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PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
DIKRAN KALIGIAN AND MARC MAMIGONIAN
TO DISCUSS `THE STATE OF DENIAL' AT NAASR
Dikran Kaligian and Marc A. Mamigonian will give a joint lecture
exploring the rhetoric and techniques of academic denial of the
Armenian Genocide entitled `The State of Denial: Manufacturing a
Scholarly Controversy, Denying a Genocide,' on Tuesday, May 6, 2014,
at 7:30 p.m., at the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) Center , 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
>From its origins in the World War I era, denial of the Armenian
Genocide emerged in American universities during the Cold War. Bent
on `dissipating the heavy cloud that blotted the reputation of the
Turkish nation' (in the words of Richard Hovannisian), a cadre of
academics in Turkish and Ottoman Studies ignored, minimized, or denied
the Armenian Genocide, a formative event in the shaping of modern
Turkey. Today, however, a growing body of critical scholarship and
documentation of the Armenian Genocide has rendered traditional
strategies of silencing and denial increasingly untenable, thus
necessitating new methods of denial.
Turkey and those who support its official narrative have responded
with a multi-faceted effort to construct a legitimate scholarly
controversy around `the events of 1915' - a controversy that can
never, of course, be resolved in their opponents' favor. Such
manufactured controversy is a time-tested strategy, long employed by
entities from Big Tobacco to the so-called `skeptics' of global
warming who seek to gain academic credibility for positions not
otherwise supportable by scholarship. In this joint presentation,
Mamigonian will trace, briefly, the early development of Armenian
Genocide denial but will focus on more recent refinements and the
penetration of denial within American academia. Parallel examples of
denialist rhetoric will be compared across genocides as well as in the
natural sciences. Kaligian will focus on recent publications that
have attempted to establish a widespread `Armenian rebellion' to which
the `deportations' were a reasonable and justifiable response.
Dikran Kaligian is currently an instructor at Worcester State
University. He has also taught at Clark University, Regis, Westfield
State, and Wheaton colleges. He is past chairperson of the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) Eastern United States and
managing editor of the Armenian Review. He received his Ph.D. in
history from Boston College and is the author of the book Armenian
Organization and Ideology under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914. Marc
A. Mamigonian is the Director of Academic Affairs of NAASR. He is the
editor of the publications Rethinking Armenian Studies and The
Armenians of New England and the Journal of Armenian Studies.
Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Bookstore will open at 7:00 p.m. The NAASR Center is located opposite
the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample
parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas. The
lecture will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling
617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing
to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
DIKRAN KALIGIAN AND MARC MAMIGONIAN
TO DISCUSS `THE STATE OF DENIAL' AT NAASR
Dikran Kaligian and Marc A. Mamigonian will give a joint lecture
exploring the rhetoric and techniques of academic denial of the
Armenian Genocide entitled `The State of Denial: Manufacturing a
Scholarly Controversy, Denying a Genocide,' on Tuesday, May 6, 2014,
at 7:30 p.m., at the National Association for Armenian Studies and
Research (NAASR) Center , 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA.
>From its origins in the World War I era, denial of the Armenian
Genocide emerged in American universities during the Cold War. Bent
on `dissipating the heavy cloud that blotted the reputation of the
Turkish nation' (in the words of Richard Hovannisian), a cadre of
academics in Turkish and Ottoman Studies ignored, minimized, or denied
the Armenian Genocide, a formative event in the shaping of modern
Turkey. Today, however, a growing body of critical scholarship and
documentation of the Armenian Genocide has rendered traditional
strategies of silencing and denial increasingly untenable, thus
necessitating new methods of denial.
Turkey and those who support its official narrative have responded
with a multi-faceted effort to construct a legitimate scholarly
controversy around `the events of 1915' - a controversy that can
never, of course, be resolved in their opponents' favor. Such
manufactured controversy is a time-tested strategy, long employed by
entities from Big Tobacco to the so-called `skeptics' of global
warming who seek to gain academic credibility for positions not
otherwise supportable by scholarship. In this joint presentation,
Mamigonian will trace, briefly, the early development of Armenian
Genocide denial but will focus on more recent refinements and the
penetration of denial within American academia. Parallel examples of
denialist rhetoric will be compared across genocides as well as in the
natural sciences. Kaligian will focus on recent publications that
have attempted to establish a widespread `Armenian rebellion' to which
the `deportations' were a reasonable and justifiable response.
Dikran Kaligian is currently an instructor at Worcester State
University. He has also taught at Clark University, Regis, Westfield
State, and Wheaton colleges. He is past chairperson of the Armenian
National Committee of America (ANCA) Eastern United States and
managing editor of the Armenian Review. He received his Ph.D. in
history from Boston College and is the author of the book Armenian
Organization and Ideology under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914. Marc
A. Mamigonian is the Director of Academic Affairs of NAASR. He is the
editor of the publications Rethinking Armenian Studies and The
Armenians of New England and the Journal of Armenian Studies.
Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR
Bookstore will open at 7:00 p.m. The NAASR Center is located opposite
the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample
parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas. The
lecture will begin promptly at 7:30 p.m.
More information about the lecture is available by calling
617-489-1610, faxing 617-484-1759, e-mailing [email protected], or writing
to NAASR, 395 Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.