Peter Balakian will be part of a day-long symposium on the life and work of Raphael Lemkin, sponsored by the Center for Jewish History and American Jewish Historical Society and held at the Center for Jewish History on Sun., Nov. 15.
The conference will present scholars examining the legacy of Raphael Lemkin as a lawyer, scholar, teacher, linguist, writer, and tireless advocate of international efforts to prevent genocide. An exhibition of selections of Lemkin’s papers and accompanying materials from the collections of the American Jewish Historical Society will accompany the conference.
Scholars from around the world and across the United States will participate in the conference. They include Peter Balakian, Colgate University; Vartan Gregorian, Carnegie Corporation; Hilary Earl, Nipissing University, Ontario; Donna-Lee Frieze, Deakin University, Melbourne; Alex Hinton, Rutgers University; Steven Leonard Jacobs, University of Alabama; Ben Kiernan, Yale University; Berel Lang, Wesleyan College; Muhamed Mesic, Vienna; William A. Schabas, National University of Ireland, Galway; Benjamin Valentino, Dartmouth College; and Lawrence Woocher, U.S. Institute of Peace.
Balakian will discuss the impact of the Armenian Genocide on Lemkin’s thought, and then explore how Lemkin’s fuller understanding of cultural annihilation can be understood by examining the range of the Turkish government’s eradication of Armenian intellectuals, cultural institutions, and artistic heritage. Balakian is the Donald M. and Constance H. Rebar Professor of the Humanities at Colgate University and the author of many books including the recent translation, with Aris Sevag, of Grigoris Balakian’s Armenian Golgotha, A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide, published by Knopf.
For more information, contact Judith C. Siegel, director of special projects, by calling (212) 294-8314, emailing jsiegel@cjh.org, or writing to the Center for Jewish History 15 W. 16th Street, New York, NY 10011.
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