Genocide: Toward a Functional Definition

Churchill, Ward

doi:10.1177/030437548601100304

Cited by 13 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…In order to argue that the Holocaust is unique, or to predict and prevent genocide, many researchers emphasize that intent is the key criterion in comparing events (e.g., Chalk and Jonassohn 1990;Dawidowicz 1981;Destexhe 1995). A minority contends that to aid victims of past genocides, comparisons of events with similar outcomes are constructive (e.g., Bischoping and Fingerhut 1996;Churchill 1986).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Opinion About Comparisons to the Holocaust

Bischoping¹,

Kalmin²

1999

Public Opinion Quarterly

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Holocaust and genocide researchers are engaged in a vigorous debate concerning the uniqueness of the Holocaust and the appropriateness of comparing this event to others. They concur, however, in criticizing comparisons to the Holocaust made by activists, characterizing these comparisons as carelessly reasoned and self-interested. We use a U.S. national survey to identify which comparisons to the Holocaust are most salient to the public. Further, we test hypotheses about possible motivations or predictors of various comparisons, including influences of education and gender on ways of knowing, effects of race and political orientation on ethnoracial comparisons, and generational differences in collective memory. We conclude that public comparisons to the Holocaust are in concordance with elements of the United Nations' definition of genocide. Comparisons to the Holocaust are best predicted by education, gender, race, and current events. These findings have important implications for Holocaust pedagogy and for our understanding of the public's role in the construction of historical accounts.One of the most vigorous disputes in Holocaust and genocide studies concerns the uniqueness of the Holocaust. To some scholars, comparisons between the Holocaust and other events are anathema, as such comparisons are said to obscure the Jewish particularity of the Holocaust, ironically perpetuating the anti-Semitism that scholarly attention to the Holocaust ought to dispel (e.g., Alexander 1994;Dawidowicz 1981;Eckhardt and Eckhardt 1980;Feingold 1981). To others, specific, theoretically motivated comparisons between the Holocaust and other genocides, ethnocides, politicides, and cases of state-organized terror are valid (Chalk and

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Public Opinion About Comparisons to the Holocaust

Bischoping¹,

Kalmin²

1999

Public Opinion Quarterly

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“…The outcome of this process for the Bakonjo-Baamba could be described as "Second Degree Ethnocide" according to Sills' 1992 model. 24 In this model, borrowed from Churchill,25 states usurp control without explicit intent but while involved in otherwise criminal activities such as waging aggressive war or territorial expropriation. Often the indigenous peoples' resistance is too weak to recover control, and the central government can negate their claims to autonomy.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Bakonjo‐Baamba and Uganda: Colonial and postcolonial integration and ethnocide

Rubongoya

1995

Studies in Conflict & Terrorism

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“…Even in the case of legal ruling (e.g., the International Criminal Court ruling that genocide was committed in the slaughter at Srebrenica but that Serbia is not to be accused of genocide) 2 is to be understood that judgments are based on the attitudes and philosophy of the persons doing the categorization. (5) It is also to be understood that classification by a researcher in the language of social sciences is different than efforts at a legal classification. The legal classifications in turn are also to be understood as based on existing codes of law that are formulated differently in the legal codes of different countries and in the international legal system, and also that like all laws, may well see future changes.…”

Section: A New Tool and Sequence For Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The wide-ranging definition then goes on to call for a "multiple classification of genocide," where a selection is made from a variety of types of genocide, each of which conveys information about the nature and extent of the killings, and is further linked to a schema for evaluating weights or gradations of the crime similar to classifications of homicide such as in the first, second or third degree [5,6]. 4 Thus, Cultural Genocide is not the same as Genocidal Massacre which is not the same as Intentional Genocide, and so on.…”

Section: Defining Genocide and The Obstacles Of Definitionalismmentioning

confidence: 99%

Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event: A New Tool for Assembling More Objective Data and Classifying Events of Mass Killing

Charny¹

2016

Social Sciences

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A new tool is presented for facilitating greater objectivity in the chaotic field of genocide studies: first, assembling the available factual data about any event of mass murder systematically; second, contextualizing each of our judgments of the nature of the crime as a choice being made by a given scholar or institution (e.g., a specific court), but not as "God's word." The Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event is believed to be innovative in several ways: (1) This model presents researchers with a methodology for developing systematic, extensive and objective information about many different aspects of an event of mass killing; (2) Emphasis is placed on identifying each researcher's guiding concept of genocide; (3) The proposed methodology purposely postpones any effort at classification-including whether an event constitutes "genocide"-until after factual data have been assembled; (4) Categorization of an event is also to be understood as an act of judgment by each researcher, not as scientifically established truth; (5) It is also to be understood that classification in the language of social sciences is different than legal classifications that in turn also are to be understood as based on whatever specific code of law.

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Genocide: Toward a Functional Definition

Cited by 13 publications

References 3 publications

Public Opinion About Comparisons to the Holocaust

Public Opinion About Comparisons to the Holocaust

The Bakonjo‐Baamba and Uganda: Colonial and postcolonial integration and ethnocide

Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event: A New Tool for Assembling More Objective Data and Classifying Events of Mass Killing

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