Analyses documentary representations of perpetrators and discusses why these representations matter
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First book to compare the representation of perpetrators and perpetration across seven genocides on three continents in the twentieth century
Discusses and analyses trends and developments in documentaries on genocide based on over two hundred films
Uses interdisciplinary methods including film analysis, filmmaker interviews, historical analysis and distant reading
Grounded in deep historical knowledge enabling an understanding of how documentaries represent the realities of genocide and its aftermath but also what is missing from these representations
Provides a framework on how documentaries do and should engage perpetrators of mass violence
Documentaries are the most common film genre representing genocide and thus significantly shape public understanding of the subject.
Perpetrators in Documentaries on Genocide is a wide-ranging comparative study that analyses how numerous genocides and their perpetrators have been presented in documentary film. Spanning seven 20th-century genocides across three continents and combining interviews with filmmakers, distant reading, content analysis, and historical research, this book tracks the multifaceted representational strategies of over 200 films.
Addressing both the local and global contexts impacting their production, the book finds that the socio-political circumstances in the aftermath of genocide, but also the concept of genocide itself, enormously shape the representation of perpetrator groups and their victims. This book highlights and critiques dominant trends in documentary representation, proposing a broader and methodologically innovative approach to studying the depiction of atrocities that provides an encompassing framework for understanding genocide documentaries.
Introduction 1. The Holocaust 2. The Armenian Genocide 3. The Herero and Nama Genocide 4. The Indonesian Genocide 5. The Cambodian Genocide 6. The Rwandan Genocide 7. The Bosnian Genocide Conclusion
Julian Koch is an independent researcher primarily interested in mass violence and its representation as well as conflict and health. His broad interests also include German and French twentieth-century poetry, on which he published his first book A Poetics of the Image (2021). He completed his undergraduate degree at Maastricht University, his Masters at Oxford University and his PhD in Comparative Literature at Queen Mary University of London.
