Problems and Challenges of Armenian Genocide Research
The Armenian genocide has been utilized and debated mostly for the purpose of defining the extermination that occurred between 1915-18. The historical roots of this event have been discussed for the purpose of understanding an event that occurred between 1915-18, a discrete episode in history. Taner Akçam sees this as a critical shortcoming of the field of Armenian Genocide Research. In his talk, Professor Akçam challenged this historiography to develop an alternative understanding arguing that Genocide comprises not just a single event but rather a series of genocidal episodes that occurred over the longue durée.
Taner Akçam is a historian and sociologist who holds the Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University. He has written extensively on the Ottoman-Turkish Genocide of the Armenians in the early 20th century. His most well-known works are A Shameful Act: The Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility (Metropolitan Books, 2006), andThe Young Turks’ Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire, (Princeton University Press, 2012).
