PRESS RELEASE
October 28, 2014
USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES
Los Angeles, California, USA
Contact: Salpi Ghazarian/Director
Emaik: [email protected]
213.509.7109
What Happened and Why – The Denial of State Violence
Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor of Sociology and Women’s Studies at the
University of Michigan, will be the guest of the USC Institute of
Armenian Studies at a lunch-time conversation to be held on Wednesday,
November 5, 2014, at 1:15 p.m. at the Ground Zero Coffeehouse, on
campus.
Entitled “What Happened and Why – The Denial of State Violence,”
Dr. Göçek will speak about the centuries of collective violence
against the Armenians, beginning in the Ottoman period and continuing
through the republican period, until today. USC Professor of Religious
Studies, Dr. Donald Miller, who is also Executive Director of USC’s
Center for Religion and Civic Culture, will be guiding the discussion.
Dr. Göçek, a Turkish-born historical sociologist, has focused on the
comparative analysis of history, politics and gender in the first and
third worlds. She has analyzed the impact of processes such as
development, nationalism, religious movements and collective violence
on minorities. Her most recent book is an Oxford University Press
publication called The Denial of Violence. Her other books include
Constructions of Nationalism in the Middle East (SUNY Press, 2002),
The Transformation of Turkey: Redefining State and Society from the
Ottoman Empire to the Modern Era (I.B. Tauris Publishers, 2011), and A
Question of Genocide: Armenians and Turks at the End of the Ottoman
Empire (Oxford University Press, 2011 co-edited with Ronald Grigor
Suny and Norman Naimark.)
Dr. Donald Miller is a professor of religion and sociology. He has
conducted extensive research on religion and social change, religion
and community organizing, social ethics, immigrant religious
communities in Los Angeles, and the Armenian and Rwandan genocides. He
heads the USC Center on Religion and Civic Culture.
Salpi Ghazarian, the director of the USC Institute of Armenian
Studies, says, “We invite the community to join us for this program at
the USC campus.
This is not a lecture. It’s a conversation between two people who have
spent many years studying why and how states inflict violence on their
own peoples. Dr. Göçek’s research goes on to try to decipher the roots
of the denial that has followed, specifically in the case of state
violence against the Armenians of the Ottoman Empire and Turkey. This
is critical to understanding the present and future state of
Armenian-Turkish relations.”
Lunch will be served.
The event will be live streamed at:
Directions and parking information:
We advise guests to park in Parking Structure D, which is located on
the corner of Jefferson and Figueroa (across from the Shrine). See
attached map for the location of the event (Ground Zero Coffeehouse.)
Please call (213) 821-3943 if you have any questions regarding the
event, including parking and directions.
About the Institute
Established in 2005, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies supports
multidisciplinary scholarship to re-define, explore and study the
complex issues that make up the contemporary Armenian experience –
from post-Genocide to the developing Republic of Armenia to the
evolving Diaspora. The institute encourages research, publications and
public service, and benefits from communication technologies that link
together the global academic and Armenian communities.
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From: Baghdasarian