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Merced Sun-Star , CA
April 13 2012
Spendlove winner recalls Armenian genocide
By YESENIA AMARO -
Trauma from the Armenian genocide remains alive to this day, said
Peter Balakian, an award-winning author and a leading voice of the
genocide's recognition.
Activists say the genocide began in 1915, when the Turks rounded up
the Armenian population and killed and deported between a million and
a million and a half of them. In the aftermath, the Turkish government
has tried to cover up the crime and has been in denial, which "it's a
kind of an ongoing traumatic reality," Balakian said during a press
conference Thursday afternoon. "To deal with this assault from the
Turkish government today, keeps the wound very open."
Balakian was at UC Merced to receive the 2012 Alice and Clifford
Spendlove Prize. The award was presented to him during an evening
ceremony.
He will give a public talk today at 10 a.m. at the university's
Kolligian Library, room 355.
The Spendlove Prize honors people who exemplify social justice,
diplomacy and tolerance in their work.
Last year's recipient was former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz
Reynoso, and the year before it was former President Jimmy Carter.
Most of Balakian's maternal grandmother's family was murdered during
the genocide, he said, adding that his father's family was slightly
more fortunate.
Balakian said that as a child, he found himself surrounded by what he
calls puzzles -- encoded messages about the trauma of the past. "I
didn't know what to make of them as a kid," he said. "It wasn't really
until I began to write as an adult, first as a poet, then as a
nonfiction writer, that I began to probe how the trauma was
transmitted to me."
The aftermath never ends, and that is known from studying human rights
histories, he said. "The trauma is passed on from generation to
generation in different forms," he said.
Balakian has written about this history and about that of his own
family. In his memoir, "Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers
His Armenian Past," he talks about the transmission of trauma across
generations. "I can hardly say that I'm traumatized in the way the
survivors are traumatized and witnesses are traumatized, but I do
think that the scars and wounds of the history are transmitted, and
often in complicated ways," he said. "In my family, these matters were
not spoken about openly; in fact, they were quite repressed, but I
came to see that it was really not possible to repress trauma fully."
Balakian said he hopes that his readers have been able to take away
some knowledge of this history and the complexity of the aftermath of
that history. "The long aftermath of any history is always rich," he
said. "So my hope is literature makes a difference."
He said he was honored to have received the award, but what was more
moving for him was that the Armenia genocide, its legacy and the
denials by the Turkish government are acknowledged as an important
part of social justice. "That's moving to me and I'm honored to be
among many people who have worked hard on this history."
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/04/13/2306519/spendlove-winner-recalls-armenian.html
From: A. Papazian
April 13 2012
Spendlove winner recalls Armenian genocide
By YESENIA AMARO -
Trauma from the Armenian genocide remains alive to this day, said
Peter Balakian, an award-winning author and a leading voice of the
genocide's recognition.
Activists say the genocide began in 1915, when the Turks rounded up
the Armenian population and killed and deported between a million and
a million and a half of them. In the aftermath, the Turkish government
has tried to cover up the crime and has been in denial, which "it's a
kind of an ongoing traumatic reality," Balakian said during a press
conference Thursday afternoon. "To deal with this assault from the
Turkish government today, keeps the wound very open."
Balakian was at UC Merced to receive the 2012 Alice and Clifford
Spendlove Prize. The award was presented to him during an evening
ceremony.
He will give a public talk today at 10 a.m. at the university's
Kolligian Library, room 355.
The Spendlove Prize honors people who exemplify social justice,
diplomacy and tolerance in their work.
Last year's recipient was former California Supreme Court Justice Cruz
Reynoso, and the year before it was former President Jimmy Carter.
Most of Balakian's maternal grandmother's family was murdered during
the genocide, he said, adding that his father's family was slightly
more fortunate.
Balakian said that as a child, he found himself surrounded by what he
calls puzzles -- encoded messages about the trauma of the past. "I
didn't know what to make of them as a kid," he said. "It wasn't really
until I began to write as an adult, first as a poet, then as a
nonfiction writer, that I began to probe how the trauma was
transmitted to me."
The aftermath never ends, and that is known from studying human rights
histories, he said. "The trauma is passed on from generation to
generation in different forms," he said.
Balakian has written about this history and about that of his own
family. In his memoir, "Black Dog of Fate: An American Son Uncovers
His Armenian Past," he talks about the transmission of trauma across
generations. "I can hardly say that I'm traumatized in the way the
survivors are traumatized and witnesses are traumatized, but I do
think that the scars and wounds of the history are transmitted, and
often in complicated ways," he said. "In my family, these matters were
not spoken about openly; in fact, they were quite repressed, but I
came to see that it was really not possible to repress trauma fully."
Balakian said he hopes that his readers have been able to take away
some knowledge of this history and the complexity of the aftermath of
that history. "The long aftermath of any history is always rich," he
said. "So my hope is literature makes a difference."
He said he was honored to have received the award, but what was more
moving for him was that the Armenia genocide, its legacy and the
denials by the Turkish government are acknowledged as an important
part of social justice. "That's moving to me and I'm honored to be
among many people who have worked hard on this history."
http://www.mercedsunstar.com/2012/04/13/2306519/spendlove-winner-recalls-armenian.html
From: A. Papazian