History 138A -- Ethnic Cleansing in Modern Europe
Stanford University, Summer Quarter, 2002-03
MW 10-11:15am, Room 200-202
Instructor: Dusan Djordjevich (dusan@stanford.edu)
Office hours: Rm 200-23, T 10-11:30, W 2-3, or by appt.

Topics :

The ideological origins and actual practices of efforts to remove communities from a given territory. Case material drawn primarily from 20th-century Europe, with some comparisons to pre-modern and non-European history. Various approaches to the interdisciplinary study of conflict in multiethnic societies. International reactions; memories and legacies.

Requirements :

1. Class participation (25% of final grade)
2. Take-home midterm (35%)
3. Final essay (40%)

1. Class participation : Students are expected to participate actively in class discussion. As a means to this end, you are asked to submit a brief response to one or more of the assigned readings via email by 9:00am each Wednesday before class. These pieces need not be long (one paragraph is fine, though you may write more if you wish), or polished. They should simply set out your reactions to the reading(s), and identify a few points that you would like to see discussed. Once or twice during the term, each student will be asked to lead off the section with a brief (5-7 minute) presentation of questions and issues raised by that week's reading. (You need not submit a response paper on the days you are introducing a reading.) If more than half of your response papers are graded "check-plus," this will raise your final grade by 1/3, e.g. from B+ to A-. (If more than half receive a "check," they will have no effect on your grade.)
2. Take-home midterm : This will consist of short essay questions, handed out several days before answers are due, based on readings and lectures from the first half of the term. Answers are due at the beginning of class on Monday, July 28.
3. Final essay : Each student will choose a book, in addition to the required readings, from a list to be provided by the instructor. (Students may seek the instructor's approval to write on a book not on the list). The final essay (approx. 6-9 pp.), will be an analytical review of the book in light of issues covered in the course readings and lectures. Please note that the book should be chosen by Monday, July 21. The paper is due by 5pm on Saturday, August 16, the second (and last) day of final exams. More information on the paper will be provided later.

Late papers :

Final papers will suffer a grade penalty of 1/3 point per day (e.g., an A- paper will receive a B+ if it's one day late, a B if it's 2 days late, etc.). Late midterms will not be accepted. Exceptions only in the case of serious medical or other hardship, documented and discussed with the instructor in a timely fashion.

Readings :

Norman M. Naimark, Fires of Hatred: Ethnic Cleansing in Twentieth-Century Europe (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2001) is available for purchase at the Bookstore. Additional readings will be in a course reader, or handed out in class until the reader is ready. They will also be available on reserve at Green Library.

Schedule :
Click on a week to see the reading assignments.

1) 26 June -- Introduction

2) 30 June, 2 July -- Medieval religious persecution, Early modern state-building

3) 7, 9 July -- Aftermaths of empire and the unmixing of peoples

4) 14, 16 July -- The New Europe, 1918-39

5) 21, 23 July -- World War II
-- Book selection due by Monday, July 21st
-- Midterm questions handed out on Wed., July 23rd

6) 28, 30 July -- The new New Europe; Yugoslavia
-- Midterms due in class by 10am on Monday, July 28th

7) 4, 6 August -- Explaining ethnic cleansing

8) 11, 13 August -- International responses, Looking to the future
-- Final papers due in class by 5pm on Saturday, August 16th