Kaligian, Mamigonian to Discuss ‘State of Denial’ at NAASR

BELMONT, Mass.—On Tues., May 6, Dikran Kaligian and Marc A. Mamigonian will give a joint lecture exploring the rhetoric and techniques of academic denial of the Armenian Genocide entitled, “The State of Denial: Manufacturing a Scholarly Controversy, Denying a Genocide,” at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center.

From its origins in the World War I era, denial of the Armenian Genocide emerged in American universities during the Cold War. Bent on “dissipating the heavy cloud that blotted the reputation of the Turkish nation” (in the words of Richard Hovannisian), a cadre of academics in Turkish and Ottoman studies ignored, minimized, or denied the Armenian Genocide, a formative event in the shaping of modern Turkey. Today, however, a growing body of critical scholarship and documentation of the Armenian Genocide has rendered traditional strategies of silencing and denial increasingly untenable, thus necessitating new methods of denial.

Turkey and those who support its official narrative have responded with a multi-faceted effort to construct a legitimate scholarly controversy around “the events of 1915”—a controversy that can never, of course, be resolved in their opponents’ favor. Such manufactured controversy is a time-tested strategy, long employed by entities from Big Tobacco to the so-called “skeptics” of global warming who seek to gain academic credibility for positions not otherwise supportable by scholarship.

In this joint presentation, Mamigonian will trace the early development of Armenian Genocide denial, but will focus on more recent refinements and the penetration of denial within American academia. Parallel examples of denialist rhetoric will be compared across genocides as well as in the natural sciences. Kaligian will focus on recent publications that have attempted to establish a widespread “Armenian rebellion” to which the “deportations” were a reasonable and justifiable response.

Dikran Kaligian is currently an instructor at Worcester State University. He has taught at Clark University, Regis, Westfield State, and Wheaton colleges. He is past chairperson of the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) Eastern United States and managing editor of the Armenian Review. He received his Ph.D. in history from Boston College and is the author of the book Armenian Organization and Ideology under Ottoman Rule, 1908-1914. Marc A. Mamigonian is the director of academic affairs of NAASR. He is the editor of the publications Rethinking Armenian Studies and The Armenians of New England, and the Journal of Armenian Studies.

The event begins at 7:30 p.m. at NAASR, on 395 Concord Ave. in Belmont. Admission to the event is free (donations appreciated). The NAASR Bookstore will open at 7 p.m. The NAASR Center is located opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas. For more information, call (617) 489-1610 or e-mail hq@naasr.org.