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Call for Applications Theme: Teaching Mass Atrocity Subtitle: The Holocaust, Genocide, and Justice Type: 2020 Curt C. and Else Silberman Faculty Seminar Institution: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) Location: Washington, DC (USA) Date: 1.–12.6.2020 Deadline: 13.3.2020 __________________________________________________ The 2020 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar for Faculty will bring the study of the Holocaust into conversation with studies in the field of genocide and international justice for the purposes of opening up an informed dialogue among scholars across disciplines, who utilize a range of approaches and methodologies in their classrooms. As a starting point, the Seminar will introduce pedagogical tools for teaching the history of the development of the concept of genocide with a close look at Raphael Lemkin’s coining of the term, the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials, as well as the approval of the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in 1948. Building on this framework, the Seminar leaders will facilitate discussions across disciplinary boundaries on how to address common themes relating to Holocaust and Genocide Studies — such as “othering,” violence, atrocity, justice, and restitution. In doing so, we will introduce a range of pedagogical methods, course design approaches, and assignment development tools intended to help participants think through how to introduce these complex topics into their classrooms. At the same time, the seminar leaders will be careful to problematize the various approaches to teaching this history within the separate — though interconnected — fields of Holocaust and Genocide Studies. The 2020 Curt C. and Else Silberman Seminar is designed to help faculty, instructors, and advanced PhD students who are currently teaching or preparing to teach courses that focus on or have a curricular component relating to Holocaust and Genocide Studies. Applications are welcome from instructors across academic disciplines including but not limited to: language studies, film studies, war studies, displaced people and refugee studies, human rights, genocide studies, anthropology, sociology, psychology, history, literature, and international law. We also particularly welcome scholars who teach courses with a global, comparative, or transnational approach. Over the course of the Seminar, participants will be introduced to sources in the Museum’s film, oral history, testimony, recorded sound, archival, and photography collections, as well as the International Tracing Service Digital Archive. Participants will also have time to tour the Museum’s permanent exhibit and special exhibitions. Additionally, participants will meet staff scholars who work on the Holocaust as well as experts from the Museum’s Simon-Skjodt Center for Genocide Prevention. This year’s Silberman Seminar will take place from June 1 to 12, 2020 at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. It will be led by Dr. Douglas Irvin-Erickson, Assistant Professor and Director of the Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program at George Mason University, and Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, Leon Levine Distinguished Professorship of Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies, Appalachian State University. Dr. Douglas Irvin-Erickson is Assistant Professor and Director of the Lemkin Genocide Prevention Program at George Mason University School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution. He has worked in the field of genocide studies and mass atrocity prevention in DR Congo, Burundi, Cambodia, Myanmar, Ukraine, and Argentina. He is the author of books, chapters, and articles on genocide, religion, and violence; human security; international criminal law; and political theory. His first book is titled Raphaël Lemkin and the Concept of Genocide (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017), and he is currently writing a second book on global successes of prevention. Professor Irvin-Erickson is a Senior Fellow with the Alliance for Peacebuilding, a Board Member of the Institute for the Study of Genocide, and a member of the editorial board of Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal. He holds a Ph.D. in Global Affairs and an M.A. in English Literature from Rutgers University in Newark, NJ. Dr. Thomas Pegelow Kaplan is the Leon Levine Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies as well as Professor of History at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. A Holocaust scholar and German historian by training, his larger scholarly agenda aims at a cultural and linguistic history of genocidal violence in the modern world. He has taught at UNC-Chapel Hill, Grinnell College, Davidson College, and De La Salle University in Manila, Philippines. Professor Pegelow Kaplan has held research fellowships at numerous institutions in North America, Germany, and Israel, including the Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the USHMM, the Center for Research on Anti-Semitism at the Technical University of Berlin, and Yad Vashem's International Institute for Holocaust Research in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Language of Nazi Genocide: Linguistic Violence and the Struggle of Germans of Jewish Ancestry (2011) and co-editor of Beyond 'Ordinary Men': Christopher R. Browning and Holocaust Historiography (2019) and Petitions Resisting Persecution: Negotiating Self-Determination and Survival of European Jews during the Holocaust (2020). Professor Pegelow Kaplan's forthcoming books include Naming Genocide: Protesters, Imageries of Mass Murder, and the Remaking of Memory in West Germany and the United States and Taking the Transnational Turn in the Face of Nazi Persecution: German Jewish Periodicals and Communication beyond German Borders, 1933-1943. Seminar applicants can be at any career stage but must be teaching or anticipate teaching relevant courses at accredited institutions in North America, including colleges, universities, and community colleges. Applications must include: (1) curriculum vitae; (2) a statement of the candidate’s specific interest in strengthening their background in Holocaust and Genocide Studies for the purpose of teaching; and (3) a letter of support from a dissertation advisor, departmental chair, or dean addressing the candidate’s qualifications and the institution’s commitment to Holocaust and Genocide-related education. A preliminary draft syllabus of a Holocaust and/or Genocide Studies course that the candidate has taught or anticipates teaching should also be included in the application. How to Apply Seminar applicants can be at any career stage but must be teaching or anticipate teaching relevant courses at accredited institutions in North America, including colleges, universities, and community colleges. Applications must include: (1) curriculum vitae; (2) a statement of the candidate’s specific interest in strengthening their background in Holocaust and Genocide Studies for the purpose of teaching; and (3) a letter of support from a dissertation advisor, departmental chair, or dean addressing the candidate’s qualifications and the institution’s commitment to Holocaust and Genocide-related education. A preliminary draft syllabus of a Holocaust and/or Genocide Studies course that the candidate has taught or anticipates teaching should also be included in the application. Participants must commit to attend the entire Seminar. After the conclusion of the seminar, participants will be expected to submit a preliminary version of a revised syllabus. The Seminar will include time for participants to revise their syllabi as appropriate and include Museum resources, academic materials, and other relevant sources introduced and discussed during the Seminar. For non-local participants, the Mandel Center will defray the cost of (1) direct travel to and from the participant’s home institution and Washington, DC, and (2) lodging for the duration of the Seminar. Incidentals, meals, and book expenses must be defrayed by the candidates or their respective institutions. Applications must be received in electronic form no later than Friday, March 13, 2020. The application form is available here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScdPmuPJQIXCK-PcxTKSh7Cl12K1sMRye9WIXPvWG8KaLsx9Q/viewform Letters of support may be uploaded electronically or sent directly to Dr. Katharine White at: kwh...@ushmm.org Admission will be determined without regard to race, color, religion, sex (sexual orientation or gender identity), national origin, age, disability, genetic information or reprisal. The Museum also prohibits any form of workplace discrimination or harassment. The Curt C. and Else Silberman Foundation endowed the Silberman Seminar for University Faculty in memory of Curt C. and Else Silberman. The Foundation supports programs in higher education that promote, protect, and strengthen Jewish values in democracy, human rights, ethical leadership, and cultural pluralism. The full CfA and the application form are available on the USHMM website: https://www.ushmm.org/research/opportunities-for-academics/faculty-seminars/silberman/2020-curt-c.-and-else-silberman-faculty-seminar __________________________________________________ InterPhil List Administration: https://interphil.polylog.org InterPhil List Archive: https://www.mail-archive.com/interphil@list.polylog.org/ __________________________________________________
