ANTHROPOLOGY 4580

Paul Shankman

Spring 2004

THE HOLOCAUST: AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

The Course:

The course has an ambitious title, and it deals with an important subject: the Holocaust. But it is not only a course about the Holocaust; it is also about genocide and mass murder, and, more generally, about power, its uses, and what happens to people under the control of powerful institutions. Although much has been written about power, there is still much that is unknown or poorly understood. So this course is more of an inquiry than it is a definitive statement.

The course will focus on some of the key events of the past century, especially the Holocaust . Although these events seem far removed from our own experience, they are among the defining moments of our times. Even half a century later, the name Auschwitz still signifies the unthinkable, just as 9/11 does today. These events are reminders of where we have been and where we do not wish to return.

Eight years ago, the 50^th anniversary of the end of World War II was commemorated. The liberation of the Nazi concentration camps also received attention, but most experts thought that the Holocaust would recede from consciousness after the commemorations ended. However, it did not. Attendance at the Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. increased. There were new Academy Award-winning films and documentaries on the Holocaust. The discovery of secret Nazi gold in Switzerland and the recent payments to slave laborers of the Nazis have reminded the world of the legacy of the Holocaust. And new books, like the Pulitzer Prize-winning A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, have led scholars and the public to once again debate how the world responded to the Holocaust. So the Holocaust has not gone away and left us alone. But what have we learned from it? And what is its relevance today in an age of terrorism and nuclear proliferation?

The first part of this course provides a context for understanding the Holocaust. We begin by examing the uses of power in the first half of the twentieth century, including the arms race that culminated in World War I. We also will discuss the Armenian genocide of 1915-16 and the important problem of the denial of genocide. We will then review the rise of new forms of totalitarian government in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Most of the course deals with the Holocaust and the psychology of power in total institutions -- institutions like slavery, concentration camps, and prisons -- that have complete control over people's lives. The final part of the course involves a look at the aftermath of the Holocaust and why genocide and mass murder continue to be part of the contemporary political landscape. One of the important themes of this course is that to understand the present and perhaps the future, we must understand the major political trends of the past century.

Needless to say, this is an ambitious course outline, and we may not do justice to these topics. Nevertheless, we will try. As always, the most important contribution of anthropology is to provide convincing accounts of what is happening to people in real-life situations. While incorporating history, political science, and psychology, this course pays special attention to how people actually encounter broader historical trends and political processes, and what people think is happening to them. This is why it is an anthropology course.

Required Readings:

You will be reading the following books:

A Problem From Hell: America and the Age of Genocide, by Samantha Power

Denying History, by Michael Shermer and Alex Grobman

The World Must Know, by Michael Berenbaum

Ordinary Men, by Christopher Browning (second edition)

Neighbors, by Jan Gross

Escape From Sobibor, by Richard Rashke

Exams:

Every teacher wants his or her students to think about course material, but this is sometimes difficult because students have other things to do. We teachers encourage involvement with interesting topics, good documentaries, and excellent books, but even then there is student resistance. So we resort to exams, believing that fear will be the mother of intelligence. Unfortunately, in-class exams have not created brighter students, just more trauma. At least some of this trauma can be relieved by take-home exams.

In this course, there will be two take-home exams, each counting for 25% of your final grade. These exams are distributed well before they are due, so that you can spend as much time as you need. Because these exams are demanding, the work load for this class is greater than normal. Use your time accordingly. In addition, there will be two in-class examinations; each of these in-class exams will count for 25% of your final grade. The last in-class exam is scheduled during finals, although it is will cover only material from the last part of the course and is not comprehensive. Included in the last exam will be two short, type-written reports based on your attendance at two events of your choice during Holocaust Awareness Week (April 19^th -23^rd).

There is a service learning option for the last exam. That is, you may elect to substitute a service learning experience and paper for the last exam. This will involve signing up to assist in preparation for Holocaust Awareness Week and providing transportation and assistance for one Holocaust survivor, whom you will interview as the basis for a 5 page paper about your experience with this person. Only a very small number of students will have this option due to the small number of survivors who will be speaking. More information on this possibility will be available in class.

Optional Discussions and Office Hours: