Soc. Sci. 2016, 5(3), 31; doi:10.3390/socsci5030031
Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event: A New Tool for Assembling More Objective Data and Classifying Events of Mass Killing
Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide, POB 10311, 91102 Jerusalem, Israel
Academic Editor: Lisa Hajjar
Received: 13 April 2016 / Revised: 24 June 2016 / Accepted: 29 June 2016 / Published: 19 July 2016
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Abstract
A new tool is presented for facilitating greater objectivity in the chaotic field of genocide studies: first, assembling the available factual data about any event of mass murder systematically; second, contextualizing each of our judgments of the nature of the crime as a choice being made by a given scholar or institution (e.g., a specific court), but not as “God’s word.” The Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event is believed to be innovative in several ways: (1) This model presents researchers with a methodology for developing systematic, extensive and objective information about many different aspects of an event of mass killing; (2) Emphasis is placed on identifying each researcher’s guiding concept of genocide; (3) The proposed methodology purposely postpones any effort at classification—including whether an event constitutes “genocide”—until after factual data have been assembled; (4) Categorization of an event is also to be understood as an act of judgment by each researcher, not as scientifically established truth; (5) It is also to be understood that classification in the language of social sciences is different than legal classifications that in turn also are to be understood as based on whatever specific code of law. View Full-TextKeywords:
genocide and mass killing; genocide perpetrators, accomplices and victims; law and genocide; genocide definition; genocide researcher subjectivity
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. (CC BY 4.0).
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Charny, I.W. Worksheet for Describing and Categorizing a Genocidal Event: A New Tool for Assembling More Objective Data and Classifying Events of Mass Killing. Soc. Sci. 2016, 5, 31.
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