IN CONVERSATION
DR. BEDROSS DER MATOSSIAN, Professor of Modern Middle East History and Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln

MARC A. MAMIGONIAN, Director of Academic Affairs, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)

Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century (Univ. of Nebraska Press, 2023), edited by Bedross Der Matossian, brings together leading scholars from across disciplines to add to the body of genocide scholarship that is challenged by denialist literature and provides insights into how genocide denial is becoming a fact of daily life in the twenty-first century.

Throughout the twenty-first century, genocide denial has evolved and adapted with new strategies to augment and complement established modes of denial. In addition to outright negation, denial of genocide encompasses a range of techniques, including disputes over numbers, contestation of legal definitions, blaming the victim, and various modes of intimidation, such as threats of legal action. Arguably the most effective strategy has been denial through the purposeful creation of misinformation.

In this program, there will be an overview of the volume, which encompasses cases ranging from the genocide of Indigenous People in the United States to the genocidal violence in Syria in the past decade, including three chapters on denial of the Armenian Genocide; and the conversation will also consider the key role of denial in the current crisis in Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabagh), which is increasingly being recognized as a genocide in progress.

Dr. Bedross Der Matossian is Professor of Modern Middle East History and the Hymen Rosenberg Professor in Judaic Studies at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. He is the author of The Horrors of Adana: Revolution and Violence in the Early Twentieth Century and Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire.

Marc A. Mamigonian is the Director of Academic Affairs at NAASR and the author of “Weaponizing the First Amendment: Denial of the Armenian Genocide and the U.S. Courts” in Denial of Genocides in the Twenty-First Century.

CO-SPONSORS
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) / Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecture Series on Contemporary Armenian Issues
Society for Armenian Studies (SAS)

Bedross Der Matossian's books are available from the NAASR Bookstore.