Jacques Semelin is French, a professor at the Institute of Political Studies of Paris at SciencesPo, a selective research university of international standing. It was here that Jacques created a pioneering course on genocide and mass violence, as well as programs on the civil resistance processes in dictatorships.

His research is unequaled. His work is based on a multidisciplinary approach using history, political science, and social psychology. He was the first genocide expert to take this approach. And it is not just the study of the Holocaust. He has done a deep dive into the Rwandan genocide, the ethnic cleansing in Bosnia Herzegovina, as well as the atrocities in Syria, respecting the specificities of each of these appalling phenomena. In the full documentary, I am going to introduce you to his work, his approach.

But the central purpose of this video is to talk about his most recent book, “I want to believe in the sun”, a book far more personal which follows his book “I’m going where I’m a stranger” which was in 2007.

In that 2007 book Jacques tells how he brutally learns at sixteen that he will become blind. For years, he keeps this secret to himself by confronting the anxiety and progression of blindness alone. He then fights to become a researcher, to obtain his PhD and to continue his passion: a deep investigation of genocide, massacres and the themes of resistance. It is a fascinating story.

For more on the making of this video please check out this blog post.