Confronting Genocide: Never Again?
Printed Curriculum [$25]
Downloadable Curriculum [$20]
Class Set [$12.50 ea] (10 min)
Fifth edition. May 2008.
Overview
The genocides of the twentieth century elicited feelings of horror and revulsion throughout the world. Yet both the international community and the United States have struggled to respond to this recurring problem.
Confronting Genocide: Never Again? traces the evolution of the international community's response to genocide and examines how the United States has responded to five cases of genocide. The evaluation of multiple perspectives, informed debate, and problem solving strategies that comprise this unit enable students to develop their own policy suggestions concerning America's response to future genocide.
Readings
- Part I of the background reading traces the development of the United Nations and the Genocide Convention.
- Part II examines five case studies of genocides from the twentieth century.
The Choices Role Play
At the core of Confronting Genocide: Never Again? is a framework of choices for U.S. foreign policy concerning genocide. These choices - or Options - reflect four fundamentally different ways of confronting genocide. By exploring four clearly defined alternatives and the beliefs underlying each, students will gain a deeper understanding of the values underlying specific policy recommendations and the trade-offs that accompany each of the choices.
Lessons
The Teacher Resource Book accompanying Confronting Genocide: Never Again? contains a day-by-day lesson plan and student activities.
- Day One's lesson helps students to define genocide.
- Day Two asks students to examine five different cases of genocide from the twentieth century, followed by a class activity on The New York Times coverage of the Armenian Genocide in 1915.
- Days Three and Four are devoted to a simulation in which students act as advocates of the four options or take on the role of members of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
- Day Five asks students to design their own 'Option Five' and apply their views to hypothetical cases.
- An optional lesson is also included in the unit which asks students to construct a model of a public memorial to a genocide.