GENOCIDE · Corpses of Genocide and Mass Violence: Interdisciplinary and Comparative Approaches of Dead Bodies Treatment in the 20th Century (Destruction, Identification, Reconciliation)

In Europe and all over the world, genocide and mass violence have been a structural feature of the 20th century. This project aims at questioning the social legacy of mass violence by studying how different societies have coped with the first consequence of mass destruction: the mass production of cadavers. What status and what value have indeed been given to corpses? What political, social or religious uses have been made of dead bodies in occupied Europe, Soviet Union, Serbia, Spain but also Rwanda, Argentina or Cambodia, both during and after the massacres? Bringing together perspectives of social anthropology, history and law, and raising the three main issues of destruction, identification and reconciliation, our project will enlighten how various social and cultural treatments of dead bodies simultaneously challenge common representations, legal practices and moral. Project outputs will therefore open and strengthen the field of genocide studies by providing proper intellectual and theoretical tools for a better understanding of mass violence’s aftermaths in today societies.