Print 2018 Annual ReporTTable of Contents
- Message from Co-Directors
- New Staff
- Practitioners-in-Residence Program
- National Mechanisms for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes
- Academic Developments
- Developing and Expanding International Partnerships
- Spotlight on I-GMAP Supported Research Projects
- Expanded Space
- Focus on Women and Girls
- Co-Directors in the News
- Frontiers of Prevention Annual Conference
- I-GMAP External Advisory Board
- Opportunities to Support I-GMAP
- Contact Us
MESSAGE FROM CO-DIRECTORS
We are pleased to share with you the 2018 Annual Report of the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP) at Binghamton University. Our second year of operations has seen significant progress across the full range of the Institute’s activities, and we are excited to share with you information about the many programs and initiatives that I-GMAP has launched over the past year as well as new programs in development and our plans for future activities.
With conflicts occurring across the planet, our work is more important now than ever. Continued violence from Yemen and Syria to Myanmar and the Northern Triangle of Central America is resulting in large scale displacement, starvation, and murder of civilians. The rhetoric of intolerance, hate and violent repression is disturbingly part of the policy platforms of several current and incoming elected officials. The international community has been slow to act and millions of people are currently under threat of sustained violence. At the same time, there are promising signs within some countries and on an international level, and a growing strength of commitment among prevention scholars and practitioners. It is the mission of the Institute to work across disciplines, to construct bridges with areas of practice around the globe, and to enhance individual and institutional understanding, commitment, and capacity to prevent genocide and mass atrocity.
It has been an exceptionally busy year as the Institute launches or prepares its full range of undergraduate and graduate degrees and programs, expands its research and public outreach and advocacy efforts, and continues to build and expand a global network of academic, NGO and governmental partnerships. In this Annual Report, you will find further details on the following:
- New staff at I-GMAP
- Academic program developments
- An expanded Practitioner-in-Residence program
- Conference success
- New projects
In 2019, we look forward to building upon the progress of the past year and, in conjunction with our many partners, to expand our impact throughout the State University of New York system, across the United States, and around the world. We hope you find this report informative. Please feel to contact either of us at any time with ideas and suggestions. Thank you for your continued support of this vitally important work.
Max Pensky, co-director of I-GMAP, professor of philosophy
Nadia Rubaii, co-director of I-GMAP, professor of public administration
NEW STAFF
I-GMAP Welcomes Its New Assistant Director Stephen Capobianco
As I-GMAP’s new assistant director, Stephen will assist the co-directors with all aspects of the range of programs and initiatives of the Institute, including development and implementation of a comprehensive fundraising and grant strategy for the Institute, and providing our website with a much-needed facelift. He will also take a leadership role in two of the Institute’s most important upcoming projects. Stephen will oversee the transition of the publication series National Mechanisms for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes from the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation to I-GMAP, and will assume directorship of the publication series as one of the Institute’s core research programs. Additionally, Stephen will coordinate and direct field placements and experiential learning both for the Institute’s soon-to-launch professional master’s degree in genocide and mass atrocity prevention, and its existing undergraduate minor. [Details elsewhere in the Report.]
Kerry Whigham, I-GMAP Post-Doctoral Research and Teaching Fellow for 2018-2019
Kerry also continues his extensive work with the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, where he is currently the Academic Programs Officer for Online Education, and the International Association of Genocide Scholars, where he serves on the Executive Board as the organization’s communications officer.
Over the past semester, Kerry has been working on completing the manuscript for his
first book, Resonant Violence: Affect, Memory, and Activism in Post-Genocidal Societies.
The book examines genocidal violence as a practice that continues to manifest in social,
structural, and institutional forms, even after the physical killing of groups comes
to an end. It brings performance studies theory, centered on the embodied practices
of individuals and groups as a means of knowledge transmission and political subjectivization,
together with genocide and transition studies to frame
memory practices and grassroots activism as a bottom-up mode for transforming this
violence in a way that makes the recurrence of identity-based violence less likely.
In the Spring Semester of 2019, Kerry will offer a course entitled “Building Public Memory: The Transformation of Post-Atrocity Societies from Grassroots to Government,” which examines the role that memory of past violence can play in the prevention of identity-based conflict, genocide, and other mass atrocities. •
Sebastián Líppez de Castro, Doctoral Assistant for 2018-2019
In addition to supporting several I-GMAP programs such as Practitioners-In-Residence, Curriculum Development Awards, and developing grant proposals; Sebastián has collaborated alongside I-GMAP Co-Director Nadia Rubaii and Professor Susan Appe in developing a framework that explains the need for applying an atrocity prevention lens in public affairs education as well as provides alternatives for doing so across the curriculum. Their presentations at the 2018 Conference of the Network of Schools of Public Policy, Affairs, and Administration (NASPAA), and the 2018 Conference of the Inter-American Network for Public Administration Education (INPAE) are part of that endeavor. Likewise, their forthcoming article in the journal Teaching Public Administration, titled “Administering Prevention or Administering Atrocities? Public Affairs Education in Dark Times,” is also a product of that work.
Sebastián holds a Master of Public Administration degree and is an assistant professor of political science at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, Colombia. His research interests are government decentralization and local governance processes and challenges, particularly after conflict and as tools to prevent reoccurrence. His research also includes local government management and public affairs education. Líppez-De Castro served as director of the undergraduate program in political science at Javeriana University and has taught courses on comparative local governments, 21st century governance, governmental technologies and processes, organization theory, local public management and local finance management in Colombia. •
PRACTITIONERS-IN-RESIDENCE PROGRAM
The Institute’s second year saw an expansion of our Practitioners-in-Residence Program. This highly popular program brings active atrocity prevention practitioners, drawn from a broad range of non-governmental organizations as well as national and international institutions, to Binghamton for a weeklong stay. During their residency, Practitioners in Residence meet with faculty, students, staff and university administrators to share their experiences, the work of their agencies, and their views on the prospects for improving atrocity prevention, with a particular focus on enhancing and strengthening collaborations between practitioners and the academic community. They visit multiple classes to share their experiences with both undergraduate and graduate students. Each Practitioner’s week in residence at Binghamton University concludes with a public presentation on a prevention-related topic of their choice.
In choosing practitioners to invite, the co-directors look for as broad a range as possible of different approaches, backgrounds, experiences, career trajectories, and global regions. This gives GMAP students a chance for direct and personal encounters with professionals across the full range of contemporary prevention work. It also gives the Institute a valuable opportunity to continue to build and expand its international network of NGO and government partnerships. Additionally, the practitioners come from organizations that will be prime locations for the MS in GMAP student field placements.
A quick review of the practitioners who have visited campus this past year, and the schedule for the upcoming Spring Semester 2019 visitors, provides a great look at the range and depth of experience of our campus visitors:
Spring Semester 2018
Fall Semester 2018
Spring Semester 2019 (upcoming)
Independent documentary filmmaker Talya Tibbon will visit us in February 2019, to screen and discuss her film Sky and Ground, following a Syrian family as they attempt to cross from a Greek refugee camp to Germany on foot.
Ethnomusicologist and performer Tamara Freeman visits in March 2019, to share her work on the music of the Holocaust, and the uses of music in genocide and atrocity prevention education.
Also in March, deputy executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect Savita Pawnday will visit to share her experiences and views on the future prospects of the R2P doctrine.
In early April, Joseph Sebarenzi, survivor of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, former speaker of the Rwandan Parliament, diplomat, activist and author of the widely acclaimed memoir, God Sleeps in Rwanda: A Journey of Transformation, visits I-GMAP.
Immediately following the Frontiers of Prevention conference (see details below), we will concurrently host Marlon Weichert and Clara Ramírez-Barat. Marlon is deputy federal ombudsman in Brazil’s Federal Public Ministry. In that role he has initiated searches for human remains of disappeared politicians and the opening of secret archives, the installation of memorial sites, and development of the case to pursue investigation and prosecution of crimes against humanity which took place during the military dictatorship. Clara is the director of the Auschwitz Institute’s Educational Policies Program and is working with various countries to help them adopt educational policies and corresponding primary and secondary school curriculum that promotes atrocity prevention.
The year’s roster of Practitioners-in-Residence concludes in May of 2019, when Steven Luckert, curator of the Permanent Collection at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, visits to help us mark Holocaust Remembrance Day and discusses how his curatorial work contributes to the broader field of genocide prevention.
NATIONAL MECHANISMS FOR THE PREVENTION OF GENOCIDE AND OTHER ATROCITY CRIMES
Since 2014, the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation [AIPR], I-GMAP’s principal NGO partner, has issued an annual report, “National Mechanisms for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Atrocity Crimes.” The annual publication series provides a comprehensive overview of efforts by states to adopt a new, “all-of-government” approach to atrocity prevention. This approach calls for a coordinated national strategy, in which representatives from all relevant governmental offices, agencies and ministries – including a country’s legislature, security and intelligence services, human rights offices, and others – can communicate and coordinate. The National Mechanism, often taking the form of an Office for Atrocity Prevention, forms an institutional hub where the full range of government agencies can share the work of data gathering, risk assessment and monitoring; developing and implementing training for civil servants; forming policies for the protection of vulnerable populations; and connecting with partner states to form regional and global networks.
The National Mechanisms series is an important, one-document annual review of the current global status and future prospects for this all-of-government approach, and is an important resource for UN member states as well as international, regional and national non-governmental organizations.
We are delighted to announce that beginning with the 2019 National Mechanisms report, we will begin a phased, three-year process that will transfer the report from AIPR to I-GMAP. During this transition, AIPR and I-GMAP will share responsibility for the research, composition and distribution of the report, which will relocate permanently with I-GMAP for the 2021 edition. We are very excited by this opportunity to take ownership of an influential, substantive and highly visible publication series, and see I-GMAP as an ideal new home for the series. We also envision some significant expansions of the scope of the publication, including more in-depth assessments of the outcomes of a range of national initiatives, sections on the roles of civil society actors, corporations, churches and others in the national mechanism approach, a comprehensive data collection and analysis component, and expert opinion essays from academics and practitioners.
I-GMAP’s new assistant director Stephen Capobianco will take a leading role in the transition and expansion project, which will eventually also include students in I-GMAP’s soon-to-be-launched professional master’s degree in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. •
ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENTS
New Curriculum Development Grant Program Expands I-GMAP’s Course Offerings
Thanks to a generous gift from Owen Pell ‘80, LLD ‘11, chair of the Board of Directors of the Auschwitz Institute, I-GMAP launched a new program to help develop new curriculum for Binghamton University’s current and future students.
The idea behind the program is to leverage the existing range of talent and expertise among Binghamton’s faculty to participate in building a prevention-focused curriculum of elective courses, ready for the launch of the Institute’s professional master’s degree in genocide and mass atrocity prevention. Faculty recipients of the Curriculum Development Grant receive a cash stipend. In return, grant recipients can either adapt an existing course to include a substantial focus on atrocity prevention, or design a new course. In addition, recipients participate in an annual atrocity prevention workshop led by I-GMAP staff, monthly meetings to discuss their work, and meetings with the practitioners in residence.
In this year’s first round of the Curriculum Development Grant program, we were delighted to award eight grants to faculty from three colleges, whose training, expertise and interests reflects not only the strength of the BU faculty but the remarkable scope of contemporary atrocity prevention:
- David Campbell, associate professor of Public Administration, College of Community and Public Affairs
- David Cingranelli, professor of Political Science, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
- Heather DeHaan, associate professor of History, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
- Elizabeth DiGangi, assistant professor of Anthropology, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
- Giovanna Montenegro, assistant professor of Spanish and Comparative Literature, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
- Mary Muscari, associate professor, Decker School of Nursing
- Kent Schull, associate professor of History, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
- Timothy de Smet, research assistant professor of Geology, Harpur College of Arts and Sciences
We anticipate that the Curriculum Development Grant program will continue to offer doorways into atrocity prevention work for interested BU faculty, bring enhanced value to the classroom experiences of our graduate and undergraduate GMAP students, and generate new, trans disciplinary approaches to understanding the risks and causes of atrocity violence and opening new paths to prevention. Our goal for 2019 and beyond is to expand the number and diversity of disciplines represented in this program, and to expand beyond Binghamton University to include faculty at other SUNY campuses.
For Undergraduate GMAP Students
Thanks to the generous support of Susan R. Bloom ’80 and Steven H. Bloom ’78, LHD ’10, I-GMAP will be offering scholarships to undergraduate students completing a GMAP minor, including some Binghamton University Scholars. The new Bloom Family Summer Internship in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention will support up to six undergraduate students minoring in GMAP in any given year. Students will be selected based on their academic performance and an application essay, with preference given to students in the Binghamton University Scholars program. These scholarships will provide students with an opportunity to gain experience working alongside practitioners in the field of atrocity prevention in domestic or international settings. The first student selected in summer 2019 will receive the internship support in honor of Dr. Harold Richter ’78.
Professional Master’s Degree in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention: One Step Closer to Launch
We have submitted a proposal for a new and unique professional degree, Master of Science in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, the first of its kind globally, which is currently under review on campus and is expected to soon be forwarded to Albany. Once approved by the State University of New York and the New York State Department of Education, the MS in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention will train students in the full range of genocide and mass atrocity prevention mechanisms, preparing them for professional placement in prevention-specific non-governmental organizations as well as the rapidly growing number of national and international government offices devoted to prevention.
In addition to core courses – Essentials of Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention, the Holocaust, Comparative Genocides, Transitional Justice, and International Non-Governmental Organizations – students will be able to select from a range of elective courses provided by BU faculty who have worked to adapt existing courses or introduce new courses with a prevention lens. All students will also be part of research teams on the National Mechanisms project, and will complete a capstone project intended to inform a practitioner audience.
In addition to required and elective coursework, the MS in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention will include yet another distinctive feature: students will spend roughly a semester in a field placement, where they will work directly and intensively with either a governmental or non-governmental organization focused on genocide and atrocity prevention. These semester-long field placements will be supported by a stipend from the Institute to offset the costs of transportation and living expenses, and will give students an invaluable opportunity to learn the real-world work of prevention directly from prevention practitioners, both internationally and domestically. These funded field placements are an essential design element of the professional master’s degree in that they will ensure that the selection of placements is not limited to only those organizations or countries that have resources to pay a student. Funding through I-GMAP will also ensure that all students have this vital experience, not only those who can afford to support themselves for a semester. Thanks to a donation from Owen Pell ‘80, LLD ‘11, we are able to initiate this program of funded field placements for the incoming class of students through the Pell Graduate Externship in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention. Preference for these awards will be given to students with financial need and the support with cover costs of travel and living expenses associated with the field placement. We will be working to identify additional sources of support as the program grows. •
Exciting plans being made for 2019 and beyond!
Be on the lookout for a possible hybrid GMAP MS degree for students across SUNY, the largest public university system in the United States! We are planning a SUNY-wide version of the Curricular Development Awards to expand the reach of the MS beyond the Binghamton campus. We’ll also be working on plans for a fully online version of the GMAP MS degree! This degree would be ideal for international practitioners who want to gain professional training and accreditation while remaining in their countries.
DEVELOPING AND EXPANDING INTERNATIONAL PARTNERSHIPS
On March 25 and 26, 2018, Co-Directors Max Pensky and Nadia Rubaii were guests of Ambassador Masud Bin Momen at the Bangladesh Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York City. On Sunday, March 25, they each spoke as part of the Genocide Remembrance Day, and on Monday, March 26, they joined in the celebration of National Independence Day. They also had private meetings to discuss field placement opportunities.
In March, Binghamton University President Stenger signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Universidad del Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, which formalizes a partnership between Binghamton University’s I-GMAP and Rosario’s Center for Peace and Conflict Studies which is led by Binghamton University alumni Camila De Gamboa Tapias, PhD ‘03, and Wilson Ricardo Herrera Romero, PhD ‘08. The agreement is intended to promote faculty and student exchanges, research collaborations, and joint conferences with an emphasis on mutual learning in the realms of atrocity prevention and the Colombian peace process. Among the innovative and exciting possibilities within the framework of this MOU is the possibility for students who complete an undergraduate degree in Peace and Conflict Studies at Rosario to attend Binghamton University’s MS in GMAP, to complete a field placement in the US or another country, and to return to Colombia to contribute to the long-term efforts at peace and prevention of reoccurrence of mass violence. The MOU also provides I-GMAP with a partner in identifying field placements in Colombia with civil society organizations that have established relationships with Rosario.
In September, Co-Directors Pensky and Rubaii traveled to Bogotá to meet with administrators, faculty, students and community partners of the Center for Peace and Conflict Studies. At these meetings, they met with representatives of several important NGOs, including Dejusticia, the Institute for Integrated Transitions (IFIT), and Fundación Ideas para la Paz, all of whom indicated a willingness to work with us to host master’s students in their field placements. The September trip to Colombia also involved a joint presentation by Professors Pensky, Rubaii and de Gamboa at the Higher Education Partnership: Internationalization in the Americas conference in Cartagena. At this event, they met additional potential partners from throughout the region. In a meeting facilitated by Robert Balkin, director of the Office for Latin America and the Caribbean, from SUNY’s Office of Global Affairs, we initiated the process of establishing a MOU modeled after the one with Rosario with Corporación Universitaria del Caribe (CECAR), a smaller university in Sincelejo, Colombia which has sustainable development and peace as its core mission. This partnership will open up additional field placement opportunities for students.
Representatives from both Rosario and CECAR will attend and participate in the Frontiers of Prevention II conference in April 2019. We hope that the international university partnerships we have established with Rosario and CECAR will serve as a model for partnerships with universities throughout the world. •
SPOTLIGHT ON I-GMAP-SUPPORTED RESEARCH PROJECTS
On an annual basis, I-GMAP provides grants of $3,000 to $20,000 to Binghamton University faculty to support research projects which have the potential to advance theory and practice of atrocity prevention. Proposals are evaluated by a subcommittee from the I-GMAP Faculty Advisory Committee. Priority is given to those that have the potential to disseminate their findings in both academic and practitioner circles. Below we highlight two of those projects in terms of their scope and their current status.
"Repression as Deterrence: Collecting Data on State Repression” ($5,000 Award in 2018 to Professor of Political Science Dave Clark, and then-PhD Student and I-GMAP Graduate Assistant Brendan “Skip” Mark)
The $5,000 grant from I-GMAP funded two PhD students who worked as coders (each coding about 160 hours in summer 2018) on the Repression Events Data (RED) project. The project is aimed at collecting repression events - where authorities use coercive force against citizens (whether individuals or groups) outside of normal law enforcement functions. The data so far contain 1,801 repression events in 116 countries between 1999 and 2014. Those events vary widely in who represses, and who suffers, the repressive tools states use, and the purposes of the repression; this measures all of these things. Professor Clark and his students have written an academic paper describing the data, and using them to examine what they call states’ “repertoires of repression,” that is the varying sets of repressive tools states employ against citizens. They presented the paper in Boston at the American Political Science Association (APSA) annual meeting in September. They are currently working on finalizing the paper for publication, and seeking external funding to complete the data project. To make their findings accessible to policy-makers, they will be seeking support from the Political Instability Task Force, the U.S. government-sponsored research project focused on build a comprehensive database on major domestic political conflicts leading to state failures. They will also be applying to the National Science Foundation (NSF) for support.
“Protecting Indigenous Rights as Atrocity Prevention in Latin America: Identifying Promising Practices and Developing Case Studies” ($10,000 awarded to Professor Nadia Rubaii and Assistant Professor Susan Appe)
I-GMAP Co-Director Nadia Rubaii and Susan Appe (previously at Binghamton University, now at University at Albany, SUNY), are engaged in a multi-year partnership with the Auschwitz Institute and the Latin American Network for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocity with support from an I-GMAP research grant as well as a small matching grant from the Center for Learning and Teaching for development of a multi-media case study for use in teaching.
As part of this project, professors Rubaii and Appe are working in collaboration with the focal point representatives of the countries in the region which comprise the Latin American Network. Their goal is to systematically document policies and practices of countries throughout Latin America which are intended to protect the rights of indigenous peoples as a means of preventing atrocities, to identify gaps in or obstacles to the protection of indigenous rights, and to highlight promising practices which can inform government officials in other countries as well as students studying atrocity prevention. Preliminary results of this research were presented to government officials in the region in two separate forums. On October 25-26, 2018, I-GMAP co-director Nadia Rubaii was one of the instructors at a Seminar on Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention and Protection of Indigenous Peoples in Latin America held in La Paz, Bolivia. The workshop brought together government representatives from throughout the region to learn about atrocity prevention and how they can help protect the rights of indigenous peoples in their respective countries. On November 8-9, she provided a preliminary report at the annual meeting of the focal points of the Latin American Network for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Both events were co-sponsored by the Latin American Network for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, the UN Office of the Special Advisor on Genocide, and the Stanley Foundation. The Seminar host was the Bolivian Ministry of Defense, and the Focal Point meeting host was the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic. •
EXPANDED SPACE!
As the Institute has increased its staff (thanks to support from donors and the University) and has expanded the range of programs it oversees, we have already outgrown our initial space so we are doing some renovations and repurposing, and we are expanding. I-GMAP is currently located in on the ground floor of the Bartle Library building in a suite of offices (LNG 100) that looks out on a courtyard. Our current office suite includes a receptionist/secretary/waiting area, three private offices, a student office, a small kitchen/storage area, and a small conference room where we conduct our Curriculum Development courses and other meetings. This space was adequate when we first started out as it allowed the co-directors, post-doctoral fellow, and our graduate student assistant to have work space. As we increased the number and frequency of our practitioner-in-residence visits, and with the addition of an Assistant Director, the space is no longer adequate. The graduate student office that is part of LNG 100 is being converted to a professional office, and we are getting some additional new space in LNG 89 where we will have an office for the Practitioners-in-Residence, our graduate student assistant and, most excitingly, a large group work space for the National Mechanisms project. We look forward to having this space renovated and ready for use early in the new year. •
FOCUS ON WOMEN AND GIRLS
In late 2017, after the distribution of our first Annual Report, I-GMAP received a generous donation from Ellyn Kaschak ‘65 to support research or action at the intersection of gender and atrocity prevention. While much attention has appropriately been focused on women and girls as targeted victims of atrocity crimes, our work will focus on the role of women-run NGOs in post-conflict settings as key forces in preventing reoccurrence. Working with colleagues who attended the 2018 Frontiers of Prevention conference, as well as our partners at Universidad Rosario in Bogotá, Colombia, we are developing projects designed to bring together women who have created and are leading civil society efforts in post-conflict countries. The goal is to facilitate cross-cultural dialogues among women spanning multiple regions, so that they can learn from each other and the atrocity prevention community—scholars and practitioners alike—can learn from all of them. •
Co-Directors in the News!
I-GMAP Co-Directors, Max Pensky and Nadia Rubaii, published two articles this year in the news outlet The Conversation. This news organization publishes articles from proven experts in academia from around the world on a variety of current events to share their knowledge with the broader public.
- On June 22nd, they published an article entitled, “Preventing crimes against humanity in the US”.
- In September another called, “UN reports documents genocide against Rohingya: What now?”.
- In October 2018, Max Pensky appeared as a panelist on the NPR program Global Journalist discussing “Impunity in Myanmar”.
FRONTIERS OF PREVENTION ANNUAL CONFERENCE
The Institute’s first annual conference, Frontiers of Prevention, took place at the University Downtown Center at Binghamton University on April 13-14 2018, with eleven panels and roughly forty participants over two days of conversation.
Reflecting I-GMAP’s core mission, the inaugural conference had two linked goals.
First, the panels and speakers all explored the current landscape of genocide and mass atrocity prevention. They responded to the prompts: What current practices and approaches toward predicting and mitigating the risk of atrocity violence seem most promising? How can we best assess the effectiveness of our current practices, and how can existing mechanisms be improved? What new approaches, actors, and understandings of the processes leading to atrocity crimes are emerging, and how might we evaluate the promise and potential of these new features?
Second, each panel put academic researchers in direct dialogue with non-academic prevention practitioners whether from non-governmental organizations or in government service. Instead of a “normal” academic conference, where speakers are divided along familiar disciplinary boundaries, and they present the details of their current research, panelists were encouraged to leave their “comfort zone” and dialogue with their peers in the non-academic prevention community, comparing notes and experiences, accomplishments andfrustrations. Each panel worked to challenge and cross the “frontier” between the world of academic research and the world of hands-on prevention practice.
The conference opened with a panel explicitly taking up the challenge of opening up the frontier between academics and practitioners, and featured presentations by Professor Ernesto Verdeja, from Notre Dame University’s Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, and Dr. Tibi Galis, executive director of the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation. Subsequent panels explored new and emerging prevention actors such as corporations, churches, traditional and new media; the legacies of colonialism in contemporary atrocity prevention; the future of the Responsibility to Protect; new frontiers in risk assessment and data analytics; the future of the U.S. Atrocity Prevention Board, and the roles of memorial sites and practices, domestic and international prosecution, and secondary and higher education. In addition to academics from the Americas, Europe and Australia, the panels included representatives from a range of international, national and local NGOs including the United Nations, The US Army, The Carter Center, AIPR, Jewish World Watch, the Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, Global Peace Services. The conference concluded with reflections from Bridget Conley from Tufts University and the World Peace Foundation, and Simon Adams, executive director of the Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect (and I-GMAP External Advisory Board member).
You can access the complete program for Frontiers of Prevention 2018 on our website under the “Conference” tab. •
Supporting Global South Participation in the Conference
One of the notable shortcomings of our inaugural conference was insufficient representation from countries which comprise the Global South which disproportionately experience mass atrocities. Their voices and perspectives on prevention are essential, and I-GMAP is committed to engaging them in the dialogue.
New for 2019 will be a special fund to help both academics and practitioners from the Global South travel to Binghamton for conference participation.
Mark your calendars!
FRONTIERS OF PREVENTION II
April 5-6, 2019
The response to the 2018 conference by both participants and audience members was so positive that the Institute will continue with this format in its future conferences. Frontiers of Prevention II is set for April 5-6 2019. We will once again be at the Binghamton University Downtown Center, and we will again bring academic researchers and prevention practitioners from both non-governmental organizations and government service together for two days of dialogue and shared learning. Planned panels for the 2019 event include in-depth analyses of the situation of the Rohingya minority in Myanmar; the status of the Colombian peace process; an assessment of the first 100 days of the Bolsonaro government in Brazil; new forms of non-kinetic atrocity response by the US military; an evaluation of the successes and failures of the now-concluded Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia; and a fresh look at the role of transnational corporations as atrocity prevention actors. Once again, an open call for proposals will attract both academics and non-academics from a global audience. We welcome friends and supporters of I-GMAP as participants or in the audience. We hope to see you there. •
I-GMAP EXTERNAL ADVISORY BOARD
Our External Advisory Board includes an impressive array of experts from around the world. We will count on them to: help articulate the most pressing areas of research; participate in and promote our annual conferences; identify or themselves serve as practitioners-in-residence; and partner with us in support of our mutual interests in prevention.
We are excited to welcome Jennifer M. Welsh, the Canada 150 research chair in Global Governance and Security at McGill University in Montréal, Canada, and Keith Porter, president and CEO of the Stanley Foundation to our External Advisory Board!
Links are provided to biographical information about each of them so you can appreciate their credentials:
- Simon Adams, executive director, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, New York, N.Y.
- Andrea Bartoli, dean, School of Diplomacy and International Relations, Seton Hall University, South Orange, N.J.
- Per Bergling, JD, professor, Department of Law, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden, and former national R2P Focal Point for the Government of Sweden
- Mark Freeman, executive director, Institute for Integrated Transitions, Barcelona, Spain
- Tibi Galis, executive director, Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, New York, N.Y.
- Eduardo Gonzalez, former director, Truth and Memory Program, International Center for Transitional Justice, New York, N.Y.
- Pablo de Greiff, director, Transitional Justice Program, New York University School of Law, New York, N.Y., and former United Nations special rapporteur on Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence.
- Liberata Mulamula, visiting scholar and acting director, Institute of African Studies, George Washington University, Washington, D.C. and former Tanzanian Ambassador to the United States (retired)
- William R. Pace, executive director, World Federalist Movement – Institute for Global Policy, International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect, New York, N.Y.
- Guusju Korthals Altes, ambassador, Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Triana, Albania
- Owen Pell, president, Board of Directors, Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, and partner, White & Case LLP, New York, N.Y.
- Keith Porter, president and CEO, The Stanley Foundation, Muscatine, Iowa
- James Waller, Cohen professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Keene State College, Keene, N.H. and Director of Academic Programs, Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation, New York, N.Y.
- Edward Weisband, Edward S. Diggs endowed chair in the Social Sciences, Virginia Polytechnical Institute and State University, Blacksburg, V.A.
- Jennifer M. Welsh, Canada 150 research chair in Global Governance and Security, McGill University, Montréal, Canada
We are most appreciative of the willingness of these individuals to contribute their
expertise to the success of I-GMAP.
OPPORTUNITIES TO SUPPORT THE WORK OF I-GMAP
The generous founding donation to establish the Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention has allowed us the opportunity to initiate activities in the areas described in our first Report in 2017 and in this Annual Report. Binghamton University has augmented this support from the start by providing course releases and summer salary for the co-directors, an operating budget to facilitate their travel and other operations, a doctoral student assistant, as well as considerable visibility for this initiative as a University priority. Last year, the University extended its support to also include designated space for the Institute and secretarial support. As noted in this Report, additional donors have allowed us to increase staff, student support, and programming, and the University is now recognizing these accomplishments and plans by providing us with additional space.
Our long-term success depends on our ability to secure grant funds and to generate additional support from individuals and organizations dedicated to the work of genocide and mass atrocity prevention so that the Institute’s activities are sustainable. We are appreciative of the individuals who responded to last year’s Report and made donations to help us achieve our goals. Our most immediate priorities for the coming year include developing and securing financing for:
Field Placements
- Additional GMAP Master’s Student Field Placements. Thanks to generous donations from Binghamton alumni and I-GMAP supporters Susan R. Bloom ’80, Steven H. Bloom ’78, LHD ’10, and Owen Pell 80, LLD ’11, we now have scholarships to support internships for undergraduate GMAP minors and to fund the first class of master’s students’ field placements. We need to develop additional field placement scholarships to makethis essential component of the graduate education experience sustainable. Scholarship support can be targeted to certain types of students, placements in specific countries or regions, or particular types of prevention agencies.
Conference
- An expansion of our annual conferences to allow for us to include more international participants and to cover the additional costs associated with getting to Binghamton. Our vision is of a conference that genocide prevention practitioners and scholars come to look forward to and participate in regularly. For those working in U.N.-linked NGOs in New York City, the Binghamton location will provide an opportunity to get out of the City and focus on the dialogues. But getting to Binghamton is not easy or inexpensive for international travelers, and we do not want that to be a deterrent. As noted elsewhere in the Report, our particular focus is on supporting scholars and practitioners from the Global South.
SUNY Expansion
- Outreach to students and faculty throughout the SUNY system. To expand the reach of I-GMAP and promote the integration of an atrocity prevention lens across disciplines and campuses, we seek to expand our Curriculum Development Program beyond Binghamton University to include faculty from across the state on other SUNY campuses. We also seek to develop a hybrid (mix of face-to-face and online) master’s program for students on other SUNY campuses which would allow them to complete the core courses online as provided by Binghamton, and to complete electives on their home campuses in classes taught by faculty who have participated in the GMAP Curriculum Development Program.
Online Education
- Development of a fully-online master’s program. While we expect the face-to-face master’s in Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention to be the hallmark educational program of I-GMAP, we also recognize the value of expanding our reach across a larger geographic area and to a greater number of people. To this end, we seek to develop a fully-online master’s degree targeted to civil society and government officials around the world. This program would retain many of the curricular elements as the traditional program, albeit without the field placement. Development of online course materials and instruction of online courses requires hiring staff with specialized knowledge and skills.
PiR Lemkin Fellow
- A more comprehensive Practitioner-in-Residence (PiR) program that will supplement the current programming of week-long visits throughout the year, to also include a practitioner in residence for an entire semester. These Lemkin Fellows would be selected in collaboration with the Auschwitz Institute from among the individuals who have completed the AIPR Lemkin Seminar or online training. AIPR has similar relationships with four universities and Binghamton would like to be a fifth host site. In addition to speaking to classes, making public presentations, and interacting with the I-GMAP staff and affiliated faculty, the Fellows would have the opportunity to attend classes at Binghamton University and fully immerse themselves in the campus experience.
Post-Doctoral Research Fellows
- A cadre of Post-Doctoral Research Fellows from a diverse array of disciplines who can work together in applying their research to priority issues identified by practitioners. We currently are able to support one post-doctoral fellow per year to dedicate time to furthering the most promising prevention-focused research. Our goal is to bring together several fellows annually from multiple academic disciplines, who collectively would have an even greater potential to generate new and useful research. We would also like to push the boundaries of disciplines engaged in prevention-focused research beyond political science, law, sociology, and other social sciences, to include, for example, engineering, computer science, nursing, literature, fine arts, business administration, etc. These post-doctoral fellows would also contribute innovative new course offerings for Binghamton’s undergraduate and graduate students. •
CONTACT US
If you or anyone you know might be interested and able to support one of these initiatives or the general work of the Institute, we would love to talk with you more. We are happy to talk on the phone, to host you in Binghamton for these conversations, or to meet you wherever you are located.
I-GMAP:
- Co-Director, Professor Max Pensky (mpensky@binghamton.edu)
- Co-Director, Professor Nadia Rubaii (nadia.rubaii@binghamton.edu)
- Assistant Director Stephen Capobianco (scapobia@binghamton.edu)
website: binghamton.edu/i-gmap/
email: igmap@binghamton.edu
telephone: +1-607-777-5254
mailing address:
Institute for Genocide and Mass Atrocity Prevention (I-GMAP)
Binghamton University
PO Box 6000
Binghamton, NY 13902-6000
Binghamton University Advancement:
- Interim Vice President for Advancement, John Koch (jkoch@binghamton.edu)
