Topics In Human Development

Catalog description

This course examines some of the worst things that humans do to each other- genocide; mass atrocities; torture; ethnic cleansings; solitary confinement; and other crimes against humanity that target civilian populations during peacetimes and war. We approach the topic using a criminological lens to understand why and how these acts occur, how they are criminalized, the consequences of crimes against humanity, and what mechanisms for dispensing justice are developed - such as the International Criminal Courts prosecution of individuals (including heads of state) for genocide and crimes against humanity. The course involves the viewing of films that depict horrifying acts of harming humans but serves as an important tool to gain a depth of understanding on the causes and consequences of genocides and similar crimes against humanity. A comparative lens of crimes against humanity in Rwanda, Indonesia, Iraq, Sudan, Ottoman-Armenia, United States and Germany will also inform how we come to understand the politics shaping a typology of crimes against humanity in which some crimes are ‘denied’ and erased from public consciousness and other crimes are rendered un-prosecutable. Offered: semester varies.