HIST 3281

This class is one of my favorites!! Rossman is so intelligent, and you learn so much about many different genocides across time. I can understand why some might find him pretentious, though I've never felt that. He does tend to ramble sometimes, but everything he has to say is just fascinating information that I don't even mind. I love how he breaks down the definition of genocide in the beginning before we got into cases each week.

It is quite a bit of reading, but you could skim and it'll be fine. If you have a good TA, you'll end up with a good grade. I got an A-, and my papers weren't polished or anything. They were just my thoughts put into paragraphs. I agree the exams might be picky, but they get better as you understand how to take them after the first one. It's really not too much to worry about.

My TA was Laura, and she's amazing!! She's so nice, and discussion was quite fun, as it wasn't just recaps or summaries of class, it was lively group discussions. Sometimes, we'd watch things like some Stanford Prison Experiment documentary or fictional rendition. Although Thomas TAed us one time, and he was much more structured, and we sat in a circle and he went through the lecture, asking us questions and we would elaborate on things. His style helped me understand the lectures much better and streamline what I was learning, whereas with Laura, I was learning more content, though it was more disorganized in my head, but I should've just gone to OH for that. It just depends on how you learn better.

The most interesting and useful class in the history department, congrats to professor Rossman for how he decided to craft this class. A lot of reading, but useful for the exams nonetheless

This was the first history class I took at UVA and it is an excellent introduction to the department. As a general history course, you get to cover a wide range of time periods and geographical areas. Despite the incredibly grim nature of the subject matter, Prof. Rossman is a very engaging and enjoyable lecturer. The basic points of the lectures are all covered on the slides he posts, but he adds helpful commentary during lecture that is key to succeeding in the course—don't let yourself get in a habit of skipping lecture. For the papers, you will have to complete three in the semester. You'll get a list of topics for paper A that correspond to the material covered that week, and you need to choose one and submit by about a month into the course. Same goes for the other two. They're pretty short, but responding to detailed prompts in 600 words is harder than you'd think. Great medium-effort history course. #tCFFall23

I cannot recommend this class enough! Despite the obviously grim nature of the class, Prof Rossman is an amazing lecturer, and I found myself highly engaged in every single class. My only complaint is that sometimes he goes a little faster than my notetaking (handwritten) can't keep up. He has been teaching this course for a long time, and as a result, he has figured out the most confusing parts of each case study and how to best explain (this is especially important for Yugoslavia and Rwanda). The class goes over 8 case studies, each of which usually has 1 week devoted to them. This means that a large portion of the class is actually themes such as why genocides happen (enlightenment; imperialism/colonialism; nationalism; social psychology; etc) and I would actually say this and the class files/assignments he gives are the MOST important part to study for exams. On that note, there is one midterm, which consisted of 8 paragraph-length short answers referencing class files and one essay, all in 75 minutes online, and one final. The final historically was set up like the midterm except with two essays at the end, but due to cheating in the last semester, he changed it to just 3 essays and no short answer (you're given 4 prompts to choose from). In addition, you also have to write 3 two-page papers throughput the semester. I also took History of Russia since 1917 with prof Rossman, which was set up in the exact same way. Based on both, if you read the class files (the textbook does not matter as it is not included in exams, although it was nice to skim for more background information), go to lectures, and don't procrastinate the papers, you should be able to do excel in the class (I got an A).

Professor Rossman is extremely knowledgeable and you will learn a lot of information covered in a great amount of detail. However, would not recommend this course to 2nd years and below as it requires experience with UVA history classes to succeed in this class. There are dense readings assigned every week, and a few weeks have films required as well. Lectures are very dense and you must attend to get a grasp on the content (the readings provide contextual information, but the main gist of the course is covered in the lecture). Discussions are graded on attendance but also quality of participation. There are three papers due but each one is only 2 pages double-spaced, and they each are worth 5% so they are low-stress. The mid-term and final are the main portion of the grade and they are mostly composed of short answer and long essay questions. Overall, I throughly enjoyed this class and as a history major, I found the amount of work tolerable as I learned a lot about past events that I had no idea of. Strongly recommend this class for 3rd year and above history majors.

The first 3 weeks of classes introduce you to the "Origins of Genocide," which includes definitions and theories. Then you begin your 8 weeks of case studies, including Genocides of Indigenous Peoples, the Armenian Genocide, the USSR, the Holocaust, Mao's China, Pol Pot's Cambodia, Yugoslavia, and Rwanda. After the case studies you spend the rest of classes focusing on the social psychology of perpetrators, remembrance and denial, the quest for justice, and prevention and intervention. On the assignments side, there are 3 600-word, 2-page papers due throughout the semester with a couple of different prompts to choose from each week (the week the prompt is assigned is when you turn it in). There is a midterm right after fall break which covers the beginning of the course through the USSR. The final is not cumulative, and covers from the Holocaust to the end of the course. The readings were rather intense (but you could skim and get by with understanding after discussion section), and some weeks had films to watch as well. Ethan Gonzales was my TA, and he was amazing! In all honesty, I really missed out on section one week when I was too sick to go---that's how much fun he made class. Rossman's lecture style can get a bit boring at times, but he definitely sticks to the time and is certainly knowledgeable about the subjects. Overall, really great course!

I am neither a history fan nor a history major. With that being said, I enjoyed this course despite the terrible nature. Rossman is a great lecturer and so smart. I never missed a lecture, but it's not required to be there (but I would try to not miss). To succeed in this course, you need to go to lecture, do the readings, and attend section. Not too hard. The class goes over case studies about genocide and then things like denial, prevention, legal stuff, and the psychology behind it. It's probably not the most in-depth course, but it gives you a pretty good idea of what happened in each of these cases. I definitely learned a lot.

In terms of work, there's about 50 pages of readings each week that are very important to read (good to reference on exam or the question on exam might be about the readings). There's also some textbook reading, but I never did these and got an A in the course. There are 3 papers (600 words max) due at varying points across the semester. They're not hard and are based on the readings. You get a lot of choices on topics. That's all of the work in the class. Really nothing is graded, it's only the exams. And attendance and participation in section is very important. The exams are worth a lot, so studying for them is crucial. All I did was read the primary readings and just understand the case study (who, when, why, genocide or not, etc.). That was good enough for an A- on both exams and an A in the course. The first exam was worth 15% and online take home. Time was the issue for most people. Final exam, in person, final exam time, done on computer on canvas. I had an hour to spare.

Overall, brutal topic, but the work isn't too hard if you stay on top of the readings. It can seem tempting to skip them for that week, but I would recommend not.