An A. Dirk Moses is the Anne and Bernard Spitzer Professor of International Relations at the Colin Powell School for Civic and International Leadership at the City College of New York, CUNY.
Raised in Brisbane, Australia, he was educated at the Universities of Queensland (B.A. 1987), St. Andrews (M.Phil. 1990), Notre Dame (M.A. 1994), and California, Berkeley (Ph.D. 2000). Before coming to City College, he was the Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from July 2000 to July 2022. From 2000-2010 and 2016-2020, he taught at the University of Sydney. Between 2011 and 2015, he held the Chair of Global and Colonial History at the European University Institute, Florence.
His first book, German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past (2007), was awarded the Clio-Online ‘'Historical Book of the Year'’ prize. Dirk has also written extensively in the fields of genocide and memory studies. Recent anthologies include Patriotic History and the (Re)Nationalization of Memory (2023) and Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics (2020). Dirk's latest book, The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression, appeared in February 2021. An updated and abridged German version appeared in August 2023 as Nach dem Genozid: Grundlage für eine neue Erinnerungskultur.
Dirk has held fellowships at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C; and at the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung in Potsdam as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow. He was a visiting fellow at the WZB Center for Global Constitutionalism in Berlin in September-October 2019, and a senior fellow at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg in Göttingen in the winter of 2019-20.
Dirk has been senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research since 2011, and co-edits the War and Genocide book series for Berghahn Books. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of African Military History, Journal of Perpetrator Research, Patterns of Prejudice, Memory Studies, Journal of Mass Violence Research, and Monitor: Global Intelligence of Racism. He also serves on advisory board of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, the UCD Centre for War Studies, the Memory Studies Association, and the RePast project, and is a friend of the International State Crime Initiative.
He tweets in a private capacity at @dirkmoses.
Recent Online Writings and Podcasts
"A Diplomatic Option To Avoid Endless War In Ukraine," Noema Magazine, 5 December 2022. With Jessie Barton Hronešová (in German).
Interview on New Books in Intellectual History about Genocide: Key Themes, ed. Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses, 22 November 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide: A Response to Two Israeli Critics," Ha'aretz, 3 November 2022,
"A Path to Peace: The UN administration of Crimea," The Hill, 12 October 2022.
“The Apex of Biographical Intellectual History," Genocide Studies and Prevention, 16: 2 (2022): 3–5.
“The German Catechism and the Problems of Genocide,” The Future of Atrocity Memory, Aarhus University, 24 August 2022.
"The Documenta, Indonesia, and the Problem of Closed Universes," New Fascism Syllabus, 24 July 2022 (German: Geschichte der Gegenwart,
24 July 2022)
"Good Talk" on the Problems of Genocide, Newlinesmag Instagram Live Series, 21 June 2022.
"The Genocide Conundrum -- The Search for Justice," with John Bruni on the Sage: The Focus, 9 June 2022.
"Imperial Reason" (3 hrs 58 mins - 4 hr 27 mins), Die Zivilisationsfrage, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 28 May 2022.
"Genocide in Ukraine," Meduza podcast, 22 May 2022.
“The Ukraine Genocide Debate Reveals the Limits of International Law,” Lawfare Blog, 16 May 2022.
"The Holocaust in Public Memory," Trinity College Dublin, 22 March 2022.
International Politics Reviews: Forum - Human Shields and the Problems of Genocide, 4 March 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide with A. Dirk Moses," Parallax Views with J.G. Michael, 21 February 2022.
“Settlers and Security: Structures and Subjectivity in State-Formation," keynote lecture (as of 35 mins), Dispossessions and Their Legacies: Comparisons, Intersections, and Connections, Center for Armenian Studies, University of Michigan, 10 February 2021.
"Affective Colonization as Minority Management," Replito, 9 February 2022.
"A New German Historians’ Debate? A Conversation with Sultan Doughan, A. Dirk Moses, and Michael Rothberg (Part I and Part II,"
Journal of the History of Ideas Blog, 2 and 4 February 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide: Dirk Moses on the Language of Transgression and the Genocide Convention in Context," RevDem: Review of Democracy, 20 December 2021.
"The Problems of Genocide: In Discussion with Katja Hoyer," Carl Schurz Haus, Freiburg, 29 November 2021.
"Encounters": A conversation with A. Dirk Moses on his book The Problems of Genocide, IHGMS UMass Amherst, 19 October 2021.
"Rhetorical Excess and Discursive Defensiveness in German Debates," Historiker Streiten, Einstein Forum, 4 October 2021.
"The Problems of Genocide: In Discussion with Michael Rothberg," UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, 30 September 2021.
"Dialektik der Normalisierung," Berliner Zeitung, 25 September 2021.
"The Diplomacy of Genocide," keynote lecture, Xinjiang Crisis conference, University of Newcastle, 3 September 2021.
"The Herero and Nama Genocide, the Holocaust, and the Question of German Reparations," E-International Relations, 31 August 2021.
With Howard Rechavia-Taylor.
"Wir haben keinen neuen Historikerstreit, sondern einen neuen Illiberalismus," Berliner Zeitung, 7 August 2021.
"Gedenkt endlich auch der Opfer kolonialer Gräueltaten!" Die Zeit, 14 July 2021.
"Holocaust: Wie gerecht ist unser Gedenken?" interview with Die Zeit, 1 July 2021.
"Die Debatte um die 'Singularität' des Holocaust," interview with 3Sat Kulturzeit, 22 June 2021.
"Dialectic of Vergangenheitsbewältigung," New Fascism Syllabus, 15 June 2021.
"The US and the Question of Palestine," Responsible Statecraft, 29 May 2021.
"The Trump Presidency, the Question of Palestine, and Biden’s Business as Usual," H-Diplo-ISSF Policy Series, 27 May 2021. With Victor Kattan.
"The German Catechism," Geschichte der Gegenwart, 23 May 2021 (in German and Arabic).
New Books in Genocide Studies interview with Jeff Bachman, 14 May 2021.
"Who Counts as a Victim?" Aeon, 10 May 2021.
Raised in Brisbane, Australia, he was educated at the Universities of Queensland (B.A. 1987), St. Andrews (M.Phil. 1990), Notre Dame (M.A. 1994), and California, Berkeley (Ph.D. 2000). Before coming to City College, he was the Frank Porter Graham Distinguished Professor of Global Human Rights History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill from July 2000 to July 2022. From 2000-2010 and 2016-2020, he taught at the University of Sydney. Between 2011 and 2015, he held the Chair of Global and Colonial History at the European University Institute, Florence.
His first book, German Intellectuals and the Nazi Past (2007), was awarded the Clio-Online ‘'Historical Book of the Year'’ prize. Dirk has also written extensively in the fields of genocide and memory studies. Recent anthologies include Patriotic History and the (Re)Nationalization of Memory (2023) and Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics (2020). Dirk's latest book, The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression, appeared in February 2021. An updated and abridged German version appeared in August 2023 as Nach dem Genozid: Grundlage für eine neue Erinnerungskultur.
Dirk has held fellowships at the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum; at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C; and at the Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung in Potsdam as an Alexander von Humboldt Foundation Fellow. He was a visiting fellow at the WZB Center for Global Constitutionalism in Berlin in September-October 2019, and a senior fellow at the Lichtenberg-Kolleg in Göttingen in the winter of 2019-20.
Dirk has been senior editor of the Journal of Genocide Research since 2011, and co-edits the War and Genocide book series for Berghahn Books. He is a member of the editorial board of the Journal of African Military History, Journal of Perpetrator Research, Patterns of Prejudice, Memory Studies, Journal of Mass Violence Research, and Monitor: Global Intelligence of Racism. He also serves on advisory board of the Vienna Wiesenthal Institute for Holocaust Studies, the UCD Centre for War Studies, the Memory Studies Association, and the RePast project, and is a friend of the International State Crime Initiative.
He tweets in a private capacity at @dirkmoses.
Recent Online Writings and Podcasts
"A Diplomatic Option To Avoid Endless War In Ukraine," Noema Magazine, 5 December 2022. With Jessie Barton Hronešová (in German).
Interview on New Books in Intellectual History about Genocide: Key Themes, ed. Donald Bloxham and A. Dirk Moses, 22 November 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide: A Response to Two Israeli Critics," Ha'aretz, 3 November 2022,
"A Path to Peace: The UN administration of Crimea," The Hill, 12 October 2022.
“The Apex of Biographical Intellectual History," Genocide Studies and Prevention, 16: 2 (2022): 3–5.
“The German Catechism and the Problems of Genocide,” The Future of Atrocity Memory, Aarhus University, 24 August 2022.
"The Documenta, Indonesia, and the Problem of Closed Universes," New Fascism Syllabus, 24 July 2022 (German: Geschichte der Gegenwart,
24 July 2022)
"Good Talk" on the Problems of Genocide, Newlinesmag Instagram Live Series, 21 June 2022.
"The Genocide Conundrum -- The Search for Justice," with John Bruni on the Sage: The Focus, 9 June 2022.
"Imperial Reason" (3 hrs 58 mins - 4 hr 27 mins), Die Zivilisationsfrage, Haus der Kulturen der Welt, Berlin, 28 May 2022.
"Genocide in Ukraine," Meduza podcast, 22 May 2022.
“The Ukraine Genocide Debate Reveals the Limits of International Law,” Lawfare Blog, 16 May 2022.
"The Holocaust in Public Memory," Trinity College Dublin, 22 March 2022.
International Politics Reviews: Forum - Human Shields and the Problems of Genocide, 4 March 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide with A. Dirk Moses," Parallax Views with J.G. Michael, 21 February 2022.
“Settlers and Security: Structures and Subjectivity in State-Formation," keynote lecture (as of 35 mins), Dispossessions and Their Legacies: Comparisons, Intersections, and Connections, Center for Armenian Studies, University of Michigan, 10 February 2021.
"Affective Colonization as Minority Management," Replito, 9 February 2022.
"A New German Historians’ Debate? A Conversation with Sultan Doughan, A. Dirk Moses, and Michael Rothberg (Part I and Part II,"
Journal of the History of Ideas Blog, 2 and 4 February 2022.
"The Problems of Genocide: Dirk Moses on the Language of Transgression and the Genocide Convention in Context," RevDem: Review of Democracy, 20 December 2021.
"The Problems of Genocide: In Discussion with Katja Hoyer," Carl Schurz Haus, Freiburg, 29 November 2021.
"Encounters": A conversation with A. Dirk Moses on his book The Problems of Genocide, IHGMS UMass Amherst, 19 October 2021.
"Rhetorical Excess and Discursive Defensiveness in German Debates," Historiker Streiten, Einstein Forum, 4 October 2021.
"The Problems of Genocide: In Discussion with Michael Rothberg," UCLA Alan D. Leve Center for Jewish Studies, 30 September 2021.
"Dialektik der Normalisierung," Berliner Zeitung, 25 September 2021.
"The Diplomacy of Genocide," keynote lecture, Xinjiang Crisis conference, University of Newcastle, 3 September 2021.
"The Herero and Nama Genocide, the Holocaust, and the Question of German Reparations," E-International Relations, 31 August 2021.
With Howard Rechavia-Taylor.
"Wir haben keinen neuen Historikerstreit, sondern einen neuen Illiberalismus," Berliner Zeitung, 7 August 2021.
"Gedenkt endlich auch der Opfer kolonialer Gräueltaten!" Die Zeit, 14 July 2021.
"Holocaust: Wie gerecht ist unser Gedenken?" interview with Die Zeit, 1 July 2021.
"Die Debatte um die 'Singularität' des Holocaust," interview with 3Sat Kulturzeit, 22 June 2021.
"Dialectic of Vergangenheitsbewältigung," New Fascism Syllabus, 15 June 2021.
"The US and the Question of Palestine," Responsible Statecraft, 29 May 2021.
"The Trump Presidency, the Question of Palestine, and Biden’s Business as Usual," H-Diplo-ISSF Policy Series, 27 May 2021. With Victor Kattan.
"The German Catechism," Geschichte der Gegenwart, 23 May 2021 (in German and Arabic).
New Books in Genocide Studies interview with Jeff Bachman, 14 May 2021.
"Who Counts as a Victim?" Aeon, 10 May 2021.
