Interrupting Genocide
A Model for Reconciliation and Social Healing
A practical and human-centered model of reconciliation to implement during genocide
Description
For decades, genocide education has focused primarily on prevention, identifying early warning signs and intervening before mass atrocities unfold. But when prevention fails, reconciliation becomes a post-genocide concern, leaving societies in a suspended state of trauma, mistrust, and fragmentation. Interrupting Genocide provides a practical framework to challenge that gap. Grounded in social identity theory and built from years of research and fieldwork, the Social Identity Model for Reconciliation reimagines reconciliation as a dynamic process that can begin during genocide, not as an after practice.
Drawing on powerful, real-life testimonies from survivors, former perpetrators, and second-generation youth from the Holocaust and the Rwandan Genocide, the book examines how identity, belonging, and group behavior contribute to violence as well as the possibility of repair. At its core, the book reveals how group dynamics such as dehumanization, polarization, and stigmatization evolve through conflict, and how targeted reconciliation strategies can disrupt these patterns in real time. From faith-based healing and intergroup dialogue to economic reintegration and grassroots community practices, the book offers practical pathways for rebuilding fractured social bonds. Accessible, deeply human, and urgent in its message, Interrupting Genocide provides theoretical insight and real-world tools to rethink how societies heal.
Jocelyn R. Barrett is Program Coordinator of the Visiting Scholar Programs in the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Reviews
“Interrupting Genocide critically reexamines long-held—and in some cases ossified—models of genocide education, addressing enduring imbalances and segmentation within the field. In doing so, it proposes the integration of reconciliation alongside prevention and emphasizes a bottom-up, social identity–based approach. This book is both a must-read and a must-engage-with work for scholars and educators alike.”
- Khatchig Mouradian, Columbia University, author of The Resistance Network
“Is reconciliation always a feasible path? This bold yet gentle book insists the answer is ‘yes.’ Interrupting Genocide embraces a seeming paradox: that the very social processes behind mass violence also offer the way forward. Essential reading for anyone who wonders how humanity can survive the scourge of genocide.”
- Doris L. Bergen, author of War and Genocide: A Concise History of the Holocaust
“Interrupting Genocide makes an important contribution to genocide studies by shifting attention from prevention alone to the equally critical challenge of societal reconstruction. Drawing on social identity theory, Jocelyn Barrett demonstrates that the processes driving genocide can also illuminate pathways toward reconciliation and social healing. By integrating identity dynamics with established genocide frameworks, she offers a compelling model that bridges prevention, reconciliation, and education. Grounded in careful empirical research and enriched by survivor and perpetrator perspectives, the book provides both a valuable theoretical contribution and practical guidance for educators, practitioners, and scholars. It is a timely and innovative work that advances our understanding of how fractured societies can rebuild trust, restore relationships, and interrupt cycles of identity-based violence.”
- Karina V. Korostelina, George Mason University (or International Association for Reconciliation Studies)