Settlers and Natives

This course is designed to introduce the student to key debates in the study of societies marked by the centrality of settler-native relations: We shall focus on four key debates: (a) how to conceptualize extreme violence, as criminal or political; (b) the relationship of perpetrators to beneficiaries; (c) the significance of human rights institutions, from the Nuremberg Court to the International Criminal Court to the question of decolonization: and (d) the making of a political community of survivors after catastrophe. The class will be organized around several case studies: (a) Ireland; (b) the Americas; (c) Haiti; (d) Australia; (e) the Nuremberg Court; (f) South Africa; and (g) Israel / Palestine.