The Religion, Holocaust, and Genocide Unit at the AAR: A 30-year Retrospective

The 1980s was a decade of increasing scholarly and public interest in the Holocaust, and in the decade that followed Genocide Studies emerged. Established initially as a Consultation in 1993, the Religion, Holocaust, and Genocide Unit, as the name implies, sought and seeks to bridge the fields of Holocaust and Genocide Studies with particular attention to an understudied aspect of genocides both then and now--religion. This roundtable celebrates the Unit’s 30-year milestone with some of the earliest co-chairs of the Unit who will reflect on the Unit’s early, and significant contributions to theological reflections and Jewish and Christian relations in academia as well as the Unit’s increasing interdisciplinary, internationalization, and diversity of methodologies, religious traditions, perspectives, and topics. Through a discussion of significant works and sessions, the participants will offer insights on how the Unit has been shaped by as well as shaped scholarly approaches to the study of religion and genocide in the last 30 years and share what challenges, opportunities, and developments they believe lie ahead.