ONLINE: A Zoom invitation link will be sent one day before class begins.
What do nations owe themselves and others when they have committed great atrocities in the recent past? What should we expect of governments by way of acknowledgement or reparations to address past sins? These questions focus on how we can or should deal with the past, and what we can learn from the past. We will look at the very divergent ways that nations such as Germany (formerly West and East), Japan, Russia, Poland, France, Canada, and the United States have confronted (or not) serious wrong-doing, and the way that present-minded agendas help to shape these responses. As James Baldwin commented, “Not everything that is faced can be changed, but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” Gene Homel has taught history and politics since 1973 at universities and colleges in Ontario and British Columbia. He holds a master’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto and has written and presented extensively on history and culture.
