1st Edition

The Armenian Genocide Wartime Radicalization or Premeditated Continuum

By Richard G. Hovannisian Copyright 2007
    468 Pages
    by Routledge

    468 Pages
    by Routledge

    World War I was a watershed, a defining moment, in Armenian history. Its effects were unprecedented in that it resulted in what no other war, invasion, or occupation had achieved in three thousand years of identifiable Armenian existence. This calamity was the physical elimination of the Armenian people and most of the evidence of their ever having lived on the great Armenian Plateau, to which the perpetrator side soon gave the new name of Eastern Anatolia. The bearers of an impressive martial and cultural history, the Armenians had also known repeated trials and tribulations, waves of massacre, captivity, and exile, but even in the darkest of times there had always been enough remaining to revive, rebuild, and go forward.

    This third volume in a series edited by Richard Hovannisian, the dean of Armenian historians, provides a unique fusion of the history, philosophy, literature, art, music, and educational aspects of the Armenian experience. It further provides a rich storehouse of information on comparative dimensions of the Armenian genocide in relation to the Assyrian, Greek and Jewish situations, and beyond that, paradoxes in American and French policy responses to the Armenian genocides. The volume concludes with a trio of essays concerning fundamental questions of historiography and politics that either make possible or can inhibit reconciliation of ancient truths and righting ancient wrongs.

    Preface Part 1: History and Philosophy 1. The Armenian Genocide: Wartime Radicalization or Premeditated Continuum? Richard Hovannisian 2. Philosophy and the Age of Genocide: Reflections on the Armenian Genocide Michael Papazian 3. Rethinking Dehumanization in Genocide Henry C. Theriault 4. Testimony: From Document to Monument Marc Nichanian Part 2: Literature, Art, Film, and Music 5. Across the Chasm: From Catastrophe to Creativity Barlow Der Mugrdechian 6. The Armenian Genocide in James Joyce's Finnegans Wake Marc Aram Mamigonian 7. Historical Memory: Threading the Contemporary Literature of Armenia Rubina Peroomian 8. Leon Tutundjian—TRAuma in ART Jean Murachanian 9. Historicization of the Armenian Catastrophe: From the Concrete to the Mythical Hrag Varjabedian 10. The Diasporic Witness: Reconstruction of Testimony by Contemporary Los Angeles Artists Ramela Grigorian Abbamontian 11. Musical Perspectives on the Armenian Genocide: From Aznavour to System of a Down Jack Der-Sarkissian Part 3: Education 12. No Mandate Left Behind? Genocide Education in the Era of High-Stakes Testing Nicole E. Vartanian 13. Teaching about the Armenian Genocide Adam Strom 14. Exposure of the Armenian Genocide in Cyberspace: A Comparative Analysis Hagop Gulludjian Part 4: Comparative Dimensions 15. The Assyrian Genocide in the Ottoman Empire and Adjacent Territories Anahit Khosroeva 16. Greek Labor Battalions in Asia Minor Speros Vryonis, Jr. 17. Comparative Aspects of the Armenian and Jewish Cases of Genocide Tigran Matosyan 18. The Armenian Genocide in the Syrian Press Nora Arissian 19. A Legacy of Paradox: U.S. Foreign Policy and the Armenian Genocide Suzanne E. Moranian 20. French Society and the Armenian Genocide Philippe Videlier Part 5: Historiography and Reconciliation 21. Turkish Historiography and the Unbearable Weight of 1915 Fatma Muge Go;cek 22. Venturing into the Minefield: Turkish Liberal Historiography and the Armenian Genocide Bedross Der Matossian 23. Can Memory of Genocide Lead to Reconciliation? Elazar Barkan 24. Anatomy of Post-Genocide Reconciliation Simon Payaslian About the Contributors Index

    Biography

    Richard G. Hovannisian