The Dodd Center for Human Rights

About this Event A central defining feature of deeply divided societies is binary division – "us" and "them." These binary fault lines can arise from class, caste, religion, language, race, ethnicity, clan, or political identity. These divisions breed walled communities of fear and isolation, not only dividing populations but also uniting them in their fear of the "other." Grounded in a global comparative analysis of the literal and figurative notion of "walls" in deeply divided societies, this presentation will analyze physical walls of social separation, symbolic walls of identity separation, and hidden or invisible walls of geographical separation. The presentation will conclude by emphasizing the need for more integration in deeply divided societies and suggesting specific strategies to address the physical, symbolic, and hidden or invisible walls that separate and wound the lives of people in such societies.Following the event, join us for a catered reception in the Dodd Lounge.   About the SpeakerJames Waller, Ph.D. (https://humanrights.uconn.edu/person/james-waller/), is the inaugural Christopher J. Dodd Chair in Human Rights Practice and director of the Dodd Human Rights Impact Programs for the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute at the University of Connecticut. In addition to his faculty appointment in the Gladstein Family Human Rights Institute, he holds a joint appointment in the Department of Literatures, Cultures, and Languages. Waller also is a Visiting Scholar at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, Queen's University Belfast and has held recurrent consultancy responsibilities with the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect. Waller is the author of six books, most notably his award-winning Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing (Oxford University Press, 2nd ed., 2007), Confronting Evil: Engaging Our Responsibility to Prevent Genocide (Oxford University Press, 2016), and A Troubled Sleep: Risk and Resilience in Contemporary Northern Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2021). In addition, he has published more than thirty articles in peer-reviewed professional journals, contributed over twenty chapters in edited books, and is a co-editor of Historical Dialogue and the Prevention of Mass Atrocities (Routledge, 2020). Waller also is active in teacher training in Holocaust and genocide studies, has consulted on exhibition development for several museums around the world, and has developed and led seminars to introduce government officials and security sector personnel from around the world to issues of genocide warning and prevention. His fieldwork has included research in Germany, Israel, Northern Ireland, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Guatemala.This is an Honors Event. See tags below for categories. #UHLevent11157

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