NEW RUTGERS COURSE ON CONCENTRATION CAMPS EXAMINES ARMENIAN GENOCIDE
Tuesday, February 18th, 2014
Armenian Weekly editor and Ph.D. candidate Khatchig Mouradian will
instruct the course at Rutgers University
NEWARK, N.J.–A new course examining concentration camps used during
five different wars is being offered at Rutgers University this
spring. Armenian Weekly editor and Ph.D. candidate Khatchig Mouradian
instructs the course, “Sociology and History of Concentration Camps”
at the university’s Newark, New Jersey campus.
The course traces the evolution of the concentration camp from a
counter-insurgency strategy in wartime to a weapon of mass murder.
Cases being studied include the Spanish-Cuban war, the Second
Anglo-Boer War, the Philippines-American War, the Armenian Genocide,
and the Holocaust.
“The course provides an overview of the history of the concentration
camp as a means to control, suppress, and destroy populations,” said
Mouradian. “We look at the historical context, the decision-making
process, and the interaction between central and local authorities,
yet we focus on the agency of the victims and survival in the camps,
with particular attention to power dynamics, race, gender, and class.”
The course and a series of lectures and events are being sponsored by
the Armenian Genocide Program of the university’s Center for the Study
of Genocide and Human Rights (CGHR) in collaboration with The Genocide
Education Project – Higher Education Division (GenEd-HigherEd).
CGHR promotes research and scholarship on issues including genocide,
conflict resolution, sustainability, justice, global health, and
human rights. In the few years since its inception, CGHR has already
sponsored numerous courses, lectures, conferences and cultural
activities directed at its mission “to enhance our understanding
of and find solutions to the most pressing 21st century challenges
related to peace and conflict.”
CGHR has also hosted several programs through its Armenian Genocide
Program. Mouradian has been the Program Coordinator since 2011 and also
teaches a course in conflict resolution at Worcester State University
as adjunct professor. His PhD dissertation at the Strassler Center
for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University, examines the
second phase of the Armenian Genocide.
The Genocide Education Project is a nonprofit organization that
assists educators in teaching about human rights and genocide,
particularly the Armenian Genocide, by developing and distributing
instructional materials, providing access to teaching resources and
organizing educational workshops. It seeks to broaden the general
understanding of the Armenian Genocide, in the context of the history
of World War I and as a predecessor of the pattern of genocides that
followed. GenEd-HigherEd is focused on facilitating courses and other
programming at colleges and universities.
James Sahagian, director of GenEd-HigherEd worked closely with
the Rutgers CGHR to establish this course. “We are pleased to offer
students a course that introduces key aspects of the Armenian Genocide
in relation to other genocides and historical conflicts. We look
forward to increasing our collaboration with CGHR in the future.”
Further information on this course and the Armenian Genocide Program
at Rutgers can be obtained by calling (201) 739-0901 or by emailing
[email protected].
The Genocide Education Project is a nonpartisan, nonprofit,
tax-exempt 501(c)(3) educational organization that assists educators
in teaching about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian
Genocide, by developing and distributing instructional materials,
providing access to teaching resources and organizing educational
workshops. For more information about The Genocide Education Project,
go to