A message from Vincent Patarino:
Friends, colleagues and community, as we celebrate the sixteenth year of the CMU Holocaust Awareness Series we invite faculty and student groups from all disciplines to consider contributing to the series. This year the program will occur March 25-29, 2019 with Holocaust Remembrance Day on Jan. 27.
Previous presentations from faculty include: anthropology, art history, criminal justice, education, English, forensic archeology, political science, psychology, sociology, mass communication, theatre and dance, and history. These seminars have featured lectures and film presentations with discussion on various topics related to modern patterns and questions about genocide. This year, bringing a Holocaust survivor to campus is a hope for the series. Also included is the field of flags on one of the campus lawns, which will display flags representing the many different people and groups targeted in the Holocaust.
Intellectual Framework
While the focus of the programs will continue to consider the origins, events, experiences and effects of the Jewish Holocaust, presenters should feel free to adopt a relatively broad intellectual framework. The word “Holocaust” refers to the Nazi regime’s systematic attempt to destroy the Jewish population of Europe, but the list of victims also includes Polish and Soviet civilians and soldiers, Gypsies (Roma and Sinti), Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals and various other “dissenters” and “asocials.” Given the reoccurrence of genocide before and after World War II, we invite discussions and presentations on any of the government-sponsored atrocities of the modern era. This includes examples of genocide and ethnic cleansing in South West Africa, Armenia, Cambodia, Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Iraq and the Sudan. We will also consider presentations that look at genocide more generally from a sociological or cultural point of view.
Format of Presentations
We want to emphasize the series is interdisciplinary in nature and therefore invite scholars from all disciplines to participate and attend. Presenters should consider a wide range of possible formats, including lectures with discussion, short papers with discussion, film with discussion or panel discussions. In all cases, discussion should be a significant feature of the presentation, since part of the goal of the series is to foster a dialogue between all groups of our academic and regional community. Seminars may occur during the daytime schedule, however priority is given to early evening offerings open to both the campus and local community. Please plan your session to last about one hour to 90 minutes (unless you are screening a film, which we would schedule for one of the evening slots).
Contact Information
Please send a short abstract of no more than 150 words and the title of your presentation to Vincent V. Patarino or Adam Rosenbaum in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences. Contact by e-mail at [email protected] and/or [email protected]. Deadline for submissions is Monday, March 4, 2019.