Research
To study conditions and factors – historically and contemporarily – that enable people, groups and societies to slow down or stop the course of mass violence. Here the Center focuses on acts of resistance that inhibit the impact of genocidal ideology and/or defy its policies.
To explore the nature of mass violence and its emotional, social, psychological, historical and physical impacts on individual behavior, and to deepen the understanding of the individual experience as reflected in personal testimonies of survivors, witnesses and perpetrators. The Center advances the application of such knowledge in fostering behavior and/or behavioral change in resisting mass violence.
To examine how large digital data sets, such as the fully indexed 54,000 video testimonies of USC Shoah Foundation’s Visual History Archive, can be used for a sophisticated quantitative analysis of complex human phenomena. The Center seeks to establish patterns of behavior in the field of mass violence and its resistance.