Event Videos (2020–2025) — UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies
DAY 2: Is the Pen Mightier than the Sword? Historians, Disputed Ownership of History, and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus
Examining case studies from Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia to Nagorno Karabakh and its surrounding regions and Nakhijevan in Azerbaijan, scholars present comparative and connective histories of how the historian’s craft and its proponents have been implicated in the incitement of conflict and the destruction of cultural heritage. Topics explored include Soviet nationality policy, the production of national histories for the South Caucasian nationalities, the standardization of curricula of national histories under Soviet and post-Soviet rule, and the destruction of historical monuments
Is the Pen Mightier than the Sword? Historians, Disputed Ownership of History, and Ethnic Conflict in the South Caucasus ~ DAY 1
Examining case studies from Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia to Nagorno Karabakh and its surrounding regions and Nakhijevan in Azerbaijan, scholars present comparative and connective histories of how the historian’s craft and its proponents have been implicated in the incitement of conflict and the destruction of cultural heritage. Topics explored include Soviet nationality policy, the production of national histories for the South Caucasian nationalities, the standardization of curricula of national histories under Soviet and post-Soviet rule, and the destruction of historical monuments.
Gender & Intersectionality in Post-Soviet Armenia ~ Saturday, October 16, 2021 Panels
PANELS October 16, 2021- EQUITY AND EMPOWERMENT: Creating and Distributing Resources Beyond the Gap
- WAR, TRAUMA, AND DISPLACEMENT: Gender and Building Peace
Gender & Intersectionality in Post-Soviet Armenia ~ Friday, October 15, 2021 Panels
PANELS October 15, 2021
- ARMENIA'S GENDER TROUBLE: Deconstructing "Anti-Genderism" from Historical, Linguistic, and Socio-Cultural Anthroplogical Perspectives
- POLITICS AND REPRESENTATION: Uprooting Secism, Racism, and Homophobia in Education, Decision Making, and Public Discourse
The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province
One cornerstone of the wartime campaign against Armenians in the Ottoman Empire was the confiscation of their properties and wealth, which were subsequently transferred to Muslim elites and used in reshaping the domestic economy as well as covering wartime expenses.
Indian Diamonds for Mediterranean Coral: A Global Armenian Family Firm of Gem Merchants at the Crossroads of Caravan and Maritime Trace (ca. 1670-1730)
In this talk, Dr. Tajiryan will briefly explore the importance of family firms in New Julfan history, the main caravan and maritime trade routes and the global circulation of luxury commodities in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Through the lens of the commercial activities of the Minasian agents in the global exchange of diamonds and coral, this talk will situate New Julfans in the larger context of early modern Asian and global trade
INTERNMENT AND DESTRUCTION: Concentration Camps During the Armenian Genocide
Providing an overview of the structure, administration, life, and resistance in concentration camps based on Armenian accounts, Ottoman archives, and western diplomatic records, Mouradian argues that this glaring manifestation of total war, one directed towards the empire’s very own Armenian subjects, constitutes an important moment of transition in the use internment as a weapon of annihilation.
THE UNSPOKEN AS HERITAGE: The Armenian Genocide and Its Unaccounted Lives
Harry Harootunian’s The Unspoken as Heritage: The Armenian Genocide and its Unaccounted Lives is an attempt to reach an unattainable history by addressing the experience and memories of his parents, who escaped the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1916 and migrated to the United States to confront the magnitude of a second challenge of adaptation and economic security in an entirely different environment.
PAGING THROUGH PHOTOS AND SONGS: H. Mark and K. Ghazarosian’s Friendship in Post-Genocide Istanbul
Dr. Lerna Ekmekcioglu and Dr. Melissa Bilal, through photographs, letters, and pages of sheet music, follow the story of a friendship between two Armenian women in Istanbul that endured the hardships of WWI, the Armenian Genocide, and early republican Turkey’s repressive minority politics.
Feminism, Theology, and Liberation in Mari Beylerian's Writings
In this lecture, Dr. Melissa Bilal talks about Mari Beylerian’s legacy as a staunch feminist writer, an activist committed to social justice, and a devoted pedagogue who disappeared amidst the horrors of the genocide.