In the lecture entitled Museums and the Challenge of Rebuilding Communities after Atrocity professor David J. Simon will focus on the challenges of rebuilding states and societies in the wake of genocide and other atrocities, with a focus on the seemingly impossible task of regenerating inter-group social trust. Prof. David J. Simon will pay special attention to analogies between the deportations of Poles by the Soviets and forced displacements in Africa, including colonial (Kenya, South Africa), postcolonial (Rwanda), and economic (Ethiopia) cases. He will also discuss the challenges associated with the return of the displaced to their homes.
Looking across several cases, he addresses the role of memorialization and museums in addressing this task, while also considering their limitations.
Professor Simon’s lecture offers an opportunity to explore the topic of rebuilding communities after dramatic historical events, from both global and local perspectives. Comparing the experiences of the Sybiraks with other cases of displacement will provide a deeper understanding of the universal challenges related to memory and reconciliation.
A discussion following the lecture will allow for asking questions and exchanging ideas with the speaker.
Date: June 16, 2025, 12:00 (noon)
Venue: The Sybir Memorial Museum
Lecture language: English
Admission: Free
David J. Simon is the Assistant Dean for Graduate Education as well as a Senior Lecturer in Global Affairs at Yale University. As the Director of the Genocide Studies Program at the university, he focuses his research on mass atrocity prevention and post-atrocity recovery, with a particular focus on cases of mass atrocity in Africa, including those in Rwanda and Cote d’Ivoire.
He is co-editor of Mass Violence and Memory in the Digital Age: Memorialization Unmoored (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2020, with Eve M. Zucker), and co-editor of the Handbook of Genocide Studies (Edward Elgar, forthcoming, with Leora Kahn).
Prof. David J. Simon is also a co-founder of the initiative Mass Atrocities in the Digital Era initiative within the Genocide Studies Program. According to its objectives, digital technology has brought about sea changes in all aspects of mass atrocity — from the commission of it to the efforts to prevent it to the prospects of holding perpetrators responsible — and seeks to bring experts from the fields of genocide studies, international criminal law, and internet data governance in conversation with one another to devise appropriate responses.
He has served as a consultant for various United Nations offices, including Office of the Special Advisor for the Prevention of Genocide, the Millennium Development Project, and the UN Development Program.
