Current Year — Ararat Eskijian Museum

“If genocide, as a practice that includes murder and plunder, is orchestrated by a central authority but implemented at the local level,” Ümit Kurt asks, “what is the relationship between local and central authorities?” What are the incentives and motives that lead to mass participation?

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.

In this lecture, Dr. Melissa Bilal will talk 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.

The mountains of Armenia are home to unique monuments traditionally called by the people vishapakar (dragon stone). The main centers of their distribution are Mount Aragats and the Geghama mountains.

Professor Ronald Grigor Suny explores the benefits and the wages of nationalism, its costs to a small nation, and how it has contributed to the tragic moment the country faces today. Sossie Kasbarian is discussant.

This lecture is part of the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute Distinguished Lecture Series, which is co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).