This is a conversation with Sophia Armen, an Armenian-American writer, scholar and organizer, about the legacy of the Armenian Genocide today.

We spoke about race in the Ottoman Empire and then in the Turkish republic, how the genocide changed Armenian cosmology, the cruel absurdity of borders and various other topics. We also got into Palestine as well as our various positionalities. Sophia shared a lot about her own family's story in what is now Turkey.

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Blog: https://thefirethisti.me

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Topics Discussed:

The legacy of the Armenian genocide and Sophia's personal story
Pan-Turkish nationalism and its denial of the Armenian heritage of the modern Turkish state
How the Armenian genocide changed the entire Armenian cosmology, including the sea
The cruel absurdity of borders
Armenians in Turkey today
The Palestinian cause today and Turkey's role
The Turkish government's lobbying in the US
Our specific positionalities
How simply reversing the clash of civilizations thesis is also racist
Racialization, 'whiteness', and Armenian-Americans in history and today

Music by Tarabeat.

Book Recommendations:

This Bridge Called My Back, Fourth Edition: Writings by Radical Women of Color edited by Cherríe Moraga and Gloria Anzaldúa
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde
Food for Our Grandmothers: Writings by Arab-American and Arab-Canadian Feminists by Joanna Kadi
Armenian Women in a Changing World: Papers Presented at the First International Conference of the Armenian International Women's Association, edited by Barbara J. Merguerian and Doris D. Jafferian
The Right to Struggle: Selected Writings of Monte Melkonian on the Armenian National Question by Monte Melkonian edited by Markar Melkonian

Film Recommendation:

Ararat directed by Atom Egoyan