Deadline: March 20, 2013
Open to: All researchers from all disciplines and backgrounds
Venue: Istanbul, 11-13 October 2013
Description
The turn of the 20th century was a period of significant social and political transformation in the Ottoman geography, which involved individual and mass experiences of religious conversion. In this period, a large number of Armenians (were) Islamized, most significantly during the years 1915-1916.
- What have Islamized Armenians been through? How did they deal with the gravity of their experiences? With whom and how were they able to share these experiences? How do their experiences reflect on the lives of their children and grandchildren? How have they impacted the different localities where they have lived? How are their stories remembered and recited in these different localities?
- How do the “grandchildren” of these survivors make sense of the stories of their Islamized Armenian grandparents? How do they articulate their identities and sense of belonging? How are they affected by the various political developments and tensions around this issue? How is this process reflected on different localities?
- How can one account for the decades of silence on Islamized Armenians in all historiographies? Why has it taken so long for us to be aware of the stories of Islamized Armenians, and why is our knowledge of their predicament so limited? In what ways is this form of survival and its silencing gendered? How does it relate to predominant notions of women, men and procreation? Why is there growing interest on this particular category of survivors today?
- Addressing such questions, among others, this conference seeks to contribute to both the historical debates on 1915 and its aftermath, as well as to contemporary questions of ethnic/national identification, gender, responsibility, and justice. The conference also seeks to discuss the role of research and scholarship in the difficult processes of facing historical and present forms of violence, discrimination, and injustice
Eligibility
The conference is open to all researchers from all disciplines and backgrounds.
Costs
There are limited funds for those participants who do not have other sources of funding to attend the conference. When submitting your abstract, please indicate your need for any financial assistance. There are no registration fees. Lunch, tea and coffee will be provided for all presenters.
Application procedure
- Please submit an abstract (max. 500 words) outlining the relevance and novelty of your contribution, together with a 200 words resume.
- The application deadline is March 20, 2013. To submit your paper and for more information: eminekolivar@hrantdink.org
For more information, please visit the official website.
