Longman Comments on Recently Added BU Major

Timothy Longman, Professor of International Relations and Political Science and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs at Boston University’s Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies and Director of the Institute on Culture, Religion and World Affairs (CURA), spoke to the Boston Globe about the new Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Studies major.

As the associate director of the program, Longman played a critical role in planning the major’s courseload and subject matter. Students in the major currently study the Holocaust and other genocides in the context of modern history and culture, focusing on racism, anti-Semitism, nationalist ideologies, and other causes of genocide. While speaking with the Globe, Longman discussed teaching genocide in a way that emphasizes humanity and compassion. He noted literature as a key tool in his lectures, as it “reinforces the human element of atrocities, and helps stave off cynicism.”

Professor Timothy Longman‘s current research focuses on state-society relations in Africa, looking particularly at human rights, transitional justice, democratization, civil society, the politics of race and ethnicity, religion and politics, and women and politics. He has published two books based on his research in Rwanda: Christianity and Genocide in Rwanda (Cambridge University Press 2011), and Memory and Justice in Post-Genocide Rwanda (Cambridge University Press 2017). Read more about Professor Longman on his faculty profile.