4 results for "History"

The magnitude of genocide

Tatz, Colin Martin,Higgins, Winton
This book defines genocide, distinguishing it from mass murder, war crimes, and other atrocities; allows readers to grasp the magnitude of the crime of genocide across time and throughout human civilization; and facilitates an understanding of new and potential cases of genocide as they occur. Recently, the topic of intervention against genocide has received attention in global politics and the national political discourse of major countries. The challenges in confronting genocide and attempting to make a positive change are manifold. Simply establishing an agreement on the legal definition of genocide—and distinguishing it from genocidal massacres, war crimes, and other crimes against humanity—is problematic. This book provides a valuable resource for students, scholars, and journalists when public awareness of, and interest in, genocide has reached unprecedented levels. Written in an accessible way for a broad readership, the book makes use of case studies to enable an understanding of emerging and potential genocide with the necessary depth of coverage to evaluate critically the ways in which the United Nations and national governments engage them. Readers will understand the essential ingredients of genocide, from antiquity to the present, and grasp the extent of the crime across human history. A variety of case studies provides a means to measure genocidal magnitudes in terms of their intent and motive, geographical extent, pace, method, participants, outcomes, legacies, punishments, and reparations. A unique and crucial feature of the book is that it gives as much attention to the differences among genocides—for example, between a large-scale genocide like the Holocaust and the extermination of a 500-person Amazonian tribe—while still treating both within a single conceptual framework of genocide, without "discounting" the smaller case.
Praeger, an imprint of ABC-CLIO, LLC 2016-03-14 296 pages

Aboriginal suicide is different: a portrait of life and self-destruction

Tatz, Colin Martin
Every Australian's birthright includes the expectation of a healthy and possibly happy life of some longevity, assisted by all the services which a civilised society can make possible. But this is not yet within the Aboriginal (or Maori, Pacific Islander, Canadian Inuit and American Indian) grasp. That so many young Aboriginal people prefer death to life implies a rejection of what people in the broader Australian society, have on offer. It reflects a failure, as a nation, to provide sufficient incentives for young Aborigines to remain alive. This is a study of youth who have, or feel they have, no purpose in life -- or who may be seeking freedom in death. It is a portrait of life, and of self-destruction, by young Aboriginal men and women. To comprehend this relatively recent phenomenon, which occurs more outside than inside custody, one has to appreciate Aboriginal history -- the effects of which contribute more to an understanding of suicide today than do psychological or medical theories about the victim. Aboriginal youth at risk are suffering more from social than from mental disorder. Adopting a historical and anthropological approach to suicide in New South Wales, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand, this book documents rates of suicide that may well be the world's worst. It tries to glimpse the soul of the suicide rather than merely his or her contribution to our national statistics.
Aboriginal Studies Press 2005 191 pages

Worlds apart: the re-migration of South African Jews

Tatz, Colin Martin
If the 19th and 20th centuries witnessed the greatest migrations in the history of the world, then the story of the exodus of Jews from Lithuania to South Africa and then on again to Australia is one of the most extraordinary. For the first time, migrants, family and friends can discover the fascinating details of what led to the migration and re-migration of so many thousands of people. Worlds Apart is a study of a unique double translocation. It follows the footsteps of Lithuanian and Latvian-descended Jews (Litvaks) from their ancestral European homes to South Africa and then again, just a century later, to Australia and New Zealand. The authors describe the life of the forebears, both in Lithuania and in South Africa, the so-called Ã?«South African way of lifeÃ?Â-; the anti-semitic forces there which might have propelled migration much earlier, but didnÃ?Â-t; and the political unrest which finally led to this Ã?«second DiasporaÃ?Â- to the Antipodes and other parts of the world. Worlds Apart examines the patterns of recent emigrations, and the real and ostensible reasons for leaving. Based on hundreds of responses to a detailed questionnaire and dozens of interviews, Worlds Apart presents an unforgettable picture of how life for Lithuanian Jews was, what it became, and what it is today in new lands with new hopes for the future. It examines how and why Jews continue their millennia-old quest for a new and peaceful land, and how twice-removed Jews feel today, not just about their new homes, but about the trials and tribulations of their ancestors. The authors are South African Jewish Ã?Â?migrÃ?Â?s: two are of the early 1960s vintage and one arrived in the early 1980s. Colin Tatz is a social scientist and historian; Peter Arnold is a medical practitioner turned editor and genealogist; Gillian Heller is a professor of statistics.
Rosenberg 2007 360 pages