"A Problem From Hell"
                                 America and the Age of Genocide

Introduction

This project is influenced by the Pulitzer Prize winning book, "A Problem From Hell," America and the Age of Genocide.  In this book, Samantha Power describes the most horrific genocides of the 20th century; and tries to document, understand and give explanation to why America was so unresponsive to help those groups of people being annihilated by their killers.

This project will attempt to encourage you to get a greater understanding: of genocide; the comparative study of genocide; and of how and why the United States turned away from the worst massacres (genocides) in the 20th century.

The Task

The class will break up into 7 groups. Each group will study in detail, an individual ethnic group that suffered genocide in the 20th century.

                                                        Group 4:  Tutsis

                                                        Group 5: Cambodians

                                                        Group 6: Kurds

                                                        Group 7: Darfur region people of Sudan

Each group will research and answer the following questions about each ethnic group's experience with genocide.

1. what is genocide?  what does the Genocide Convention of 1948 say?
2. who was the group, you are studying, that the genocide was directed against?
3. who was responsible for the genocide?
4. where and when did the genocide take place?
5. what was the position of the victims in society, including economic role, race, religion, etc.
6. what was the economic situation of the country?
7. what was the political structure and or form of government?
8. what was the genocide about?  what happened?
9. what was the world response to the genocide including any action
   taken against the perpetrators of the action?
10. what was the United States reaction to the genocide?
11. why did America fail to stop the genocide?
12. what do you think the United States reaction should have been?
13. how did the genocide end?
14. were the perpetrators brought to justice? If so how?
15. was anything done to help the families or communities of victims? If so, what?
16. was their a transmission of trauma in succeeding generations due to the injury done to the original victims?
17. compare the three genocides you worked on with each other; if you didn't study the holocaust in your set initially, compare the three genocides you worked on with the holocaust
18. what can be done to prevent future genocides; and how can genocides be stopped once they have begun?

Each group will orally present their ideas and work. Each individual in the group will give an oral presentation that covers his or her contribution to the total project work.  The oral presentations should be about 5 minutes in length. The group should create a PowerPoint presentation or a website to assist and support the speakers' presentations. The group will get a group grade for the oral presentation part of the grade.  Oral presentations will begin Monday, May 22, 2006.  The research for the project will be done in school and at home.

Written Work:

In addition to the oral presentation work (group grade), each person will individually write a 1,000 word essay on the total genocide experience that the group researched. You must document your work. You must have footnotes or internal parentheses notations and include a Works Cited Page. Include at least 7 footnotes in your paper but no more than 10 footnotes. If you don't footnote your paper, there will be a 35 point penalty. The written part of the project will get an individual grade rather than a group grade. Plagiarism will result in a failing grade. The genocide paper is due Friday, May 26, 2006.  A 5 point penalty will be deducted each day the paper is late.
You may not cite encyclopedias or textbooks!  You must use scholarly historical books in one-half of your footnotes!

http://www.calstatela.edu/library/guides/3apa.pdf -
 APA Stylesheet

                                                                                                        Armenians in the Ottoman Empire being marched to a prison in 1915.
                                                                                                    
                                                      

In Cambodia, a Middle-Classless Society

The Rwanda Witness

Turks Breach Wall of Silence on Armenians

A handout that provides the bibliography to Samantha Power's book, "A Problem From Hell," America and the Age of Genocide, will be provided to each student.  This list of sources should be very helpful in your research work.

Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Prevent Genocide International

Genocide: Resources for Teaching and Research

Web Genocide Documentation Centre

Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies

Facing History and Ourselves

Armenian Genocide/Facing History and Ourselves

History of War in Bosnia and other resources about Bosnia and Kosovo