Call for Papers: Genocide after 1948: 70 Years of Genocide Convention

A call for papers has been issued for a conference on "Genocide after 1948: 70 Years of Genocide Convention," to be held December 7-8, 2018. Here's the call:

Genocide after 1948: 70 Years of Genocide Convention

Call for Papers

NIOD Amsterdam / Utrecht University, 7 and 8 December 2018

On 9 December 1948, the United Nations adopted the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Despite this commitment to prevent genocide and punish its perpetrators, several cases of genocide have occurred since, e.g. in Asia, Africa, and the European mainland itself. Millions of people have been categorically murdered on account of their real or perceived group identity – national, ethnic, racial, religious, political. What kind of impact(s) did the Convention have, and what type of changes were relevant in the postwar period? This multi-disciplinary conference will bring together historians, social scientists, and others, to explore the causes, courses, and consequences of genocide from a global perspective. The conference acknowledges the differences between genocide as a legal, historical, and social-scientific concept, and intends to include a variety of approaches.

We welcome papers on different cases across continents and decades, as well as critical issues that relate to mass violence, including, but not limited to, for example, the context of post-colonialism, the context of the Cold War and the contemporary context; the context of war, civil war and insurgency; intrastate power dynamics and political polarization; forms and institutions of violence; political economy, demography, ecology and geography; ideology, nationalism and identity politics; perpetration and individual perpetrators, victims and third parties; democratization; non-state actors.

The conference will consist of six main themes:

• The concept of genocide and international law
• (Civil) war and genocide
• Perpetration
• Genocide in Asia
• Genocide in the Middle East
• Genocide in Africa

We encourage both theoretical and empirical submissions. The conference will consist of a combination of formats, including pre-circulated paper sessions, public events, and book panels.

Abstracts for papers or panels (max 300 words) including a short biographical statement (max 100 words) can be submitted by 1 May 2018 to: genocideconference2018@niod.knaw.nl

Contact Info: 

For all general enquiries, please contact Barbara Boender at b.boender@niod.knaw.nl, or Martine van den Heuvel at m.van.den.heuvel@niod.knaw.nl