Armenia & Genocide
As Global Scholars, we have recently been discussing global instances of genocide and cultural resistance, and how we can involve ourselves with this resistance. While many of our readings have focused on governmental history and international law's categorical definitions of genocide, we have also watched, read, and had rare opportunities to listen to more personal and emotional speakers on the topic, starting with Arn Chorn Pond and more recently with a panelist group of historians and advocates who work specifically in the fields of Armenian studies and human rights.
One panelist, in fact, was an international human rights lawyer, and his passion for governmental tools inspired me to reflect a bit more on how these on-paper definitions, beyond just checklists for lawyers, can interact with the world. As noted in our Brown curriculum reading, the word genocide itself wasn't defined before 1948, which certainly limited perpetrators ability to evade accountability on a global scale when it was gravely needed after the Holocaust. It did not, however, stop atrocities from being committed, which is obvious in the long list of genocides committed since the convention given by Omer Bartov. Many of them I have heard of, but not learned the long and complicated histories of. At the time being, however we are focusing on the Armenian Genocide and its continuation into and through the 21st century, specifically the recent developments in Artsakh– that almost the entire Armenian population of Artsakh was forced to surrender the city and was expelled from the region with violence and instability this September.
This conflict is especially close to home for those of us living in Los Angeles, where the exodus of the past has given LA the largest population of ethnic Armenians outside of Armenia. When looking for an international source, I turned again towards Italy to see how a place that has almost no cultural representation of Armenians might be reporting on the issue.
The personal article I chose, from the Italian “Courier Della Sera” is entitled, Armenia senza pace, la trentina Maino e le voci dei sopravvissuti all'esodo del 1992 (Armenia without peace, the thirty-year-old Maino and the voices of the survivors of the 1992 exodus).
Author Silvia MC Senette delves into the ongoing crisis faced by Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh amidst the recent conflict, drawing historical parallels to Armenian exodus in 1992 and textbook-genocide in 1915 by interviewing Italian writer Sara Maino, who published a record of her engagements through music and culture.
Maino reflects on her connection with Armenia, which grew from a chance encounter in 2003. Maino was studying music theory and liturgical song when she met refugees from the 1992 Nagorno-Karabakh exodus who lived in a hotel in her hometown of Trento.
Living with them, listening to their stories, and particularly focusing on one woman named Manushak, Maino's interactions with the refugees spanned two decades, emphasizing the repeating and enduring difficulties faced by the refugees. When Manushak passed away recently, Maino felt that she “had to tell the stories that [she] had experienced first hand.”
The plight of the Armenians is poignantly captured by the refugees sharing stories that Maino notes always have protagonists of “bombs and pain”, and the harsh realities of war. Stories from the recent developments in the conflict are a tragic reiteration of history. Maino expresses profound concern for the current situation and its relationship to the situation int he Gaza Strip, underlining the resilient and adaptably unified spirit of the refugees. She also relates her broadened horizons to art and cultural learning, noting that “The encounter with a culture different from mine was intertwined with musical research,” which ties in to the themes of art and cultural resistance to elimination and violence that we as global scholars discussed with Arn Chorn Pond and the Armenian Panelists.
I did a bit more research on art that reflects on the Armenian genocide, and found that there is indeed a community of artists here in Los Angeles. Below is an example; young Armenian artist Arutyun Gozukuchikyan creates murals around Los Angeles expressing the continuation of Armenian trauma through generations. Art as an expressive tool will always hold power to relate people to each other, and heal a population's abilities to explore, create, and learn. I look forward to carrying this theme throughout other global topics.
