Scholars Look at ‘New Face’ of Genocide

By Im Sothearith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Virginia
11 June 2009

Researchers this week attended the eighth biennial conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars at the Institute for Conflict Analysis and Resolution of George Mason University, Arlington, Va., to discuss the changing face of genocide.

Alex Hinton, associate professor at Rutgers University’s department of sociology and anthropology and director of the university’s Center for the Studies of Genocide and Human Rights, said this conference provides a forum for leading experts on the subject.

“And also we are exposed to people who are working in very different contexts,” he said. “In the panel today, I was talking about the Khmer Rouge tribunal, and the person speaking with me was speaking about the international criminal tribunal in Rwada.”

Dacil Keo, a Cambodian-American doctoral student of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison who participated in the conference, said the concepts of bringing together scholars, academic professors and activists on genocide is a good idea.

“I definitely recommend [it for] Cambodian activists and scholars, as well as activists and scholars from Africa, Latin America and other parts of Asia,” Dacil Keo said. “I think the more diverse perspectives we get, the better the conference will be.”

The conference on genocide is held every two years and brings together innovative research on the nature of genocide and the advance of policy on its prevention. Information about the genocide conference is available at www.genocidescholars.org.