About Us
General:
MIGS was founded in 1986, based in the departments of History and Sociology/Anthropology at Concordia University. In recent years, Concordia faculty members and graduate students from Communications, English, Geography, and Political Science have joined in its work, as have colleagues from McGill and the University of Quebec in Montreal.
MIGS' approach is comparative and historical and involves scholars in Canada, France, Great Britain, Israel, and the United States. Through its Occasional Paper Series and its web site, it collects and disseminates knowledge created by researchers about the historical origins of the mass killings that have become such a prominent part of our time. MIGS also accomplishes its mission through teaching, workshops, conferences, and publications. Additional information and web links are made available on this Web site. MIGS seeks to encourage research by offering its resources and its hospitality to Concordia students and faculty, as well as post-doctoral fellows and colleagues visiting from other universities and research centres. You are welcome to propose Occasional Papers, new web links, and news items for inclusion on this site. MIGS activities are supported by private donations and outside grants.
The founding co-directors of MIGS are Concordia Professors Frank Chalk (History) and Kurt Jonassohn (Sociology). Assisting them in the work of the Institute are MIGS Research Associates, and the members of the Academic Advisory Board and the Board of Directors.
MIGS is a an officially recognized Research Centre of the Faculty of Arts and Science of Concordia University. Donations to advance its research projects, publications, conferences and web site facilities are always welcome and may be sent to Concordia University targetted to support the work of MIGS.
TEACHING: Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn have jointly taught an undergraduate course entitled The History and Sociology of Genocide since 1980-81. In recent years, the Institute has started to attract graduate students at both the M. A. and the Ph. D. levels. In addition, it has regularly invited scholars with expertise in specific areas of genocide and human rights studies to address our students in class, to conduct seminars, and to give public lectures. Graduate studies with specializations in the comparative aspects of genocide and gross human rights violations are available at Concordia University in the History Department. Other Concordia departments with graduate programs and faculty members specializing in related human rights topics include Communication Studies; English; Geography, Planning and Environment; Sociology and Anthropology; and Political Science. The Concordia University PhD in Humanities Program is another possible venue for work in genocide studies. It encourages the development of innovative research and the crossing of disciplinary boundaries.
RESEARCH: Some of the interests of students and faculty are reflected in the titles listed under the Occasional Paper Series. Most of our research has not required large supporting grants. The small grants obtained thus far have served mainly to engage part-time research assistants and to defray printing and mailing costs. In future we shall apply for larger grants in order to carry out more ambitious projects that will involve several colleagues and graduate students.
Research at the Concordia University Library is significantly facilitated by the resources of the David Azrieli Holocaust Collection and the Jonassohn Genocide Collection for research on the comparative study of genocides.
The Azrieli Holocaust Collection is a major specialized collection for scholarly research and teaching which continues to grow and develop thanks to a generous endowment grant from Dr. David Azrieli. Additional resources have been provided by grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and several donations in kind. This Collection is distinguished by some special features: an extensive collection of North American theses and dissertations on aspects of the Holocaust; a complete set of the Nuremberg trials organized by the Allies and all 12 trials of nazi war criminals subsequently organized by the United States; and hundreds of reels of microfilm of the unpublished diplomatic and intelligence records of the United States and Great Britain relating to the origins and implementation of the Holocaust. The collection presently contains well over 6,700 titles from virtually every discipline and includes major microfilm collections of government records and trial transcripts, some 400 doctoral dissertations, as well as extensive holdings of survivor memoirs and diaries. Materials in the collection are primarily in English and French.
The Jonassohn Genocide Collection supports the comparative study of genocides, both historical and contemporary. To this end, it funds the acquisition of materials on all relevant cases other than the Holocaust, which is already covered by the Azrieli Holocaust Collection. The Concordia Library contains a wide-ranging and growing collection of materials on other genocides and mass killings throughout history, including a microcopied set of manuscript materials from the U. S. National Archives relating to the Armenian genocide.
Personnel
Founding Co-Directors
Frank Chalk, Department of History, Concordia University
Kurt Jonassohn, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Concordia University
Senior Fellow
Senator/Lieutenant-General (ret.) Roméo Dallaire
Fellows
Major Brent Beardsley
Kishan Manocha
Assistant to the Director
Alexandra Buskie
W2I Senior Deputy Director
Kyle Matthews
W2I Research Team
Carla
Barqueiro
, Researcher
Simon Doyle, Researcher
Board of Directors
Meir Amor, Department of Sociology/Anthropology, Concordia University
Mervin Butovsky, Department of English, Concordia University (deceased)
Rick Hancox, Department of Communications, Concordia University
Stephen High, Department of History, Concordia University
Andrew Ivaska, Department of History, Concordia University
Erica Lehrer, Departments of History and Sociology/Anthropology, Concordia University
Alan Nash, Department of Geography, Concordia University
Eric Reiter, Department of History, Concordia University
Stephen Scheinberg, Department of History, Concordia University
Leander Schneider, Department of Political Science, Concordia University
Peter Stoett, Department of Political Science, Concordia University
Academic Advisory Board
Payam Akhavan, Faculty of Law, McGill University
Gérard Chaliand, Independent Researcher, Paris, France
Norman Cohn, Emeritus Professor, University of Sussex, England (deceased)
Michael Freeman, Department of Government, University of Essex, England
Robert Melson, Department of Political Science, Purdue University, USA
William Schabas, Director, Irish Center for Human Rights National University of Ireland, Galway
Yves Ternon, Independent Researcher, Paris, France
Editorial Board
Karin Solveig Björnson
Mervin Butovsky
Frank Chalk
Karin Doerr
Kurt Jonassohn
Krisha Starker
Research Associates
Sima Aprahamian, Department of Sociology/Anthropology and Simone de Beauvoir Institute
Karin Solveig Björnson, Independent Researcher, Montreal
Karen Doerr, Department of Classics, Modern Languages and Linguistics, Concordia University
Linda Melvern, Independent Researcher, England
Sarah Meyer, Sauvé Scholar, McGill University
Krisha Starker, Executive Director (retired) of the Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre
Current MIGS Graduate Student Fellows
Vicki Burrus (M.A.)
Ryan Cronsberry (M.A.)
Marc Drouin (M.A., now Ph.D.)
Erin Jessee (Ph.D Humanities)
David King (Ph.D.)
Ariane Mathieu (Ph.D)
Philippe Rieder (Ph.D. Humanities)
Scott Selders (M.A., now Ph.D.)
Former Graduate Student Fellows
Aram Adjemian (M.A.)
Lauren Burger (M.A.)
Dana-Lori Chalmers (S.I.P. M.A.)
Christian DesRoches (Ph.D)
Brenda Fewster (M.A.)
Nicolas Gauvin (Ph.D)
Michael Innes (M.A.)
Zal Karkaria (M.A.)
Edward Kissi (Ph.D.)
Samantha Kravitz (M.A.)
Richard Pilkington (M.A.)
Patrick Reed (M.A.)
Jocelyne A. L. Serveau (M.A.)
James Vandenberg (M.A.)
Ottawa Intern, Canadian All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide
Justin Mohammed
Current Interns
Media Monitoring Project
Will to Intervene Project
Former Interns
Alexandra Williams (Concordia University
Valli Frasier-Celin (McGill University)
Sam Bick (McGill University)
Justin Levy (Concordia University)
Caroline Riepl (Germany)
Eliza Urwin (Concordia University)
Erica Adelson (McGill University)
Maha El-Kadi (Concordia University)
Ariela Fish (McGill University)
Chiara Fish (Georgetown University)
Alex Heggie (Concordia University)
Inken Heldt (Phillips University Marburg, Germany)
Daniella Kelton (McGill University)
Christina Nguyen (Carleton)
Setareh Saeed (Concordia University)
Victoria Jacobson Shaddick (Concordia University)
Eyal Tapiero (Concordia University)
Tara Tavender (Concordia University)
Scarlett Trazo (Concordia University)
Jill Van Gyn (Concordia University)
Michael Gumpert (University of Pittsburgh)
Laura Kern
Odile Noel
Kimberly Sabourin
Valerie Foulkes
Fatima Arkin
Dafina Savic
Lawrence Litwin
Zuzia Danielski
Stacy Topouzova
Kristen Zbikowski
