Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
Staff Report
On Saturday, January 31, the Armenian Studies Program at California State University, Northridge (CSUN) hosted a one-day conference on “The Armenian Genocide: Accounting and Accountability.” Held at CSUN’s Grand Salon, the conference was part of the United Armenian Council of Los Angeles’s series of Armenian Genocide Centennial events, and was dedicated to the generations of 1915 and 2015.
Prof. Barlow Der Mugrdechian of the Armenian Studies Program at Fresno State participated in the first panel on Saturday morning with a paper on “Western Armenian Language and Literature in Exile: Genocide and Its Consequences.” The panel, “Language as a Victim,” was moderated by Dr. Hagop Gulludjian and featured Dr. Vartan Matiossian on “Pleading No Context: On Uses and Abuses of the Word ‘Yeghern’”; and Dr. Shushan Karapetian, “The Burden of Language as a Moral Obligation.”
The second morning panel dealt with “Teaching Genocide,” with Dr. Rubina Peroomian moderating. Dr. Hasmig Baran spoke about “Content and Pedagogy of Genocide Education in the 21st Century: The Armenian Case”; Roxanne Makasjian spoke about “Armenian Genocide Education in Secondary Schools Today”; and Dr. Kori Street reflected about “Educating for Change: Using Testimonies in Teaching about Genocide.”
The third and fourth panels were held in the afternoon session. Dr. Levon Marashlian moderated the third panel, entitled “Those Who Were Forced to Assimilate.” It featured the following speakers and subjects: Prof. Khatchig Mouradian, “Un-Hiding the Past: Myth-Making and the ‘Hidden Armenians’ of Turkey”; Dr. Elyse Semerdjian, “‘The Girl with the Cross Tattoo’: Field Notes on Crypto-Armenians”; and Dr. Vahram Shemmassian, “The Fate of Captive Armenian Genocide Survivors in Syria.”
The fourth panel, entitled “Legal Responses to Genocide-Related Liabilities,” was conducted by the Armenian Bar Association (ABA). Garo Ghazarian, Esq., introduced the ABA and its panelists, and Armen K. Hovannisian, Esq., moderated the panel. The speakers and their topics were: Saro Kerkonian, Esq., “Justice for Genocide and Challenges in United States Courts”; Edvin Minassian, Esq., “Justice for Genocide and Challenges in Turkey’s Courts”; and Karnig Kerkonian, Esq., “Justice for Genocide: Opportunities and Challenges in International Courts.”
The conference concluded with a commentary by Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian, professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA.
The conference was co-sponsored by the United Armenian Council of Los Angeles, the National Association of Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the Knights of Vartan-Los Angeles County Chapters, the Armenian Bar Association, the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), the Department of Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures at CSUN, and the Mousa Ler Association of California.
Near East Relief posters were exhibited during the conference by the Ararat-Eskijian Museum of Mission Hills, CA.