Leo Kuper (20 November 1908 – 23 May 1994) was a South African sociologist specialising in the study of

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the ...

Early life and legal career

Kuper was born to a

Lithuanian Jewish Lithuanian Jews or Litvaks () are Jews with roots in the territory of the former Grand Duchy of Lithuania (covering present-day Lithuania, Belarus, Latvia, the northeastern Suwałki and Białystok regions of Poland, as well as adjacent ...

family. His siblings included his sister Mary (d. 1948), who in later life directed the Johannesburg Legal Aid Bureau. Kuper trained in law at the

University of the Witwatersrand The University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg (), is a multi-campus South African public research university situated in the northern areas of central Johannesburg. It is more commonly known as Wits University or Wits ( or ). The university ...

, receiving there his BA and LLB degrees. As a lawyer, he represented African clients in human-rights cases, and also represented one of the country's early non- segregated

trade union A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ...

s. He supported the establishment of South Africa's first

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to c ...

charity.

Wartime service

Kuper served with the Eighth Army in Kenya, Egypt, and Italy, as an

intelligence officer An intelligence officer is a person employed by an organization to collect, compile or analyze information (known as intelligence) which is of use to that organization. The word of ''officer'' is a working title, not a rank, used in the same way ...

, from 1940 to 1946. After the war he organised the National War Memorial Health Foundation, which provided social and medical services for disadvantaged people from all backgrounds.

Scholarly and political activities

In 1947 Kuper went to the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC S ...

, where he earned an M.A. in sociology. He was subsequently appointed Lecturer in Sociology at the

University of Birmingham , mottoeng = Through efforts to heights , established = 1825 – Birmingham School of Medicine and Surgery1836 – Birmingham Royal School of Medicine and Surgery1843 – Queen's College1875 – Mason Science College1898 – Mason Univers ...

in England. At Birmingham, Kuper directed a research project intended to help the city of

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

recover from the bombing it received during World War II. This project culminated in the publication of ''Living in Towns'' (1953). Kuper completed a doctorate in sociology at the University of Birmingham in 1952, and moved to

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

, South Africa, as Professor of Sociology at the

University of Natal The University of Natal was a university in the former South African province Natal which later became KwaZulu-Natal. The University of Natal no longer exists as a distinct legal entity, as it was incorporated into the University of KwaZulu-N ...

. Kuper was an active opponent of

apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

. Under his headship, the Sociology Department at the

was the only integrated academic department in South Africa. Kuper and his colleague

Fatima Meer Fatima Meer (12 August 1928 – 12 March 2010) was a South African writer, academic, screenwriter, and prominent anti-apartheid activist. Early life Fatima Meer was born in the Grey Streets of Durban, South Africa, into a middle-class famil ...

were subjected to

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

by the apartheid government, and classes taught in the department were infiltrated by government spies, resulting in a

chilling effect In a legal context, a chilling effect is the inhibition or discouragement of the legitimate exercise of natural and legal rights by the threat of legal sanction. A chilling effect may be caused by legal actions such as the passing of a law, the ...

. During his time in Durban, Kuper co-founded the

Liberal Party of South Africa The Liberal Party of South Africa was a South African political party from 1953 to 1968. Founding The party was founded on 9 May 1953 at a meeting of the South African Liberal Association in Cape Town. Essentially it grew out of a belief that ...

, and became chairman of its Natal branch. On 6 December 1956, Kuper and

Alan Paton Alan Stewart Paton (11 January 1903 – 12 April 1988) was a South African writer and anti-apartheid activist. His works include the novels '' Cry, the Beloved Country'' and '' Too Late the Phalarope''. Family Paton was born in Pietermaritzbu ...

spoke on behalf of the Liberal Party at a fundraising event in Durban in aid of the

Treason Trial The Treason Trial was a trial in Johannesburg in which 156 people, including Nelson Mandela, were arrested in a raid and accused of treason in South Africa in 1956. The main trial lasted until 1961, when all of the defendants were found not gu ...

defendants. They and four other speakers were arrested and charged under a segregationist statute, the Natal Provincial Notice No. 78 of 1933, accused of "holding, or attending, or participating in ... a meeting of natives". Of the ensuing trial, Paton recalled: On 1 August 1957, all six defendants were acquitted on appeal. During the 1960s, Kuper moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...

, United States, where he took up teaching and researching at

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California ...

and was appointed professor of sociology. His publications include ''The Pity of it All'', ''Passive Resistance in South Africa'', and ''The Prevention of Genocide''. His book '' Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century'' (1981) was particularly widely cited. Kuper was a founding member of the International Council of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem. In the mid-1980s, he founded

International Alert International Alert is a global peacebuilding charity offering dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities focusing on solving the root causes of conflict with people from across divides. For over 30 yea ...

, with the support of Michael Young, Martin Ennals and others.

Personal life

In 1936, Kuper married anthropologist Hilda Beemer, with whom he had two daughters: the international human rights lawyer Dr Jenny Kuper and the painter and sculptor Mary Kuper.

Works

# # Passive Resistance in South Africa by Leo Kuper (New Haven, Yale University Press, 1957, 256 p., 4 p. of plates : ill. ; 21 cm). # # # # Pp. xviii+ 452. 21s. paperback. # # # # # # # # # # Cases and Materials on Genocide by Leo Kuper Foundation Staff, Publisher: Routledge (/1859419291). # Genocide Reader (Criminology) by Leo Kuper Foundation, Routledge Cavendish, 1 January 2007, 600 pages. # ''"Blueprint for Living Together"'' in Leo Kuper, ed., Living in Towns, London, 1953. # # # # # # ''"Techniques. of Social Control in South Africa"'' by Leo Kuper, Listener 55, 31 May 1956, pp. 708. # "''Rights and riots in Natal''" by Leo Kuper In Africa South, Vol.4, No.2, Jan–Mar 1960, pp. 20–26. # ''"The Heightening of Racial Tension"'' by Leo Kuper, In The Heightening of Racial Tension, Vol.2, 1960, pp. 24–32. # ''"Ethnic and Racial Pluralism: Some Aspects of Polarization and Depluralization."'' In Leo Kuper and MG. Smith, M.G. (Eds) Pluralism in Africa. Berkeley and Los # ''"Racialism and Integration in South African Society"'' by Leo Kuper, In Racialism and Integration in South African Society, Vol.4, 1963, pp. 26–31. # ''"The problem of violence in South Africa"'' by Leo Kuper, in Inquiry (Taylor & Francis), Vol.7 (1–4), 1964, pages 295–303. # ''"Book Review: Caneville: The Social Structure of a South African Town. Pierre L. Van Den Berghe, Edna Miller"'' by Leo Kuper, In American Journal of Sociology, Vol.71 (1), 1965, pp. 115. # ''"Neighbour on the Hearth."'' by Leo Kuper – Environmental Psychology: Man and His Physical Setting, edited by H. M. Proshansky, W. H. Ittelson and L. G. Rivlin, (New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1970). # ''"Continuities and Discontinuities in Race Relations: Evolutionary or Revolutionary Change"'' by Leo Kuper in Cahiers d'études africaines ( published by EHESS ), Vol. 10, Cahier 39, 1970, pp. 361–383. # # ''"African Nationalism in South Africa, 1910–1964"'' by Leo Kuper in The Oxford History of South Africa, Vol. II, M. Wilson and L. Thompson (eds.), Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971, pp. 424–476. # # # ''"Book Review: Ethnicity and Resource Competition in Plural Societies. Leo A. Despres"'' by Leo Kuper, In American Journal of Sociology, Vol.82 (5), 1977, pp. 1146. # ''"Types of Genocide and Mass Murder"'' by Leo Kuper, In Israel W. Charny (ed.) Toward the understanding and prevention of genocide: Proceedings of the International Conference on the Holocaust and Genocide. Boulder and London: Westview Press, 1984, pages 32–47. # # ''"The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide."'', by Robert Jay Lifton and by Leo Kuper, Political Science Quarterly, Vol.102 (1), March 1987, pp. 175. # ''"In the Belly of the Beast: The Modern State as Mass Murderer"'' by Robin M. Williams, Leo Kuper, in Contemporary Sociology, Vol.16 (4), 1987, pp. 502. # ''"Genocide and the Modern Age: Etiology and Case Studies of Mass Death"'' by Leo Kuper, Isidor Walliman, Michael N. Dobkowski, In Contemporary Sociology, Vol.17 (1), 1988, pp. 24. # # ''"Theological warrants for genocide: Judaism, Islam and Christianity"'' by Leo Kuper – Terrorism and Political Violence, Volume 2, Issue 3, 1990, pages 351–379. # ''"On Jewish Disconnection from Other Genocides."'' by Leo Kuper – Internet on the Holocaust and Genocide, Issues 49–50, Special Section, 1990, p. 7. # Revolution and Genocide: On the Origins of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, 2nd edition by Robert Melson, Leo Kuper (Introduction), Leo Kuper (Foreword by) # # ''"The Genocidal State: An Overview"'', by Leo Kuper in Pierre L. van den Berghe, ed., State Violence and Ethnicity (Niwot, CO: University Press of Colorado), 1990, pp. 44. # ''"The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group Violence."'' by Leo Kuper, Ervin Staub, In Contemporary Sociology, Vol.19 (5), 1990, pp. 683. # ''"The Genocidal Mentality: Nazi Holocaust and Nuclear Threat"'' by Leo Kuper, Robert Jay Lifton, Erik Markusen, In Contemporary Sociology, Vol.20 (2), 1991, pp. 217. # ''"Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917"'' by Leo Kuper, R. J. Rummel, In Contemporary Sociology, Vol.20 (3), 1991, pp. 433. # ''"Reflections on the Prevention of Genocide,"'' by Leo Kuper in Helen Fein (Ed.) Genocide Watch. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1992, pp. 135–161. # ''"Theoretical Issues relating to Genocide: Uses and Abuses"'' by Leo Kuper in G.J. Andreopoulos (ed.), Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 1994, p. 31-46.

Notes and references

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External links

Leo Kuper Foundation website ?

Research biography and collection detailsCollections archived by University of California
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kuper, Leo 1908 births 1994 deaths 20th-century South African lawyers Alumni of the University of Birmingham Jewish South African anti-apartheid activists Genocide education Liberal Party of South Africa politicians People from Johannesburg South African emigrants to the United States South African Jews South African people of Lithuanian-Jewish descent South African writers University of California, Los Angeles faculty White South African anti-apartheid activists