Name that Concept (Genocide, cultural genocide, xenophobia, and other atrocities)
What term describes portraying a group as less than human or undeserving of human dignity?
Dehumanization.
Does describing genocide as a process mean examining only the moment when mass killing begins?
No. It means examining the actions and conditions that develop before, during, and sometimes after overt violence.
What term describes a system in which an outside power establishes control over another territory and its people?
Colonialism.
What term describes communication designed to shape people’s beliefs or behaviour in support of a cause or political objective?
Propaganda.
What term describes suppressing or controlling information people can publish, share, or access?
Censorship.
Name one way a community can preserve its identity despite efforts to erase it.
Language teaching, storytelling, cultural practices, community organizing, art, or preserving records and histories.
What term describes hostility or prejudice toward people perceived as foreign or outsiders?
Xenophobia.
Give one example of exclusion that could make a community more vulnerable to persecution (systematic, severe, and unfair mistreatment of an individual or group by another individual, group, or state).
Examples: exclusion from education, employment, citizenship, political participation, or legal protection.
What did colonial powers claim when they described expansion as a “civilizing mission”?
They claimed they had a duty to bring their version of civilization, education, religion, or progress to other peoples.
Why might a propagandist repeat the same message many times?
To make it familiar, memorable, and seemingly accepted or credible. Repetition does not make it true.
Why might an authoritarian government target independent journalists?
To limit scrutiny, hide abuses, control information, or reduce challenges to its authority.
What is restitution?
Restoring something taken or a situation harmed, where possible. For example, returning property or restoring rights.
Authorities prevent children from learning their community’s language and practising its traditions. Which concept helps us examine this attack on a group’s continued cultural existence?
Cultural genocide. Accept an explanation about destroying cultural continuity or group identity.
A minority community is blamed for unemployment and rising prices. What process is occurring?
Scapegoating: blaming a group for broader problems.
How could claims of racial superiority help justify taking land or exploiting labour?
They portrayed colonized peoples as inferior or less entitled to rights, allowing domination and exploitation to be presented as acceptable or beneficial.
A poster portrays an entire community as a dangerous disease. Identify the technique and explain its effect.
Dehumanization. It presents people as a threat to be removed rather than human beings with rights.
Authorities use identity records to identify members of a targeted community. What does this show about technology and administration?
Tools used for ordinary administration can be repurposed to enable identification, surveillance, exclusion, or persecution.
Why might an official apology be meaningful but insufficient on its own?
It can acknowledge harm, but communities may also need material repair, accountability, restored rights, services, or institutional change.
A government persecutes political opponents. Why does the identity of the targeted group matter when deciding whether the acts fit the Genocide Convention’s definition?
The Convention specifically protects national, ethnical, racial, and religious groups. Political groups are not a separate protected category under that definition. The acts may still constitute other crimes.
Explain one way that discriminatory laws and propaganda can reinforce each other.
Propaganda can make discrimination appear justified; discriminatory laws can make prejudiced messages seem legitimate or officially accepted.
A colonial government claims a population is incapable of governing itself and therefore needs foreign rule. What is this argument being used to justify?
The denial of self-government or self-determination, and continued colonial control.
Explain how propaganda can encourage participation in persecution without directly saying, “Hurt these people.”
It can normalize exclusion, create fear, encourage reporting or surveillance, justify discriminatory laws, or portray inaction as loyalty and resistance as betrayal.
Explain how removing the independence of courts can increase a community’s vulnerability.
People lose an important means of challenging discriminatory laws, arbitrary detention, or government abuse.
Why should affected communities help decide what rebuilding and repair involve?
They have knowledge of their experiences, needs, priorities, and cultural practices. Meaningful participation supports self-determination and avoids imposing outside solutions.
Explain why “a large number of people were killed” is not, by itself, enough to establish genocide under the Genocide Convention.
Genocide requires intent to destroy a protected group, in whole or in part, through one or more prohibited acts. Death totals alone do not establish that intent; genocide also includes prohibited acts other than killing.
A person says, “If genocide happens in stages, every society experiencing discrimination will eventually commit genocide.” Explain the problem with this conclusion.
Warning signs identify risk, not inevitability. Processes can overlap, change, or be interrupted through choices, resistance, institutions, and intervention.
Explain how a colonial government could build schools or infrastructure while still maintaining an exploitative system.
Those projects could serve colonial administration, resource extraction, cultural assimilation, or control. Their existence does not establish that people had equal rights, meaningful consent, or control over their land and labour.
A leader says, “Our country’s problems will disappear once this group is gone.” Identify two connected techniques.
Scapegoating and constructing an enemy/us-versus-them division. Accept dehumanization if the student explains how it appears in the message.
Explain how the same communication technology could support both persecution and resistance. Give one example of each.
Persecution: spreading hate, locating targets, or coordinating abuse. Resistance: documenting violations, sharing warnings, preserving testimony, or organizing support.
A government builds a memorial but continues policies that discriminate against the affected community. Explain why this creates a problem for prevention and repair.
Commemoration acknowledges the past, but continued discrimination leaves harmful structures in place. Meaningful repair also requires changes that protect rights and reduce the risk of recurrence.