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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]
BEDROSS DER MATOSSIAN TO PRESENT
"SHATTERED DREAMS OF REVOLUTION" IN TALK AT NAASR
Dr. Bedross Der Matossian will present a talk entitled "Shattered
Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman
Empire," on Friday, November 7, 2014, at 8:00 p.m., at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
The Ottoman revolution of 1908 is a study in
contradictions-a positive manifestation of modernity intended to
reinstate constitutional rule, yet ultimately a negative event that
shook the fundamental structures of the empire, opening up ethnic,
religious, and political conflicts. Bedross Der Matossian's
just-published Shattered Dreams of Revolution (Stanford University
Press) considers this revolutionary event to tell the stories of three
important groups: Arabs, Armenians, and Jews. The revolution raised
these groups' expectations for new opportunities of inclusion and
citizenship. But as post-revolutionary festivities ended, these
euphoric feelings soon turned to pessimism and a dramatic rise in
ethnic tensions.
The undoing of the revolutionary dreams could be found in
the very foundations of the revolution itself. Inherent ambiguities
and contradictions in the revolution's goals and the reluctance of
both the authors of
the revolution and the empire's ethnic groups to come to a compromise
regarding the new political framework of the empire ultimately proved
untenable. The revolutionaries had never been wholeheartedly
committed to constitutionalism, thus constitutionalism failed to
create a new understanding of Ottoman citizenship, grant equal rights
to all citizens, and bring them under one roof in a legislative assembly.
Bedross Der Matossian is Assistant Professor of History at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a graduate of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and holds a Ph.D. in the Department of Middle
East, Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University.
Shattered Dreams of Revolution will be available for purchase and
signing by Dr. Der Matossian.
For more information about Dr. Der Matossian's talk contact NAASR at
617-489-1610 [email protected].
Belmont, MA
October 23, 2014
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
BEDROSS DER MATOSSIAN TO PRESENT
"SHATTERED DREAMS OF REVOLUTION" IN TALK AT NAASR
Dr. Bedross Der Matossian will present a talk entitled "Shattered
Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman
Empire," on Friday, November 7, 2014, at 8:00 p.m., at the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395
Concord Ave., Belmont, MA 02478.
The Ottoman revolution of 1908 is a study in
contradictions-a positive manifestation of modernity intended to
reinstate constitutional rule, yet ultimately a negative event that
shook the fundamental structures of the empire, opening up ethnic,
religious, and political conflicts. Bedross Der Matossian's
just-published Shattered Dreams of Revolution (Stanford University
Press) considers this revolutionary event to tell the stories of three
important groups: Arabs, Armenians, and Jews. The revolution raised
these groups' expectations for new opportunities of inclusion and
citizenship. But as post-revolutionary festivities ended, these
euphoric feelings soon turned to pessimism and a dramatic rise in
ethnic tensions.
The undoing of the revolutionary dreams could be found in
the very foundations of the revolution itself. Inherent ambiguities
and contradictions in the revolution's goals and the reluctance of
both the authors of
the revolution and the empire's ethnic groups to come to a compromise
regarding the new political framework of the empire ultimately proved
untenable. The revolutionaries had never been wholeheartedly
committed to constitutionalism, thus constitutionalism failed to
create a new understanding of Ottoman citizenship, grant equal rights
to all citizens, and bring them under one roof in a legislative assembly.
Bedross Der Matossian is Assistant Professor of History at the
University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a graduate of the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and holds a Ph.D. in the Department of Middle
East, Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University.
Shattered Dreams of Revolution will be available for purchase and
signing by Dr. Der Matossian.
For more information about Dr. Der Matossian's talk contact NAASR at
617-489-1610 [email protected].
Belmont, MA
October 23, 2014