Conf on Mass Violence & Memory under SSRE Holocaust Awareness Campaign

Society for Social Regeneration & Equity (SSRE) in collaboration with Jindal Global University and the Middle East Institute New Delhi and in association with the US Holocaust Memorial Museum organised a two-day-multidisciplinary-international Conference on Mass Violence and Memory as part of its Holocaust awareness campaign with the objective of generating Indian scholarly interest in Holocaust (Shoah) studies. The conference was held at the Jindal Global University in Sonipat, Haryana, near Delhi, on 18th and 19th May 2016 and was jointly convened by:

• Dr Navras Jaat Aafreedi, Honorary Executive Director, Youth Outreach Programme, Society for Social Regeneration & Equity (SSRE) 
• Dr. Rohee Dasgupta, Associate Professor, Jindal Centre for Israel Studies, Jindal School of International Affairs, O P Jindal Global University
• Professor P R Kumaraswamy, Honorary Director, Middle East Institute New Delhi

The conference attracted participants from thirteen countries. 

Mass Violence is an ineluctable truth of world history, in fact there has never been a time without it. While the international community continues its efforts to prevent it till today, its deterrence has varied immensely from one decade to another and from one geographical region to the other. What causes mass violence and how it can be prevented are questions that continue to trouble us. The varying scales and magnitudes of mass violence have attracted a range of definitions and nomenclatures, like genocide, ethnic cleansing, pogrom, etc., and triggered debates about their usage. The aftermath of mass violence is just as troubling as mass violence itself for it raises the questions of acknowledgement of the event, rehabilitation of the survivors, reconciliation between the perpetrator and the victim, and coming to terms with the harsh reality of memory politics.  Papers from different academic disciplines were presented at the conference to help us comprehend mass violence and memory with reference to the sub-themes listed below, but certainly not limited to them. Papers that underscore the need for Holocaust and Genocide Education in India were in sharp focus. The sub-themes covered at the conference were the following:

Causes	Warning Signs	Propaganda	State’s connivance or inaction
State’s response	Complicity	Hateful or Inflammatory Speech	Role of the Press and Mass Media
Memorialization	Conflicting Narratives	International Response	Role of the Academia
Cinematic Responses	Literary Responses	Judicial Response	Justification of Violence
	Comparative Studies	Denial or Minimization	Trauma
Reconciliation	Genocide Education/Mass Violence Studies	Resistance to Genocide Education/Mass Violence Studies	Displacement
Rehabilitation	Holocaust/Shoah as point of reference	Mass Atrocities	Challenges of Definition and Nomenclature

 

One can read more about the conference on its blog.