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A collection of essays about Armenian identity and belonging in the diaspora. In the century since the Armenian Genocide, Armenian survivors and their descendants have written of a vast range of experiences using storytelling and activism, two important aspects of Armenian culture. Wrestling with questions of home and self, diasporan Armenian writers bear the burden of repeatedly telling their history, as it remains widely erased and obfuscated. Telling this history requires a tangled balance of contextualizing the past and reporting on the present, of respecting a culture even while feeling lost within it. We Are All Armenian brings together established and emerging Armenian authors to reflect on the complications of Armenian ethnic identity today. These personal essays elevate diasporic voices that have been historically silenced inside and outside of their communities, including queer, multiracial, and multiethnic writers. The eighteen contributors to this contemporary anthology explore issues of displacement, assimilation, inheritance, and broader definitions of home. Through engaging creative nonfiction, many of them question what it is to be Armenian enough inside an often unacknowledged community.
We Armenians Survived! The Battle of Marash,1920 is an unbelievable story of luck and the life affirming instincts of Armenians, including the author's family, who not only survived this devastating battle but grew to find more strength, after being enmeshed in one of the more brutal genocidal events within the larger period of the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1923 in Turkey.The Battle of Marash was one of the last major campaigns in the Turkish struggle for independence from 1919-1923 which subjected Armenians and other Christian people to unimaginable levels of hatred, brutality, violence and psychological trauma by Turks and Kurds.These Armenian survivors' stories depict also how they overcame their brutal history-to various extents-via diaspora and rebirth across continents. Their personal stories, lives, and denouements are a heartening tribute to acknowledging world history and human wrongs.
Pertinent to contemporary demands for reparations from Turkey is the relationship between law and property in connection with the Armenian Genocide. This book examines the confiscation of Armenian properties during the genocide and subsequent attempts to retain seized Armenian wealth. Through the close analysis of laws and treaties, it reveals that decrees issued during the genocide constitute central pillars of the Turkish system of property rights, retaining their legal validity, and although Turkey has acceded through international agreements to return Armenian properties, it continues to refuse to do so. The book demonstrates that genocides do not depend on the abolition of the legal system and elimination of rights, but that, on the contrary, the perpetrators of genocide manipulate the legal system to facilitate their plans.
National Book Critics Circle Award Finalist: A young Armenian-American moves to Istanbul to confront questions of history, loyalty, and loving your enemy. Meline Toumani grew up in a close-knit Armenian community in New Jersey where Turkish restaurants were shunned and products made in Turkey were boycotted. The source of this enmity was the Armenian genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, and Turkey’s refusal to acknowledge it. A century onward, Armenian and Turkish lobbies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to convince governments, courts, and scholars of their clashing versions of history. Frustrated by her community’s all-consuming campaigns for genocide recognition, Toumani leaves a promising job at the New York Times and moves to Istanbul. Instead of demonizing Turks, she sets out to understand them, and in a series of extraordinary encounters over the course of four years, she tries to talk about the Armenian issue, finding her way into conversations that are taboo and sometimes illegal. Along the way, we get a snapshot of Turkish society in the throes of change, and an intimate portrait of a writer coming to terms with the issues that drove her halfway across the world. In this far-reaching quest, Toumani probes universal questions: how to belong to a community without conforming to it, how to acknowledge a tragedy without exploiting it, and most importantly how to remember a genocide without perpetuating the kind of hatred that gave rise to it in the first place. “Although this book offers plenty of insight—funny, affectionate, often frustrated—into a unique diasporic culture, Toumani is ultimately less interested in what makes a person Armenian, Turkish or anything else than in what can happen when we start to think beyond those national identities.” —The Washington Post “A remarkable memoir.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “An unusual book: courageous, intriguing, and at moments, despite its subject, unexpectedly funny. And [Toumani’s] determination to understand and put behind her a century of hatred has echoes for more peoples than just Turks and Armenians.” —Adam Hochschild, author of To End All Wars: A Story of Loyalty and Rebellion, 1914–1918 “This deft combination of political and personal narrative is an attempt to cross one of the modern world’s most sensitive divides. With warmth and feeling, it shows why so many people and nations are imprisoned by the past, and what can happen when they set themselves free.” —Stephen Kinzer, author of Crescent and Star: Turkey Between Two Worlds
A comprehensive introduction to the historical forces and recent social and political developments that have shaped today's Armenian people. With contributions from leading Armenian, American and European specialists, the book focuses on identity formation, exploring how the Armenians' perceptions of themselves and their place in the world are informed by their history, culture and present-day situation. The book also covers contemporary politics, economy and society, and relates these to ongoing debates over future directions for the Armenian people, both in the homeland and in the diaspora communities.
In 1915, Armenian Christians in Turkey were forced to convert to Islam, barred from speaking their language, and often driven out of their homes as the Turkish army embarked on a widespread campaign of intimidation and murder. In this riveting book, Margaret Ajemian Ahnert relates her mother Ester's terrifying experiences as a young woman during this period of hatred and brutality. At age 15, Ester was separated from her family during a forced march away from her birth town of Amasia. Though she faced unspeakable horrors at the hands of many she met, and was forced into an abusive marriage against her will, she never lost her faith, quick wit, or ability to see the good in people. Eventually she escaped and emigrated to America. Ahnert's compelling account of her mother's suffering is framed by an intimate portrait of her relationship with her 98-year-old mother. Ester's inspiring stories, told lovingly by her daughter, will give you a window into the harrowing struggle of Armenians during a terrible period in human history.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, millions of immigrants came to the United States in search of a better life and greater opportunities for their families. However, the Armenians who came to Worcester between 1894 and 1930 were escaping a devastating genocide that tore their country apart. What they found and how they became an integral part of Worcester culture and history is the story found in Armenians of Worcester. Worcester was a mecca for many Armenians, who had escaped with little more than their lives. There were mills that provided work, and there was a growing number of Armenians who were struggling to make sense of what had happened in their homeland. The first Armenian Apostolic church and the first Armenian Protestant church in America were both in this city, and both helped to build new foundations for a community that was to enrich the city and slowly resurrect the art, theater, music, and food that celebrates the Armenian culture. The Armenian picnics that were an integrating influence in the early years continue even today as a gathering of clans and all who join in on these days of celebration.
There is a great deal of interest in the history of Armenia since its renewed independence in the 1990s and the ongoing debate about the genocide - an interest that informs the strong desire of a new generation of Armenian Americans to learn more about their heritage and has led to greater solidarity in the community. By integrating themes such as war, geopolitics, and great leaders, with the less familiar cultural themes and personal stories, this book will appeal to general readers and travellers interested in the region.
Survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915 and their descendants have used music to adjust to a life in exile and counter fears of obscurity. In this nuanced and richly detailed study, Sylvia Angelique Alajaji shows how the boundaries of Armenian music and identity have been continually redrawn: from the identification of folk music with an emergent Armenian nationalism under Ottoman rule to the early postgenocide diaspora community of Armenian musicians in New York, a more self-consciously nationalist musical tradition that emerged in Armenian communities in Lebanon, and more recent clashes over music and politics in California. Alajaji offers a critical look at the complex and multilayered forces that shape identity within communities in exile, demonstrating that music is deeply enmeshed in these processes. Multimedia components available online include video and audio recordings to accompany each case study.