The History of Colonialism and Mass Death

Catalog description

Over 100 million people were victims of mass killings, including genocide, in the 20th century. And yet, episodes like the Holocaust were not the first instances of state-sponsored mass death; on the contrary, mass killings and mass death have been a distinguishing feature of colonialism and its aftermaths for at least the last five centuries. How and why did these acts and processes occur? What forces caused humans to kill others on a massive scale? How have slower or less sudden processes-like death via slavery or disease-been reinterpreted and debated as foundational to genocide? What do these episodes reveal about the nature of race, religion, colonialism, technology, and modernity? HIST 523 is a graduate seminar that gives students an overview of the key literatures, methodologies, and debates in the historical literature on colonialism and mass killings, from genocide to epidemiological collapse, from the fifteenth century to the present. Its broad temporal framing and comparative framework reflects debates over the place of violence in European expansion in the Americas, Africa, and Asia, while also allowing for more subsequent, more local mass killings in places where colonization retreated. Before delving into specific historical examples, we will explore definitions of colonialism, mass death, and genocide. The course is then organized chronologically and examines episodes across a broad geographical spectrum, including early modern France, the early Columbian New World, the 19th century American West, 19th century Australia, Congo and Namibia during the "Scramble for Africa," East Asia in the early-mid 20th century, 1980s Guatemala, and the Darfur Genocide of the early 2000s. It familiarizes students with the re-reading of colonial and post-colonial histories since the coining of the term 'genocide' in 1944, by Raphael Lemkin, and the debates that the application of the term outside of Europe, outside of the Holocaust, have engendered. Students will be prepared to: teach on the history of mass death, mass killings, and genocide outside of Europe; more efficiently read and review academic texts; and find and interpret primary sources. This course is open to students across departments, and highly recommended for students minoring in Holocaust and Genocide Studies.