In the fourth TraCe Working Paper „Transformations in Genocide Discourse: Paths and Politics of Recognizing Colonial Genocides“ authors Sally Ghattas, Sabine Mannitz, A. Dirk Moses, and Núrel Bahí Reitz focus on the changing discourse and unfolding politics of redress surrounding mass crimes committed during colonization processes. After decades of silencing the violence inherent in colonialism and its lasting consequences, whether within post-colonial states, settler colonial states or in international relations, recent years have witnessed acknowledgements of colonial atrocities as genocide. Truth commissions were established, e.g. in Canada and the Nordic countries, to uncover the Indigenous populations’ dispossession, displacement, cultural oppression, enslavement, and the destruction of their livelihood conditions in the wake of colonization. The critical study of colonialism, furthermore, has raised the question whether settler colonialism should not be characterized as an inherently genocidal project. This idea has created controversies: the UN Convention for the prevention of genocide was developed only after World War II and – in the interest of some signatory states – it follows a very narrow understanding of what constitutes genocide. In spite of the legalistic strife, certain political developments can be observed towards addressing colonial atrocities as genocidal crimes, within limits.
The authors present drivers and paths of these discursive as well as political practice transformations in dealing with colonial violence. They draw on their own research in the cases of Australia, Canada, and Namibia to address the issue. The working paper’s goal is to follow said changes with an eye to their meaning for the broader aim of overcoming systemic violence, indifference, and injustice in (post-)colonial settings.
Sabine Mannitz and Núrel Bahí Reitz will promote the TraCe Working Paper at the closing conference of the research unit ‘Hamburg's (post-)colonial heritage’ (program mostly in German). On November 15, 2024, they speak about participation in postcolonial reconciliation processes.
The working paper is available for download (PDF).