In this subject we consider the origins of the term 'genocide' and the different ways in which it has been defined before considering whether the concept might be a useful tool for understanding aspects of colonialism in two settler societies, colonial America and Australia: epidemic diseases; frontier violence; and assimilation (particularly the removal of Indigenous children). The unit will consider whether there are any continuities or causal connections between intellectual and political traditions associated with European imperialism and the Nazi German genocide of European Jewry, and will investigate the public reception of the concept of genocide in Australia and the United States. -- Course Website
Instructor: Bain Attwood