2016 - Richard Hovannisian - Cleveland Humanities Festival - Research Guides at Case Western Reserve University

Introduction

This guide was prepared for the presentation by Richard Hovannisian on April 4, 2016 entitled "Under Cover of War: The Armenian Genocide and Its Continuing Ramifications."

Biography

Richard Hovannisian is Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, where he was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History. He is the author of thirty-five books and numerous scholarly articles, including five volumes on the Armenian Genocide and thirteen volumes on historic Armenian cities and provinces in the Ottoman Empire.

Professor Hovannisian is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received many honors for his scholarship, civic activities, and advancement of Armenian Studies. He is a founder and six-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies and has participated in numerous international forums and in the media on Armenian and Neat Eastern issues. He serves on the board of directors of nine scholarly and civic organizations, including the Facing History and Ourselves Foundation; the International Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide; International Alert; the Foundation for Research on Armenian Architecture; and the Armenian National Institute (ANI). He is a member of the editorial boards of the Armenian Review, Ararat, Human Rights Review, Journal for the Society for Armenian Studies, and Mitk. For over 40 years, Professor Hovannisian has overseen the Armenian Genocide Oral History Project.

Professor Hovannisian was born in Tulare, California in 1932 into a family of Armenian Genocide survivors. He received his BA and MA degrees from the University of California, Berkeley, and his Ph.D from UCLA in 1966. He was an Associate Professor of History at Mount St. Mary's College, Los Angeles, from 1966 to 1969, and was appointed the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History at UCLA in 1987. Following his retirement in 2011, the Armenian Educational Foundation Endowed Chair was renamed as the Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in his honor.

Selected Books by Richard Hovannisian

Armenia on the Road to Independence, 1918 by Richard G. Hovannisian
Call Number: DS195.H68
ISBN: 0520005740
Publication Date: 1967-09-01
The Armenian Genocide: cultural and ethical legacies by Richard G. Hovannisian (Editor)
Call Number: DS 195.5 .A736 2007
ISBN: 9780765803672
Publication Date: 2007-10-30
World War I was a watershed, a defining moment, in Armenian history. Its effects were unprecedented in that it resulted in what no other war, invasion, or occupation had achieved in three thousand years of identifiable Armenian existence. This calamity was the physical elimination of the Armenian people and most of the evidence of their ever having lived on the great Armenian Plateau, to which the perpetrator side soon gave the new name of Eastern Anatolia. The bearers of an impressive martial and cultural history, the Armenians had also known repeated trials and tribulations, waves of massacre, captivity, and exile, but even in the darkest of times there had always been enough remaining to revive, rebuild, and go forward. This third volume in a series edited by Richard Hovannisian, the dean of Armenian historians, provides a unique fusion of the history, philosophy, literature, art, music, and educational aspects of the Armenian experience. It further provides a rich storehouse of information on comparative dimensions of the Armenian genocide in relation to the Assyrian, Greek and Jewish situations, and beyond that, paradoxes in American and French policy responses to the Armenian genocides. The volume concludes with a trio of essays concerning fundamental questions of historiography and politics that either make possible or can inhibit reconciliation of ancient truths and righting ancient wrongs.
Looking Backward, Moving Forward: confronting the Armenian Genocide by Richard G. Hovannisian (Editor)
Call Number: DS195.5.L66 2003
ISBN: 0765801965
Publication Date: 2003-02-24
The decades separating our new century from the Armenian Genocide, the prototype of modern-day nation-killings, have fundamentally changed the political composition of the region. Virtually no Armenians remain on their historic territories in what is today eastern Turkey. The Armenian people have been scattered about the world. And a small independent republic has come to replace the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, which was all that was left of the homeland as the result of Turkish invasion and Bolshevik collusion in 1920. One element has remained constant. Notwithstanding the eloquent, compelling evidence housed in the United States National Archives and repositories around the world, successive Turkish governments have denied that the predecessor Young Turk regime committed genocide, and, like the Nazis who followed their example, sought aggressively to deflect blame by accusing the victims themselves. This volume argues that the time has come for Turkey to reassess the propriety of its approach, and to begin the process that will allow it move into a post-genocide era. The work includes "Genocide: An Agenda for Action," Gijs M. de Vries; "Determinants of the Armenian Genocide," Donald Bloxham; "Looking Backward and Forward," Joyce Apsel; "The United States Response to the Armenian Genocide," Simon Payaslian; "The League of Nations and the Reclamation of Armenian Genocide Survivors," Vahram L. Shemmassian; "Raphael Lemkin and the Armenian Genocide," Steven L. Jacobs; "Reconstructing Turkish Historiography of the Armenian Massacres and Deaths of 1915," Fatma Müge Göçek; "Bitter-Sweet Memories; "The Armenian Genocide and International Law," Joe Verhoeven; "New Directions in Literary Response to the Armenian Genocide," Rubina Peroomian; "Denial and Free Speech," Henry C. Theriault; "Healing and Reconciliation," Ervin Staub; "State and Nation," Raffi K. Hovannisian.
Remembrance and Denial: the case of the Armenian genocide by Richard G. Hovannisian (Contribution by, Editor); Rubina Peroomian (Contribution by); Ara Sarafian (Contribution by); Lorne Shirinian (Contribution by); Roger W. Smith (Contribution by); Yves Ternon (Contribution by); Stephen Astourian (Contribution by); Yair Auron (Contribution by); Levon Marashlian (Contribution by); Hilmar Kaiser (Contribution by); Robert Jay Lifton (Contribution by); Eric Markusen (Contribution by); Donald E. Miller (Contribution by); Marc Nichanian (Contribution by)
Call Number: DS195.5.R46 1998
ISBN: 081432777X
Publication Date: 1999-01-01
The Armenian Genocide that began in World War I, during the drive to transform the plural Ottoman Empire into a monoethnic Turkey, removed a people from its homeland and erased most evidence of their 3000-year-old material and spiritual culture. For the rest of this century, changing world events, calculated silence, and active suppression of memory have overshadowed the initial global outrage and have threatened to make this calamity "the forgotten genocide" of world history. Fourteen leading scholars here examine the Armenian Genocide from a variety of perspectives to refute those efforts and show how remembrance and denial have shaped perceptions of the event. Many of the chapters draw on archival records and court proceedings to review the precursors and process of the genocide, examine German complicity, and share the responses of victims, perpetrators, and bystanders.
The Republic of Armenia (four volumes) by Richard G. Hovannisian
Call Number: DS195.5.H56
ISBN: 0520019849
Publication Date: 1971-11-01
With these two volumes, Richard Hovannisian completes his definitive history of the first independent Armenian state in modern times and provides the basis for comparison with the new Armenian republic established in 1991 after seven decades of Soviet rule. Based on Armenian, Russian, Turkish, German, Italian, French, and English-language archival materials, these volumes provide the first comprehensive, multidimensional analysis of this critical turning point in Armenian history--a period clouded in misinformation and controversy.
The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 volumes) by Richard G. Hovannisian (Editor)
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 1403964211
Publication Date: 2004-01-17
Edited by the leading history of the Republic of Armenia, this is the definitive history of an extraordinary country--from its earliest foundations through the Crusades, the resistance to Ottoman and Tsarist rule, the collapse of the independent state, its brief reemergence after World War I, its subjugation by the Bolsheviks, and the establishment of the new Republic in 1991. Written by the foremost experts on each period in Armenia's history, these volumes are a major contribution to understanding the complexities of Transcaucasia.
Armenian Kesaria/Kayseri and Cappadocia (UCLA Armenian History and Culture: Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces Series) by Richard G. Hovannisian
ISBN: 1568591594
Publication Date: 2013-01-01
Armenian Smyrna/Izmir (UCLA Armenian History and Culture Series) by Richard G. Hovannisian
ISBN: 1568591586
Publication Date: 2012-06-01
Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert (Ucla Armenian History and Culture Series. Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces) by Richard G. Hovannisian (Editor)
ISBN: 1568591500
Publication Date: 2002-09-01

Selected Articles by Richard Hovannisian

Armenia and the caucasus in the genesis of the Soviet-Turkish Entente.
Deals with the episode in which Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founder of the Turkish Republic, in the dark days of the War of Independence when areas of eastern Anatolia were being turned over to their minority inhabitants, exploited the existence of a temporary identity of interest with the new Bolshevik rulers of Russia to secure their help in retaining these provinces. Based on published Russian and Turkish documentary materials; 72 notes.
The Armenian Question in the Ottoman Empire.
A comprehensive survey of Turkish Armenians from 1870 to 1914. The emergence of a national consciousness during this period was paralleled by increasingly barbaric activity on the part of the Kurds and the Turkish army to keep the Armenians docile. This dual development brought the Armenian Question to the attention of the world. The hopes of the Armenians for autonomy were realized in a reform act signed in 1914, but it became a dead letter on the outbreak of the war. Secondary sources and published documents; 65 notes.
The Deportation and Massacres of the Armenian Population of the Ottoman Empire, 1915-1922.
An annotated bibliography of archival sources available in Western Europe and the US, concerning the deportation and massacres of Armenians by Turks in the years 1915-22.
Dimensions of Democracy and Authority in Caucasian Armenia, 1917-1920.
n analysis of the attempt to establish an Armenian republic in a land "accustomed to arbitrary and bureaucratic rule." Focuses on the disunity of the Armenians themselves and the threat from both the Turks and Bolsheviks.
The Allies and Armenia, 1915-18.
The rebirth of Armenia in 1918 was preceded by the greatest tragedy in the history of the Armenian people - Turkish massacres of the Armenians. The new country had been supported by Great Britain, France, and the United States, yet the secret wartime agreements had not been repudiated and up to December 1918 the fate of the country was still in question. Armenia was not included in the delegation of powers to determine its own fate. Not until January 1920 did the Allies recognize the Republic of Armenia. Turkey signed the Treaty of Sèvres in August 1920, but Armenian gains were short-lived because of the Turkish national movement, Russian expansion southward, and Allied ambivalence.
Ebb and Flow of Armenian Minority in Arab-Middle-East.
Describes the Armenian colonies in the several Arab states. The Armenians are particularly flourishing in Lebanon. They offer a "sharp contrast to the pattern of dualism manifest in most other communities." Their numbers increased markedly in the wake of the massacres of 1895-96 and 1909. "It is upon the multiconfessional structure of Lebanese life that the Armenian refugees emerged as an . . . economically viable group." 32 notes.
The Role of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in the Republic of Armenia.
Discusses the contributions of the Hai Heghapokhakan Dashnaktsutiun [Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF)] to the briefly independent Republic of Armenia in the context of coalition government, nationalism, Soviet internationalism, and foreign relations.
Russian Armenia: a Century of Tsarist Rule.
Discusses the major political events in Russian Armenia from its annexation by Russia in the 19th century to the end of World War I.
Parliamentary Government as Modernization in the Republic of Armenia.
While most Armenians desired a democracy in their first chance at independence in 1918-20, for practical reasons they settled for a benevolent dictatorship instead.

Books related to Armenian Genocide

The Hundred-Year Walk: an Armenian odyssey by Dawn Anahid MacKeen
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 0618982663
Publication Date: 2016-01-12
An epic tale of one man's courage in the face of genocide and his granddaughter's quest to tell his story In the heart of the Ottoman Empire as World War I rages, Stepan Miskjian's world becomes undone. He is separated from his family as they are swept up in the government's mass deportation of Armenians into internment camps. Gradually realizing the unthinkable--that they are all being driven to their deaths--he fights, through starvation and thirst, not to lose hope. Just before killing squads slaughter his caravan during a forced desert march, Stepan manages to escape, making a perilous six-day trek to the Euphrates River carrying nothing more than two cups of water and one gold coin. In his desperate bid for survival, Stepan dons disguises, outmaneuvers gendarmes, and, when he least expects it, encounters the miraculous kindness of strangers. The Hundred-Year Walk alternates between Stepan's saga and another journey that takes place a century later, after his family discovers his long-lost journals. Reading this rare firsthand account, his granddaughter Dawn MacKeen finds herself first drawn into the colorful bazaars before the war and then into the horrors Stepan later endured. Inspired to retrace his steps, she sets out alone to Turkey and Syria, shadowing her resourceful, resilient grandfather across a landscape still rife with tension. With his journals guiding her, she grows ever closer to the man she barely knew as a child. Their shared story is a testament to family, to home, and to the power of the human spirit to transcend the barriers of religion, ethnicity, and even time itself.
"They can live in the desert but nowhere else" : a history of the Armenian genocide by Ronald Grigor Suny
Call Number: DS195.5 .S79 2015
ISBN: 0691147302
Publication Date: 2015-03-22
Starting in early 1915, the Ottoman Turks began deporting and killing hundreds of thousands of Armenians in the first major genocide of the twentieth century. By the end of the First World War, the number of Armenians in what would become Turkey had been reduced by ninety percent--more than a million people. A century later, the Armenian Genocide remains controversial but relatively unknown, overshadowed by later slaughters and the chasm separating Turkish and Armenian versions of events. In this definitive narrative history, Ronald Suny cuts through nationalist myths, propaganda, and denial to provide an unmatched account of when, how, and why the atrocities of 1915-16 were committed. As it lost territory during the war, the Ottoman Empire was becoming a more homogenous Turkic-Muslim state, but it still contained large non-Muslim communities, including the Christian Armenians. The Young Turk leaders of the empire believed that the Armenians were internal enemies secretly allied to Russia and plotting to win an independent state. Suny shows that the great majority of Armenians were in truth loyal subjects who wanted to remain in the empire. But the Young Turks, steeped in imperial anxiety and anti-Armenian bias, became convinced that the survival of the state depended on the elimination of the Armenians. Suny is the first to explore the psychological factors as well as the international and domestic events that helped lead to genocide. Drawing on archival documents and eyewitness accounts, this is an unforgettable chronicle of a cataclysm that set a tragic pattern for a century of genocide and crimes against humanity.
Goodbye, Antoura: A Memoir of the Armenian Genocide by Karnig Panian
Call Number: OhioLINK
ISBN: 0804795436
Publication Date: 2015-04-08
When World War I began, Karnig Panian was only five years old, living among his fellow Armenians in the Anatolian village of Gurin. Four years later, American aid workers found him at an orphanage in Antoura, Lebanon. He was among nearly 1,000 Armenian and 400 Kurdish children who had been abandoned by the Turkish administrators, left to survive at the orphanage without adult care. This memoir offers the extraordinary story of what he endured in those years--as his people were deported from their Armenian community, as his family died in a refugee camp in the deserts of Syria, as he survived hunger and mistreatment in the orphanage. The Antoura orphanage was another project of the Armenian genocide: its administrators, some benign and some cruel, sought to transform the children into Turks by changing their Armenian names, forcing them to speak Turkish, and erasing their history. Panian's memoir is a full-throated story of loss, resistance, and survival, but told without bitterness or sentimentality. His story shows us how even young children recognize injustice and can organize against it, how they can form a sense of identity that they will fight to maintain. He paints a painfully rich and detailed picture of the lives and agency of Armenian orphans during the darkest days of World War I. Ultimately, Karnig Panian survived the Armenian genocide and the deprivations that followed. Goodbye, Antoura assures us of how humanity, once denied, can be again reclaimed.