Vortragende Person/Vortragende Personen:
Prof. Dirk Moses, City College of New York

Moderation:
Prof. Dr. Pavel Kolář

In Kooperation mit dem Dr. K. H. Eberle-Forschungszentrum „Kulturen Europas in einer multipolaren Welt“

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

Kontakt: zkf@uni-konstanz.de