Famine and Mass Violence
Youngstown State University
Youngstown, OH
September 21-23, 2008

Famine and mass violence frequently go hand in hand. Unfortunately, scholars of famine and scholars of mass violence often deal with different questions resulting in a wide lacuna in research and the methodology for analyzing connections between famines and violence. Famine specialists mostly deal with socioeconomic questions, with people as economic subjects, with the working of markets and speculation, food distribution, or deficiencies of state intervention. Entangled in the availability vs. entitlement debate,
they care less for power relationships or war-related situations, although famines often occur during wartime or civil conflict. Genocide experts view certain famines as state-organized. Such scholars are interested in motivations of violence, lack of relief efforts, escape prevention, or special policies victimizing refugees. They may miss out on the participatory dimension of famines: social and economic networks, profiteering, or family relations. This conference seeks to bring together both famine experts and genocide specialists to engage in a dialogue with
each other, first during the conference and later in a collective volume resulting from the meeting.

We welcome proposals that try to bring the role of social forces and
governments in the emergence of famines together into coherent frameworks, whether they put more emphasis on the "famine" or the "violence" side. Both case studies and theoretical approaches are welcome. Proposals should consist of a one page abstract of the paper, a brief curriculum vitae or biographical sketch, as well as contact information including name, title, institution or affiliation, mailing address, contact phone number and e-mail
address. Proposals should be sent via email by October 1, 2007 to both of the conference organizers:

Christian Gerlach Helene J. Sinnreich
Department of History Judaic and Holocaust Studies
University of Pittsburgh Youngstown State University
Pittsburgh, PA 15260 Youngstown, OH 44555
hcg3+@pitt.edu hjsinnreich@ysu.edu