of the few media political spheres within which representatives of
the British government, opposition parties, the United Nations, and
international non-governmental organizations could comment on British
foreign policy. Since 1994 the British media have been charged with
failing to report genocide; yet, a focus on print media has created a
void in understanding how BBC's Newsnight covered events. The present
article analyzes how the BBC framed the genocide in a specific way
until July 31, 1994. Holmes concludes that Newsnight missed the story
and "failed to hold British politicians to account."
The final selection in this issue is authored by Roger W. Smith,
professor emeritus of government at the College of William and Mary
and chairman of the International Institute for Genocide and Human
Rights Studies (IIGHRS), a division of the Zoryan Institute. In his
article, "George Steiner and the War Against the Jews: A Study in
Misrepresentation," Smith critiques the work of Steiner, finding it to
be misleading in its interpretations, explanations, and implications.
He contests Steiner's claims that the Jews brought their
near-destruction upon themselves, that they had invented the practice
of genocide, and had created such moral demands upon ordinary human
beings that the tension became unbearable and resulted in a revolt
against the tyranny of conscience and perfection. In his own writing,
Smith works to correct these assertions and directs the reader to
the shortcomings in Steiner's work as it relates to the Holocaust.
"Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal" was
co-founded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars
(IAGS) and the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies. The journal's mission is to understand the phenomenon of
genocide, create an awareness of it as an ongoing scourge, and promote
the necessity of preventing it, for both pragmatic and moral reasons.
It is the official journal of the IAGS and is published three times
a year by the University of Toronto Press.
For more information, contact the IIGHRS by e-mailing
[email protected] or calling (416) 250-9807.
Aremnian Weekly
Tue, Oct 18 2011
Now in its sixth year of publication, "Genocide Studies and Prevention"
Volume 6.2 features in its latest issue a diverse mix of original
articles that cover a wide range of topics related directly to
the field of genocide studies. This issue features articles by the
Zoryan Institute's chairman, Roger W. Smith, its associated scholar,
Bedross Der Matossian, and a graduate of the Genocide and Human Rights
University Program (GHRUP), Regine King from Rwanda.
"The African Standby Force, Genocide, and International Relations
Theory" by Stephen Burgess, a professor at the U.S. Air Wave College,
examines the proposal to create an African Standby Force (ASF) to
intervene when genocide threatens the continent. In launching the
ASF, African leaders over-promised to stop genocide, given their
lack of political will, the weak capacity of their states, and the
weak military capability of the Force's subregional brigades. Burgess
notes that the leaders of various countries have failed to come close
to meeting the 2010 deadline and questions an "African solution for
African problems," reinforcing the international responsibility of
its prevention.
Regine King, a Ph.D. candidate at the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of
Social Work at the University of Toronto, and a graduate of GHRUP,
writes about "Healing Psychosocial Trauma in the Midst of Truth
Commissions: The Case of Gacaca in Post-Genocide Rwanda." Writing as
a Rwandan community-based mental health researcher and practitioner
concerned with the mental wellbeing of individuals and communities
that survive mass violence and genocide, she critiques the exclusive
use of community-based truth commissions, regardless of their emphatic
endorsement by post-conflict governments and multilateral organizations
since the end of the Cold War. She concludes by suggesting that other
models should be adopted to supplement gacaca.
In "From Bloodless Revolution to Bloody Counterrevolution: The
Adana Massacres of 1909," Dr. Bedros Der Matossian writes that the
historiography of the Adana Massacres of 1909 are represented by two
diverging views: While some Turkish scholars deny the involvement
of local government officials in the massacres and put all of the
blame on the Armenians who revolted as part of a conspiracy to
establish a kingdom in Cilicia, some Armenian scholars, whose work
is overshadowed by the Armenian Genocide, accuse the Committee of
Union and Progress (CUP) of acting behind-the-scenes to destroy the
Armenian economic development in the area. By breaking free from the
existing historiography, the present article contends that the Adana
Massacres should be viewed as part of the revolutionary process that
led to the erosion of social and political stability in the region,
the creation of weak public institutions, and the intensification
of existing economic anxieties, all of which led to the enactment of
violence against the vulnerable Armenian population of Adana.
The fourth contribution to the volume, "Did 'Newsnight' Miss the
Story? A Survey of How the BBC's 'Flagship Political Current Affairs
Program' Reported Genocide and War in Rwanda Between April and July
1994," examines the role of the news media in exposing or ignoring
an ongoing genocide. It is authored by Georgina Holmes, a scholar
of international relations theory and media, currently writing a
book on the gendered politics of mediatised conflict in Rwanda. She
writes that at the time of the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, the
BBC's late-night political discussion program, Newsnight, was one
of the few media political spheres within which representatives of
the British government, opposition parties, the United Nations, and
international non-governmental organizations could comment on British
foreign policy. Since 1994 the British media have been charged with
failing to report genocide; yet, a focus on print media has created a
void in understanding how BBC's Newsnight covered events. The present
article analyzes how the BBC framed the genocide in a specific way
until July 31, 1994. Holmes concludes that Newsnight missed the story
and "failed to hold British politicians to account."
The final selection in this issue is authored by Roger W. Smith,
professor emeritus of government at the College of William and Mary
and chairman of the International Institute for Genocide and Human
Rights Studies (IIGHRS), a division of the Zoryan Institute. In his
article, "George Steiner and the War Against the Jews: A Study in
Misrepresentation," Smith critiques the work of Steiner, finding it to
be misleading in its interpretations, explanations, and implications.
He contests Steiner's claims that the Jews brought their
near-destruction upon themselves, that they had invented the practice
of genocide, and had created such moral demands upon ordinary human
beings that the tension became unbearable and resulted in a revolt
against the tyranny of conscience and perfection. In his own writing,
Smith works to correct these assertions and directs the reader to
the shortcomings in Steiner's work as it relates to the Holocaust.
"Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal" was
co-founded by the International Association of Genocide Scholars
(IAGS) and the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights
Studies. The journal's mission is to understand the phenomenon of
genocide, create an awareness of it as an ongoing scourge, and promote
the necessity of preventing it, for both pragmatic and moral reasons.
It is the official journal of the IAGS and is published three times
a year by the University of Toronto Press.
For more information, contact the IIGHRS by e-mailing
[email protected] or calling (416) 250-9807.