Current Issues
Häussler, Matthias / Eckl, Andreas: Lothar von Throtha in Deutsch-Südwestafrika, 1904-1905. Bd. I: Das Tagebuch / Bd. 2: Das Fotoalbum, Berlin u.a.: De Gruyter 2024.
Lothar von Trotha in German South–West Africa 1904–1905. Volume I: The Diary / Volume II: The Photo Album
Lieutenant General Lothar von Trotha – Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Protection Force for German South-West Africa from 1904 to 1905 in the fight against the OvaHerero, Nama, and Orrlam – is rightly considered to be the main party responsible for the first genocide of the twentieth century in colonial Namibia. This critical edition gives the public access to central sources and Lothar von Trotha’s diary and photo album for the first time.
The publication is the result of a DFG-funded research project at the Institute for Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies/RUB. It is now available as an e-book. The print version will be published on February 19, 2024.
Just released:
Platt, Kristin: Extreme Violence and Desecration in the Armenian Genocide
in: Genocidal Violence. Concepts, Forms, Impact, ed. by Frank Jacob and Kim Sebastian Todzi, Berlin/Boston MA 2023, pp. 213-234.
Scholars at Rist Network: Student Advocacy Seminar, WiSe 2023/24
Scholars under political discrimination and persecution. Scholars at Risk Human Rights Advocacy Seminar (taught in English)
Part 1: Seminar (Mo, 12-14)
Part 2: Project Work (Mo, 14-16)
SAR Core Faculty RUB:
Prof. Dr. Markus Koller
PD Dr. Kristin Platt
Dr. Maximilian Schell
Iris Vernekohl
Further information and registration: idg-lehre@rub.de
International Visiting Scholar at the IDG
Savannah Whittemore (University of Mississippi) will be a visiting scholar at IDG for 10 months as part of a Fulbright grant. The topic area of her research is "The History of the First Amendment, Hate Speech and Genocide."
We are looking forward to the exchange and the collaboration!
Visiting Scholars from the University of Namibia at the IDG
Dr. Napandulwe Tulyovapika Shiweda and Dr. Kletus Muhena Likuwa from the University of Namibia (Windhoek) are working at the Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Studies under Erasmus plus Fellowships.
Napandulwe Tulyovapika Shiweda's work focuses on visual history and public history, visual culture, tourism, colonial photography, social issues and contemporary African history, and Contract labor history.
Kletus Muhena Likuwa's research interests revolve around Labour Histories, Land and agrarian reform, colonial land dispossession and forced removal histories, colonial counter insurgency border wars in southern Africa
We look forward to a close exchange!
Photo (from left to right): Dr. Kletus Muhena Likuwa, Dr. Andreas Eckl, PD Dr. Kristin Platt, Dr. Napandulwe Tulyovapika Shiweda
Colonial Past - Postcolonial Future? Rethinking German-Namibian Relations
Book presentation and discussion
Monday, 29. August 2022
7:00 pm – 9:00 pm
Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung - Headquarter Berlin
Schumannstr. 8
10117 Berlin
Livestream: CC BY Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6iMIwaMZ0w
Against the backdrop of the "Reconciliation Agreement" initialled in May 2021 by the special representatives of Germany and Namibia after years of negotiations, the anthology published by Henning Melber and Kristin Platt presents different perspectives on the complex web of relations. People from civil society, politics and the arts of both states have their say. They deal with the memory of mass violence and genocide during German colonial rule. These are attempts for comprehension of colonial injustice in today’s world. In search for future relations, which are often described by the Germans as "special". The aim is to liberate these relations from asymmetrical power structures and bring them to life in a progressive way.
The anthology makes voices heard in this spirit. The Heinrich-Böll-Foundation has invited the publishers and the writer Uwe Timm as well as three other contributors to the book.
With:
Kristin Platt, Director of the Institute for Diaspora and Genocide Research at the Ruhr University Bochum
Henning Melber, former head of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU) in Windhoek, research director at the Nordic Africa Institute and director of the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Uppsala/Sweden
and
Rakkel Andreas, Research Associate at the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR), media expert and consultant, Windhoek
Naita Hishoono, Director of the Namibia Institute for Democracy (NID), responsible for political education projects and development policy initiatives in Namibia and Southern Africa, Windhoek
Uazuvara Ewald Kapombo Katjivena, radio and television journalist, author, Arendal/Norway
Uwe Timm, writer. Among other well-known novels and essays, he published Morenga in 1978, Munich/Berlin
Moderation: Kirsten Krampe, Head of the Africa Department, Heinrich-Böll-Foundation
Visiting Student Fellow at the IDG
Stephen Sharp Queener studies International Relations at Stanford University in California, where he is closely involved in the work of the Center for Human Rights and International Justice. He is currently working on his B.A. thesis on "Discrepancies and Divided Development: how jus ad bellum has been unable to overcome its politics." Through his stay at the IDG, the use of our special library, the insights into our research projects, the conversations and discussions with PD Dr. Kristin Platt and her colleagues, he hopes to gain intensive impulses for his thesis and his further studies. His stay at the IDG is financed by a scholarship from the Alfred Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Foundation.
GENOCIDIO – Online Session mit PD Dr. Kristin Platt (28.04.2022) - now on youtube
Panelists:
Prof. Dr. Natalia Barbero, Criminal Law Specialist, PhD in International Criminal Law.
Prof. Dr. Daniel Feierstein, Researcher at CONICET in the Center for Genocide Studies (UN-TREF). Head of the Genocide Social Practices Analysis department at the School of Social Sciences (UBA).
PD Dr. Kristin Platt, researcher in history, cultural theory, and social theory. Head of the Institute for Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
Eduardo Toledo, researcher at the Instituto de Estudios del Proceso Penal Acusatorio (INEPPA), Mexiko City. From 2017 to 2021, he held the position of a Senior Officer on International Criminal Law at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.
Moderation: Dr. Vivian Valencia, Assistant Professor at Wageningen University and member of the Global Diplomacy Lab.
GENOCIDIO – Online Session 28.04.2022
German time: 5–7pm
Controversial debates and disputes over the definition of the term „Genocide“ had preceded
before the term gained legal validity in 1948 with the „Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide“. To a large extent, they were guided by the interests of state and lobby representatives. The consensus ultimately reached was not without contradictions and compromises and, since its implementation in international jurisprudence, has been criticized by scholars, human rights activists and politicians from various perspectives.
Panelists:
Dr. Natalia Barbero, Criminal Law Specialist, PhD in International Criminal Law.
Dr. Daniel Feierstein, Researcher at CONICET in the Center for Genocide Studies (UN-TREF). Head of the Genocide Social Practices Analysis department at the School of Social Sciences (UBA).
Dr. Kristin Platt, researcher in history, cultural theory, and social theory. Head of the Institute for Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies, Ruhr University Bochum, Germany.
Eduardo Toledo, researcher at the Instituto de Estudios del Proceso Penal Acusatorio (INEPPA), Mexiko City. From 2017 to 2021, he held the position of a Senior Officer on International Criminal Law at the International Nuremberg Principles Academy.
Moderation: Dr. Vivian Valencia, Assistant Professor at Wageningen University and member of the Global Diplomacy Lab.
The session will be held online via Zoom in Spanish with simultaneous translation to English
ZOOM link: bit.ly/genocideaslegalterm
Passcode: 567975
SAVE THE DATE!
CoVio Summer School "Gewaltgesellschaften / Violent Societies. History and Prensent"
08.08.2022 - 12.08.2022
Campus Berlin of the FernUniversität in Hagen
Neues Kranzler Eck
Kurfürstendamm 21
10719 Berlin
The Summer School " Gewaltgesellschaften / Violent Societies. History and Present" invites to discussions, study contents and an interesting framework program to deepen together questions about current forms of violence and the practices of social as well as scientific handling. Students and interested persons from all disciplines can participate. Participation can be counted as a course credit.
A call for applications will be published in the second half of April.
Contact: covio-idg@rub.de
SCHOLARS AT RISK PUBLIC LECTURE SERIES - OPENING SESSION: PROTECTING AND PROMOTING THE FREEDOM AND COURAGE TO THINK IN TIMES OF WAR (AND BEYOND)
What Role for Universities and University Networks?
WELCOME NOTE: Professor Dr. Dr. h.c. Martin Paul (Rector, RUB)
KEYNOTE: Prof. Dr. Manfred Nowak (Secretary General, Global Campus of Human Rights)
MODERATION: Prof. Dr. Markus Koller, PD Dr. Kristin Platt, Iris Vernekohl
DATE: April 11, 2022
TIME: 4pm - 5.30pm (CET)
REGISTER HERE: https://ruhr-uni-bochum.zoom.us/meeting/register/u5IldeurqzsoGNGj2jaKcWkMbZHNlwZee5bv
PD Dr. Kristin Platt: »Keep Going: Territorialized and Deterritorialized Temporality in the 1920s«
Lecture given at History of Concepts Group: 23rd International Conference
7.-9. April 2022
Friedrich-Meinecke-Institut
Freie Universität Berlin
"Insights into the life and mindset of a genocidal murderer"
RUBIN article on the IDG research project "Textual and pictorial narrative of genocide. A critical edition of the written and photographic legacy of Lothar von Trotha, commander-in-chief of the colonial troops in German South West Africa from 1904 to 1905". The project is funded by the DFG.
Foto: © Damian Gorczany
The Unrecognized Genocide: Dersim 1937-38
International Conference, 18.–20. November 2021 | Online
Online Conference – Livestream via Zoom und YouTube
Languages: Turkish and German (each with simultaneous translation into the other language)
Registration required. Please register under: academyinexile@uni-due.de.
Participation via Zoom: After your registration you will receive the Zoom link for the event.
Participation via YouTube: youtube.com/c/AcademyinExile
New Visiting Research Fellow at the IDG
Dr. Stephen Baffour Adjei is currently a Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies (IDG), Ruhr University Bochum (RUB), Germany, under The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the German Research Foundation’s (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft; DFG) Cooperation Visits Programme for Scientists from Sub-Saharan Africa. During the 3-month research fellowship at RUB’s Institute of Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies, Dr. Adjei will be working on a project that explores the dialogical relationship between communal sense of personhood and masculinity-induced intimate partner violence (IPV) in Africa, with a particular focus on Ghana. He will also be working on collaborative research projects with scientist from the Institute of Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies, RUB, Germany. The fellowship at RUB is funded by DFG.
Recently published:
Häussler, Matthias: The Herero Genocide. War, Emotion, and Extreme Violence in Colonial Namibia, Oxford und New York: Berghahn Books 2021
Drawing on previously inaccessible and overlooked archival sources, The Herero Genocide undertakes a groundbreaking investigation into the war between colonizer and colonized in what was formerly German South-West Africa and is today the nation of Namibia. In addition to its eye-opening depictions of the starvation, disease, mass captivity, and other atrocities suffered by the Herero, it reaches surprising conclusions about the nature of imperial dominion, showing how the colonial state’s genocidal posture arose from its own inherent weakness and military failures. The result is an indispensable account of a genocide that has been neglected for too long.
Scholars at Risk
Advocacy Seminar
SoSe 2021, Fridays, 3-5 p.m.
PD Dr. Kristin Platt (IDG/RUB)
Prof. Dr. Claudia Jahnel (Interkulturelle Theologie/RUB)
Dr. Jens Schlamelcher (CERES/RUB)
Iris Vernekohl (International Office/RUB)
Holocaust and Genocide Studies: Looking Backward, Moving Forward
A hybrid expert symposium, Amsterdam 9th April 2021
The event will have a hybrid form, taking place at De Balie in Amsterdam, but digital at the same time.
Contributions by Nanci Adler, Jolle Demmers, Carol Gluck, Amos Goldberg, Stathis Kalyvas, Eva Kovacs, Sinisa Malesevic, Omar McDoom, Dirk Moses, Kristin Platt, Ismee Tames and Uğur Ümit Üngör.
Recently published: Journal for Genocide Studies Vol. 18 (2), 2020 [December 2020]
Focus: Iconographies of Annihilation
Contributions by Athanasios Anastasiadis, Monika Barwińska-Moll, Janis Nalbadidacis, Anette H. Storeide und Irene Zanol
Just published:
Kritistin Platt (Ed.) : Fehlfarben der Postmoderne. Weiter-Denken mit Zygmunt Bauman, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2020.
Recently published: Journal for Genocide Studies Vol. 18 (2), 2020 [Mai 2020]
Focus: Death Zones
Contributions by Daniel Bultmann, Markus Holzinger, Burkhard Liebsch, Maria Six-Hohenbalken und Oswald Überegger
Prof. Dr. Bülent Bilmez (Istanbul Bilgi University): »An Unrecognized Genocide with an Unwritten History: Dersim Genocide in Turkey (1937-38)«
Public lecture.
Discussion in German and English
Tuesday, 21.01.2020, 18:00 Uhr c.t.
H-GA 20
Recently published: Journal for Genocide Studies Vol. 17 (1/2), 2019 [December 2019]
Focus: The Violent Space of the Mediterranean. Violence Mediterranean? - Structures, experiences and Memory of collective violence in the age of the World Wars
ed. by Medardus Brehl and Kristin Platt
Contributions by Patrick Bernhard, Florian Brückner, Iason Chandrinos, Anna Maria Droumpouki, Andreas Guidi, Martha Kleinhans, Anna Lammers, Karlo Ruzici-Kessler, Talin Suciyan und Christopher Theel
Just published:
Taner Akçam: Tötungsbefehle. Talat Paschas Telegramme und der Völkermord an den Armeniern, Weilerswist: Velbrück Wissenschaft 2019
Congratulations on a successful Habilitation!
On June 12th, 2019 Dr. Kristin Platt successfully completed her Habilitation at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin with a written work on "The Names of Catastrophy" and a public lecture on "The Infantryman of the Future On military conceptions of a function-related soldier ".
We are very happy and congratulate!
"The Global Turn? Holocaust Remembrance and Genocide Education in the 21th Century" - IDG-Visiting Research Fellow Prof. Dr. Anette Homlong Storeide
Prof. Dr. Anette Homlong Storeide, Associate Professor in German and European Cultural History at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) in Trondheim/Norway, will work in the Institute for Diaspora Research and Genocide Studies due to a one-year Visiting Research Fellowship. The Fellowship is funded by the NTNU to strengthen international cooperation on the field of Holocaust and Genocide Studies as well as Holocaust Education. During her stay at the IDG/RUB Prof. Homlong Storeide is working on her research and publication project The Global Turn? Holocaust Remembrance and Genocide Education in the 21st Century.
The IDG has moved: New offices in GAFO 02
It's done: we've moved! From now on the IDG is no longer in the building NA but in the GAFO 02.
The Secretary's Office is in room GAFO 02/384.
Prof. Dr. Taner Akçam (Clark University, Worcester MA, USA): "The Killing Orders of Talat Pasha and the Denial of Armenian Genocide"
Public lecture.
Discussion in German and English
Monday, 20.05.2019, 16:00 Uhr c.t.
H-GA 30
A unique feature of the Armenian Genocide has been the long-standing efforts of successive Turkish governments to deny its historicity and to hide the documentary evidence surrounding it. Denialists claimed that there was no central decision taken by Ottoman authorities to exterminate the Armenians and all available documents that indicate otherwise are either fake or were doctored by Armenians.
In his lecture Taner Akçam provides a major clarification of the often-blurred lines between facts and truth with regard to these events. Akçam both brings to light documents either hidden or destroyed by the Turkish government that contain the killing orders, as well as demonstrates the authenticity of these orders, which had been sign by Ottoman Interior Minister Talat Pasha.
Just published
The Mediterranean Other - The other Mediterranean
ed. by Medardus Brehl, Andreas Eckl and Kristin Platt
Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink/Ferdinand Schöningh 2019
Today, we particularly encounter the Mediterranean Other in the “refugee”. Scientific, political and public discourses on the Mediterranean are - continuously or most recently? - determined by hegemonial perspectives.
Considering other perceptions, interpretations and representations seems to be impossible in light of financial crises, the new South, blurring borders and unclear securities. The contributions in this volume dispute this form of thinking. The research papers do not only encourage the reader to critically examine current political developments. They also provide a framework for Mediterranean minorities, nongovernmental groups and diasporas in search of their own voice.
With contributions by Cristina Balma Tivola, Julia Blandfort, Paolo Giaccaria, Shlomo Lotan, Anna Piotrowska, Kristin Platt, Christopher Schliephake, Paul Silverstein, Anna Tozzi Di Marco, Felix Wiedemann.
Journal for Genocide Studies, Vol. 16, 2, 2018
Special Issue: Ordinary Organizations? Systems Theoretical Approaches in Holocaust Studies. A Debate
Articles by:
Nicole Holzhauser
Markus Holzinger
Wolfgang Knöbl
Stefan Kühl
Armin Nolzen
Currently published in the Institutes series: "Genozid und Gedächtnis" / "Genocide and Memory"
The Disasters of War. Perceptions and Representations from 1914 to the Present,
ed. by Steffen Bruendel and Frank Estelmann, Paderborn: Wilhelm Fink 2019
About the book:
"Generations after war and violence the experiences are engraved in memories and influence individual and collective attitudes toward political and social conflicts.
The contributions collected in this volume concentrate on the complex interrelationships between war and its perception and representation. They examine events and cultural testimonies related to World War I, its aftermath, as well as to other violent conflicts in the 20th century. The contributions interrogate the concept of nation, challenge the implications of modern warfare, and discuss political agencies in the media and the arts with regard to soldiers, veterans and war memorials. This volume focuses on how war and violence is culturally processed and reveals astonishing examples of the after effects from 1914 to the present."
Out now:
Wichert, Lasse: Personale Mythen des Nationalsozialismus. Die Gestaltung des Einzelnen in literarischen Entwürfen, München: Wilhelm Fink 2018, ISBN: 978-3-7705-6342-5, 19 s/w Abbildungen. 628 Seiten.
Mars, Jupiter, Jena. Zur politischen Poetik des Zukunftsromans
Workshop.
Research project:
Der verdichtete Raum. Sprache, Text und weltanschauliches Wissen in deutschsprachigen Zukunftsromanen der 1920er und 1930er Jahre
funded by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation
April 12th/13th, 2018. Venue: Beckmanns Hof/Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Directors: Dr. Kristin Platt, Prof. Dr. Monika Schmitz-Emans
- Workshop »Mars, Jupiter, Jena«_Save the date
- Workshop »Mars, Jupiter, Jena« - Programme and abstracts
Dr. Kristin Platt: "The 'Violent Situation'. On participating in collective violence"
Presentation in the course of the lecture series "Political Violence in the 21st Century".
Now as podcast on "L.I.S.A. - Das Wissenschaftsportal der Gerda Henkel Stiftung".
Lecture Series in the Winter Term 2017/18
Flüssige Moderne. Weiter-Denken mit Zygmunt Bauman / Liquid Modernity. Thinking forward with Zygmunt Bauman
Thursday, 4:00 p.m. in H-GA 30. Start: October 17th, 2017.
Summer School, 4th to 7th October 2017
Moderne - Ordnung - Gewalt: (Weiter)Denken mit Zygmunt Bauman
4. bis 07. Oktober 2017
Prof. Dr. Mihran Dabag, Dr. Kristin Platt, Dr. Medardus Brehl
Lecturers: Prof. Dr. Ruth Großmaß (Berlin/Bielefeld), Prof. Dr. Peter Imbusch (Wuppertal), Prof. Dr. Koloma Beck (München), Prof. Dr. Thomas Kron (Aachen)
Podcasts and videos
