GENOCIDE DICTIONARY PROVIDES COMPREHENSIVE LOOK
Samuel Totten, [email protected]
University of Arkansas Daily Headlines, AR
Jan 9 2008
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Samuel Totten, a University of Arkansas professor
and genocide scholar, began work five years ago with an Australian
colleague, historian Paul Bartrop, on a dictionary of genocide. Sadly,
between the many incidents of genocide throughout history and the
current state of world affairs, the project turned out to be more like
an encyclopedia – covering well over 600 terms in more than 500 pages.
"It’s three times the length we originally planned," Totten said,
"so the publisher put it into two volumes."
Dictionary of Genocide was released late last year by Greenwood Press
and is the first such work of its kind. Totten and Bartrop co-wrote
each entry and then honed and revised every one three more times. The
majority of entries are significantly longer than you would expect
in a typical dictionary.
"Context is necessary," Totten explained. "Without context, the
resultant entry is bound to be simplistic. The issues behind any case
of genocide are extremely complex. Take the crisis in Darfur, Sudan.
We couldn’t just describe the conflict between rebels and government
troops that has resulted in hundreds of thousands killed and millions
displaced. There are at least five significant antecedents to the
genocide: drought, famine, disenfranchisement, implementation of
Islamic law, and physical attacks carried out by government of Sudan
troops and Arab militia against black African villages.
"In addition to important dates of events, we included information
about actors involved, explanation of key events, decisions (or lack
thereof) that affected the situation and much, much more."
Totten began studying genocide in 1988 and started out focused on the
Holocaust of World War II, in which Germans led by Adolf Hitler killed
approximately 6 million Jews and some 5 million others, including
the physically and mentally handicapped, Roma and Sinti peoples,
Russian prisoners of war and Poles. Totten broadened his study to the
larger field of genocide studies when it dawned on him that hundreds
of scholars around the globe were studying the Holocaust but only a
handful were studying genocide prevention and intervention.
In addition to writing numerous books and editing several publications
on genocide, Totten has traveled to Rwanda to interview survivors of
the 1994 genocide there and to the Chad/Sudan border to speak with
refugees who are victims of the genocide that continues in Darfur. A
member of the University of Arkansas faculty since 1987, Totten has
designed and taught courses about Holocaust and genocide education and
has given talks across the globe on various facets of genocide. He
is a member of the Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and
Genocide in Jerusalem and the Centre for Genocide Studies in Australia.
His partner on the project, Paul R. Bartrop, is an honorary research
fellow at Deakin University, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, and head
of the department of history at Bialik College, Melbourne. Totten
met Bartrop 12 years ago at a conference on the Holocaust, and they
have collaborated on several other projects, including a book the
two edited called Teaching About the Holocaust: Essays by College
and University Teachers (Greenwood Press, 2004).
However it’s described, the genocide dictionary offers a comprehensive
overview of the field of genocide studies, Totten said.
It is intended for use by undergraduates, graduate students and
other newcomers to the field of genocide studies. Totten is hopeful
instructors of the topic at secondary levels will have access to the
dictionary to supplement and strengthen their curriculum.
The book includes basic information ranging from the United Nations
definition of genocide to the mechanisms employed when genocide
occurs. It traces the history of genocide and gives details from
around the globe, from Armenian genocide in the early 20th century
to the most recent genocides in Rwanda, Srebenica and Darfur.
Totten recently received a Fulbright Fellowship and is spending the
spring semester in Rwanda. At the National University of Rwanda,
Totten will work with faculty and graduate students from the Centre
for Conflict Management, as well as faculty in history, political
science and law, to develop a master’s degree program in genocide
studies. In addition, he will conduct three research projects that
build on his previous research in Rwanda.
In 2004, Totten interviewed survivors of the genocide in Sudan as a
member of the U.S. State Department Atrocities Documentation Project
team. The team’s work led to a report by then-U.S. Secretary of State
Colin Powell to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that genocide
was being committed in Darfur.