The historiography of genocide: beyond ‘uniqueness’ and ethnic competition

This article argues that neither the proponents of the uniqueness of the Holocaust nor those who see other genocides as paradigmatic provide helpful ways of furthering the scholarly understanding of genocide. A new generation of genocide scholars is incorporating the findings of earlier research into a synthesis that promises to respect the extremity of the Holocaust as well as the specificities of other genocides, positioning them in a history that sees genocide as a continuum of practices throughout the modern period that must also encompass the history of racism, colonialism, imperialism and nation-building.