This is an archived course. A more recent version may be available at ocw.mit.edu.

Lecture Notes

Please note that there are no lecture notes for the final portion of the course as class sessions focused on discussion and debate.

LEC # TOPICS
Part 1: Theories of Violence and the Problem of Rationality
1 Section 1: Introduction to the Debate (PDF)
2-3 Section 2: Theoretical Foundations: Crowds, Ritual or Demonic Males? (PDF)
4-5 Section 3: Political Violence, the State, and Theoretical Controversies (PDF)
Part 2: Conceptions of Rights, Rationality and Relativism
6-7 Section 4: Rights Talk in Western Culture: Whose Rights, Whose Rationality? (PDF)
8-9 Section 5: Debating Universalism versus Cultural Relativism: How Is the Notion of Culture Discussed?
10-11 Section 6: The Spectacle of Torture: Violence, State Security, and the Perpetrator (PDF 1) (PDF 2)
Part 3: Dilemmas of Postmodern Violence: State-Sponsored, Collective, or Interpersonal?
12-13 Section 7: Genocide-The Inconceivable? (PDF)
14-15 Section 8: The Problem of Sex and Gender Violence in Political Crises: "Ethnic Cleansing" or Interpersonal Crime? (PDF 1) (PDF 2)
Part 4: From Violence and Trauma to Justice
16-17 Section 9: Argentina's Dirty War (PDF 1) (PDF 2)
18-20 Section 10: Rwanda: Genocide Revisited (PDF)
Part 5: The Politics of Memory, Victimization, and Reparations in "Transitional" Societies
21-24 Section 11: South Africa: Truth Commissions, Trials, Trauma, and Transitions to Democracy
25 Section 12: Haiti: Human Rights, Justice, and Humanitarian Assistance
Conclusions and Concerns