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NEW GENERATIONS OF ARMENIAN-AMERICANS STILL PASSIONATE ABOUT RECOGNIZING GENOCIDE
89.3 KPCC-
April 16 2015
April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of what's known
as the Armenian genocide, the killing of at least a million Armenian
minority members by ruling Ottoman Turks in what then was the Ottoman
Empire.
The 1915 killings spurred the migration of survivors to the United
States and elsewhere, essentially creating the modern Armenian
diaspora. And four, even five generations in, the memory is still
vivid for Armenian-Americans whose ancestors survived.
Monday night outside the Egyptian Theater, two fourth-generation
Armenian-American filmmakers unveiled their feature film "1915,"
a psychological thriller set in the modern day that's based on the
genocide. The theater was packed with moviegoers who learned about
the genocide growing up.
"I would hear it from my parents, who were the ones who heard it from
their parents, who survived," said Alec Mouhibian, 30, who co-directed
the film.
Third-, fourth- and even fifth-generation Armenian-Americans keep
the memory of the killings alive through word of mouth, art and,
more recently, social media.
It's a subject that's long been brought up in the music of the
Armenian-American-led metal band System of a Down. More recently,
reality star Kim Kardashian -- who just traveled with husband Kanye
West to Armenia -- has tweeted about her visit and the genocide.
UCLA historian Richard Hovannisian says there are reasons for this
strong cultural thread. The Turkish government has never recognized
the killings as a genocide. And while several countries have formally
recognized that a genocide occurred, the United States has not formally
done so.
"Most people in the diaspora don't need a dollar or $10 from the
perpetrators' side, but the fact is that it's symbolically important,"
Hovannisian said. "The acknowledgment of wrongdoing and trying to
make some kinds of amends belatedly is a great deal."
Hovannisian is the son of a survivor. His grandmother died in the
genocide, and his father spoke little of what he endured as a child;
his trauma only became evident at night, when he cried out for his
mother in his sleep.
Twenty-eight-year-old Garin Hovannisian, the professor's grandson,
is also co-director of "1915." He said the lack of recognition of
the genocide is what inspires his activism, four generations later.
"The clear and obvious answer is denial," said the younger
Hovannisian. "When a government comes and kills your families and burns
your villages and begins a century-long process of saying that never
happened, that creates the natural instinct to remember even stronger."
The film he made with Mouhibian explores trauma and other themes as
its characters prepare to stage a historical play about the genocide.
And that's another thing that's tricked down through generations,
said 38-year-old Helen Kalognomos, who was at the premiere.
"That trauma is passed down. It's something that you feel when your
mother or your grandmother talks about it," said Kalognomos, a comic
actress. "It's a feeling that transcends."
Part of that trauma is the loss of cultural connection, said Richard
Hovannisian. Survivors of the genocide were shut out of their ancestral
homeland afterward, unable to go back.
"So an iron curtain came down between the homeland and survivors,
and this, in a sense, aggravates the situation, because not only was
it a loss of life, it was a loss of cultural heritage," he said.
Playwright Lory Tatoulian said this prompts a kind of drive to keep
culture alive, even among some younger Armenian-Americans.
"That land was taken away from us, our history," said Tatoulian, 37,
whose Big Bad Armos sketch comedy troupe does its part by riffing
lovingly on Armenian cultural stereotypes. "Our history, our history
goes back to Noah's Ark, thousands and thousands of years, and that
was like -- that's not yours any more. So it's sort of like you are
carrying this burden, this pain that won't go away."
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/04/16/50983/many-generations-in-younger-armenian-americans-sti/
89.3 KPCC-
April 16 2015
April 24 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of what's known
as the Armenian genocide, the killing of at least a million Armenian
minority members by ruling Ottoman Turks in what then was the Ottoman
Empire.
The 1915 killings spurred the migration of survivors to the United
States and elsewhere, essentially creating the modern Armenian
diaspora. And four, even five generations in, the memory is still
vivid for Armenian-Americans whose ancestors survived.
Monday night outside the Egyptian Theater, two fourth-generation
Armenian-American filmmakers unveiled their feature film "1915,"
a psychological thriller set in the modern day that's based on the
genocide. The theater was packed with moviegoers who learned about
the genocide growing up.
"I would hear it from my parents, who were the ones who heard it from
their parents, who survived," said Alec Mouhibian, 30, who co-directed
the film.
Third-, fourth- and even fifth-generation Armenian-Americans keep
the memory of the killings alive through word of mouth, art and,
more recently, social media.
It's a subject that's long been brought up in the music of the
Armenian-American-led metal band System of a Down. More recently,
reality star Kim Kardashian -- who just traveled with husband Kanye
West to Armenia -- has tweeted about her visit and the genocide.
UCLA historian Richard Hovannisian says there are reasons for this
strong cultural thread. The Turkish government has never recognized
the killings as a genocide. And while several countries have formally
recognized that a genocide occurred, the United States has not formally
done so.
"Most people in the diaspora don't need a dollar or $10 from the
perpetrators' side, but the fact is that it's symbolically important,"
Hovannisian said. "The acknowledgment of wrongdoing and trying to
make some kinds of amends belatedly is a great deal."
Hovannisian is the son of a survivor. His grandmother died in the
genocide, and his father spoke little of what he endured as a child;
his trauma only became evident at night, when he cried out for his
mother in his sleep.
Twenty-eight-year-old Garin Hovannisian, the professor's grandson,
is also co-director of "1915." He said the lack of recognition of
the genocide is what inspires his activism, four generations later.
"The clear and obvious answer is denial," said the younger
Hovannisian. "When a government comes and kills your families and burns
your villages and begins a century-long process of saying that never
happened, that creates the natural instinct to remember even stronger."
The film he made with Mouhibian explores trauma and other themes as
its characters prepare to stage a historical play about the genocide.
And that's another thing that's tricked down through generations,
said 38-year-old Helen Kalognomos, who was at the premiere.
"That trauma is passed down. It's something that you feel when your
mother or your grandmother talks about it," said Kalognomos, a comic
actress. "It's a feeling that transcends."
Part of that trauma is the loss of cultural connection, said Richard
Hovannisian. Survivors of the genocide were shut out of their ancestral
homeland afterward, unable to go back.
"So an iron curtain came down between the homeland and survivors,
and this, in a sense, aggravates the situation, because not only was
it a loss of life, it was a loss of cultural heritage," he said.
Playwright Lory Tatoulian said this prompts a kind of drive to keep
culture alive, even among some younger Armenian-Americans.
"That land was taken away from us, our history," said Tatoulian, 37,
whose Big Bad Armos sketch comedy troupe does its part by riffing
lovingly on Armenian cultural stereotypes. "Our history, our history
goes back to Noah's Ark, thousands and thousands of years, and that
was like -- that's not yours any more. So it's sort of like you are
carrying this burden, this pain that won't go away."
http://www.scpr.org/news/2015/04/16/50983/many-generations-in-younger-armenian-americans-sti/