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.