INT3140 - After atrocity: the holocaust, South Africa, Rwanda

Leader(s): Mark Baker and Simon Adams

Offered

South Africa Winter semester 2009 (Off-campus Day)

Synopsis

This unit will bring together students from Monash campuses in Australia and South Africa to study the contemporary histories of post-genocide and post-conflict societies, through three specific cases: European Jews after the Holocaust; the South African approach after apartheid; and local and global responses to the Rwandan genocide. Held in the winter semester as a three-week intensive, students will spend a week in Johannesburg and a week in Rwanda exploring public debates on memory and justice through visits to memorial sites and museums. Places to be explored include Soweto, the Apartheid Museum, Constitution Hill, the Murambi genocide memorial, and a Gacaca village trial.

Objectives

Upon successful completion of this unit students will have:

1. an understanding of the human impact of genocide and conflict on the communities that survive it
2. an understanding of the modern historical contexts in which these conflicts emerged
3. an appreciation of the issues and the agencies involved in rebuilding states and societies after genocide and conflict
4. the capacity to describe and analyse questions of memory and justice using historical examples
5. In addition, students undertaking this unit at fourth-year level will be expected to have the ability to analytically differentiate between the different forms genocide and conflict manifest themselves in.

Assessment

Major essay (6000 words): 50%
Short writing exercise or text analysis (1000 words): 20%
Exam (2 hours): 30%

Contact hours

One 4-hour lecture per day, five days a week, for three weeks

Prohibitions

INT2120, INT3120, INT4140, ITM4140