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Joachim J. Savelsberg

Professor
University of Minnesota
Acknowledgment, denial and collective memories of mass atrocities: comparative perspectives
01 February 2019 - 30 June 2019
Sociology
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Joachim J. Savelsberg is a professor of sociology and law and holder of the Arsham and Charlotte Ohanessian Chair, University of Minnesota. He held visiting professorships or fellowships at various universities and institutes, including Harvard, Humboldt (Berlin), John Hopkins, Karl Franzens (Graz), Ludwig-Maximilian (München), Käte Hamburger Center for Advanced Study (Bonn), and Rockefeller Bellagio Center. His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Volkswagen Foundation. Publications include Representing Mass Violence: Conflicting Responses to Human Rights Violations in Darfur (University of California Press, 2015); American Memories: Atrocities and the Law (with R.D. King; Russell Sage Foundation, 2011).

Research interests

Sociology of law and punishment; criminology; human rights violations and responses; sociology of knowledge; collective memory and representations, especially of mass violence, as processed by judicial institutions; comparative sociology and globalization.

Acknowledgment, denial and collective memories of mass atrocities: comparative perspectives

I plan to write a book on the sociology of genocide knowledge. I do so in an era in which institution-building in response to mass atrocities collides with denial. This denial is at times strategically planned in response to acknowledgment and supported by a calculated reluctance to intervene. The project thus explores struggles between acknowledgment and denial, and their impact on how societies and societal groups know about genocides, how they classify, collectively represent and remember them. It attends to social interactions, carrier groups, symbols and rituals, power relations, social fields and institutional contexts in which struggles are carried out. Exploring these themes for the Armenian genocide, I have collected and analyzed law texts, legislative records, media reports, archival data, and documentary films and conducted interviews. I will devote special attention to French legislation pertaining to the memory of the Armenian genocide and to related Swiss and US court cases. I hope to explore options for comparative analysis in communication with colleagues across national and continental divides and across disciplinary boundaries in anthropology, the humanities and the arts (on representations, narratives and memories); history (shaping of historical accounts); political science (political processes); and law (legal texts and contexts).

Round table organized by J. J. Savelsberg and H. Seckinelgin, 2018-2019 Paris IAS fellows
13 Jun 2019 18:00 -
13 Jun 2019 20:00,
Paris :
Recognition Versus Denial of Genocide: Art Films, Documentaries, and Graphic Novels
24 May 2019 14:00 -
24 May 2019 17:00,
Paris :
Representations of Mass Violence in Darfur: Inter-field and Inter-national Comparisons
Colloquium organized by M. Jonik, 2018-2019 Paris IAS fellow
22 May 2019 10:00 -
22 May 2019 18:00,
Paris :
Risk, Violence, and Collective Agency
Workshop organized by J. J. Savelsberg and H. Seckinelgin, 2018-2019 Paris IAS fellows
03 Apr 2019 09:30 -
03 Apr 2019 13:00,
Paris :
Genocide and Collective Memory: Social Science of the Armenian case and beyond
Joachim J. Savelsberg presents his research project within the framework of the weekly internal seminar
02 Apr 2019 10:00 -
02 Apr 2019 13:00,
Paris :
Acknowledgment, denial and collective memories of mass atrocities: comparative perspectives
Research project: Acknowledgment, denial and collective memories of mass atrocities: comparative perspectives
18038
2018-2019
Contemporary period (1789-…)
World or no region