Speaker:
Prof. Dirk Moses, City College of New York

Moderation:
Prof. Dr. Pavel Kolář

In cooperation with the Dr. K. H. Eberle Research Centre "European Cultures in a Multipolar World"

Scholars of genocide and ethnic violence have long sought to account for perpetrator behavior by invoking emotions, albeit from their different disciplinary standpoints. They also point to a variety of relevant emotions — hate, resentment, anger, fear, and paranoia, for instance. If a plausible account of genocidal emotions needs to satisfy neuroscientists, however, how can resentment — as opposed to fear — be tracked with scans of the brain and its neural processes? Indeed, others question the adequacy of the scientific study of non-intentional states by pointing to the irreducible presence of human cognition and culture in generating intense affects. In this paper, I engage in the conversation between these approaches and, perhaps improbably, suggest a way of reconciling them by theorizing the transmission (contagion) of the traumatic experiences to co-nationals that subtend genocidal projects in the stories they tell about their group past. I call this phenomenon “the terror of history.” 

Zoom-Link
Meeting-ID: 915 3170 7702

Contact: zkf@uni-konstanz.de