Navras J. Aafreedi & Priya Singh, eds., CONCEPTUALIZING MASS VIOLENCE: REPRESENTATIONS, RECOLLECTIONS, AND REINTERPRETATIONS (London & New York: Routledge, 2021)

Conceptualizing Mass Violence: Representations, Recollections, and Reinterpretations

Edited By Navras J. Aafreedi, Priya Singh

1st Edition | Copyright Year 2021 | ISBN 9780367699970 | 336 Pages | 8 B/W Illustrations

Published by Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group), London & New York

Series: Mass Violence in Modern History

Book Description

Conceptualizing Mass Violence draws attention to the conspicuous inability to inhibit mass violence in myriads forms and considers the plausible reasons for doing so. Focusing on a postcolonial perspective, the volume seeks to popularize and institutionalize the study of mass violence in South Asia.

The essays explore and deliberate upon the varied aspects of mass violence, namely revisionism, reconstruction, atrocities, trauma, memorialization and literature, the need for Holocaust education, and the criticality of dialogue and reconciliation. The language, content, and characteristics of mass violence/genocide explicitly reinforce its aggressive, transmuting, and multifaceted character and the consequent necessity to understand the same in a nuanced manner. The book is an attempt to do so as it takes episodes of mass violence for case study from all inhabited continents, from the twentieth century to the present. The volume studies ‘consciously enforced mass violence’ through an interdisciplinary approach and suggests that dialogue aimed at reconciliation is perhaps the singular agency via which a solution could be achieved from mass violence in the global context.

The volume is essential reading for postgraduate students and scholars from the interdisciplinary fields of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, History, Political Science, Sociology, World History, Human Rights, and Global Studies.

Table of Contents

Introduction

1. Reading Mass Violence

Navras J. Aafreedi and Priya Singh

Part 1: Narratives

2. Violence and Violations: Betrayal Narratives in Atrocity Accounts

Dennis B. Klein

3. Holocaust survivors in Mexico: Intersecting and Conflicting Narratives of Open Doors, Welcoming Society and Personal Hardships

Daniela Gleizer and Yael Siman

4. Historical Narratives, the Perpetuation of Trauma, and the Work of Vamık Volkan

Reuven Firestone

Part 2: Revisionism & Reconstruction

5. Holocaust, Propaganda, and the Distortion of History in the Former Soviet Space

Charles E. Ehrlich

6. The Genocide of 1971 in Bangladesh: Lessons from History

Srimanti Sarkar

7. Holocaust Denial and Minimization in the Indian Urdu Press

Md. Muddassir Quamar

Part 3: Education

8. Holocaust Studies in Australia: Moving from family and community remembrance to human rights and prevention of mass violence

Suzanne D. Rutland and Suzanne Hampel

9. New Developments in Holocaust & Genocide Education in South Africa: : The case study of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre

Tali Nates

10. A Case of Naive Normalization? India's Misbeliefs about Hitler and Schooling on the Holocaust

Anubhav Roy

11. Holocaust Education in India and its Challenges

Navras J. Aafreedi

Part 4: Reflections

12. Sonderkommando Photo 4 and the Portrayal of the Invisible

David Patterson

13. Overcoming "Intimate Hatreds:" Reflections on Violence against Yazidis

Güneş Murat Tezcür and Tutku Ayhan

14. The State and its Margins: Changing Notions of Marginality in Turkey

Anita Sengupta

Part 5: Trauma

15. Pinochet's Dictatorship and Reflections on Trauma in Chile: How much have we learned in terms of human rights?

Nancy Nicholls Lopeandía

Part 6: Memorialization

16. ‘Grassroots’ Holocaust Museums: Revealing Untold Stories

Stephanie Shosh Rotem

17. Fabric, Food, Song: The Quiet Continuities in Bengali Life Seventy Years After Partition

Rituparna Roy

Part 7: Literature

18. The Failure of Secular Publics and the Rise of the Jewish Religious Public in Nathan Englander’s For the Relief of Unbearable Urges

Fuzail Asar Siddiqi

Part 8: Dialogue & Reconciliation

19. The 2002 Alexandria Summit and Its Follow Up

David Rosen

Editors

Navras J. Aafreedi is Assistant Professor of History at Presidency University, Kolkata, and Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy, New York. His publications include his monograph Jews, Judaizing Movements and the Traditions of Israelite Descent in South Asia.

Priya Singh is Associate Director at Asia in Global Affairs (www.asiaingloblaffairs.in). Priya is a political scientist with an interest in issues pertaining to geo-politics, nationalism, post-nationalism, identity, state formation and gender. She has authored, edited and co-edited books on Israel and the Middle East.

Contributors

• Tutku Ayhan, PhD candidate in Security Studies, Department of Political Science, University of Central Florida, USA
• Charles Edward Ehrlich, Program Director, Salzburg Global Seminar, Austria
• Reuven Firestone, Regenstein Professor in medieval Judaism and Islam at Hebrew Union College and professor of religion at the University of Southern California, USA
• Daniela Gleizer, Associate Researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM)
• Suzanne Hampel, Tutor, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
• Denis B. Klein, Kean University Professor of History and director of the Jewish Studies Program and the Master of Arts in Holocaust and Genocide Studies, USA
• Nancy Nicholls, Lecturer, Institute of History, Faculty of History, Geography and Political Sciences, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile
• Tali Nates, Founder and Director of the Johannesburg Holocaust & Genocide Centre, South Africa
• David Patterson, Hillel A. Feinberg Chair in Holocaust Studies in the Ackerman Center for Holocaust Studies at the University of Texas at Dallas, USA
• Md. Muddassir Quamar, Associate Fellow in the Institute for Defence Studies & Analyses, New Delhi, India
• Anubhav Roy, PhD candidate, Department of Political Science, University of Delhi, India
• David Rosen, American Jewish Committee's International Director of Interreligious Affairs and Director of its Heilbrunn Institute for International Interreligious Understanding, International President of the World Conference on Religion and Peace, Honorary President of the International Council of Christians and Jews
• Stephanie Rotem, Visiting Professor for Israel Studies at the Jewish Studies program at the University of Virginia, USA
• Rituparna Roy, Independent Scholar, Kolkata, India
• Suzanne Rutland, Professor Emerita in the Department of Hebrew, Biblical & Jewish Studies, University of Sydney, Australia
• Srimanti Sarkar, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, West Bengal State University, Kolkata, India
• Anita Sengupta, Director, Asia in Global Affairs, Kolkata, India
• Yael Siman, Associate Professor at the Department of Social and Political Sciences, Iberoamericana University, Mexico City
• Fuzail Siddiqi, PhD Candidate, Centre for English Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, India
• Gunes Murat Tezcur, Jalal Talabani Chair of Kurdish Political Studies, University of Central Florida, USA

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