Writing-Based Inquiry Seminars:
Descriptions for Spring 2008
(please note: section topics and descriptions are subject to change)
Title: The Holocaust: Never Again?
Course: WBIS 188
Section: 010
Instructor: Henson
The Holocaust wiped out over six million Jews, Gypsies, and other groups; however, it was neither the first nor the last systematic annihilation of the 20th century. Through a variety of materials, we shall attempt to understand why genocide has been such a prevalent feature of our "civilization" in the past century. In the hope that in some small way we can perhaps prevent future genocides, we, as members of the human community, are obligated to try to address questions like the following: How do apparently normal people become mass murderers, often subjecting their former neighbors to torture before killing them? How can the societies of the perpetrators implicitly condone and support such acts? What elements contribute to the development of a genocidal ideology (e.g., myth, literature, religion, media)? What roles have outside countries of the international community played, or not played, in these massacres? What, if anything, can be done to prevent genocide in the future?