U. of Southern California Creates New Center for Genocide Research

Several universities have made a specialty of studying genocide. Yale founded a program devoted to the topic in 1998. Clark, in Worcester, Mass., offers Ph.D.’s in Holocaust history and genocide studies. Now the University of Southern California wants to create a West Coast hub of genocide scholarship.

The university on Friday announced the formation of a new Center for Advanced Genocide Research. The center will function as the research arm of the USC Shoah Foundation, known for its enormous archive of video testimony from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides.

The center will study the origins of mass violence, as well as how to intervene against it. Interdisciplinary research there will focus on three themes: resistance to genocide; how genocide affects emotional, psychological, and other behavior; and how technology can mine data to find patterns in violence and resistance. The university is looking to add faculty members steeped in those topics. The center also plans to offer conferences and fellowships. Its director will be Wolf Gruner, a professor of history at USC.