Cohen Center’s Genocide Awareness Lecture Open to Public
Distinguished Professor and Author Discusses Rape, Religion and Genocide
Keene State College’s Cohen Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies is presenting its 2013 Genocide Awareness Lecture. This year’s lecture will be presented by Dr. Carol Rittner, RSM, Distinguished Professor of Holocaust Studies at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. She is the author and editor of numerous publications, and a member of the Mid-Atlantic Community of the Sisters of Mercy.
Dr. Rittner will discuss ways in which sexualized violence is used in war and genocide. These dimensions of war often go unrecognized – awareness is an important component to understanding and preventing genocide. “Sexual violence, especially against women and girls, is increasingly used as a weapon in war in much the same way that men use guns – to maim, murder, and destroy women and girls. Such violence against women and girls, and increasingly even against men, unfortunately, has become commonplace,” said Dr. Rittner.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
When: Wednesday, March 6, 2013 at 7 p.m.
Where: Mabel Brown Room, Lloyd P. Young Student Center at Keene State College
The Cohen Center will present the Susan J. Herman Award for Leadership in Holocaust and Genocide Awareness prior to the lecture. The Herman award is presented annually in two categories, one that honors a student at Keene State College and another to an individual or group who has made a difference through acts of leadership and personal commitment in our immediate or neighboring communities to address genocide around the world. This year’s recipients are Matthew Parkes, Keene State senior and president of Zeta Chi Rho, the first honor society for Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Professor Eric Reeves of Smith College in Northampton for his work in alerting the world to the genocide in Darfur. He has spent the past fourteen years working as a Sudan researcher and analyst; testified a number of times before the Congress and has widely lectured about this subject.
