Episode 40: Sam Totten, Part One

Human Rights Education Now!

Note: due to character limitations, bio and episode details are an abbreviated version.

Sam Totten is professor emeritus at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. His areas of research are: crimes against humanity and genocide in Sudan; the current war in Ukraine; the impact of genocide on the individual and the local community; the intervention and prevention of genocide; and the denial of genocide. Sam has served as an investigator with the U.S. State Department’s Atrocities Documentation Project, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the Centre for Conflict Management at the National University of Rwanda. His publications include: We Cannot Forget: Interviews with Survivors of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda; Genocide by Attrition: Nuba Mountains, Sudan. Visit our HREUSA podcast website HERE to read Sam's publications.

In Episode 40, Sam Totten discusses the origins of his interest in human rights issues, as well as his transition into human rights education. Sam then describes his publications on HRE, along with his work with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council/Museum and the Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust. Next, Sam shares his engagement with high school Amnesty International Chapters, before briefly touching on the fall of Communism and the opening of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. Sam examines the evolution of the field of genocide studies, debates about definitions of genocide, and the growth of journals and electronic media sites in genocide studies. Sam expands on his work as an a scholar-activist, including his investigative work in Darfur with refugees and humanitarian work in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan.
Topics discussed:

• Origins of his interest in human rights and human rights education
• Published works in the HRE space
• Work with the Holocaust Memorial Council/Museum
• Guidelines for Teaching about the Holocaust
• Engagement with High School Amnesty International Chapters
• Fall of Communism and opening of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
• Evolution of the field of Genocide Studies
• Debates about definitions of “genocide”
• Work as a scholar-activist
• Investigative work in Darfur and in the Nuba Mountains in Sudan

Full topic listing available for PDF download HERE.

Listen on our HREUSA podcast website HERE.

Introduction and Closing Music Credit: “Awakening-Spring” by Ketsa, from the Album Night Vision. Available at the Free Music Archive: https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Ketsa/night-vision/awakening-spring/

This music is used in accordance with this Creative Commons License: Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Information about that license is available here https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Human Rights Education Now! is produced and distributed in accordance with Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 4.0 International. Information about this license is available here: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/