Hamilton, NY — On Thursday, November 14, at 4:15 p.m. in the Ho Lecture Room, Lawrence Hall, Emory University Professor of English Walter Kalaidjian will give a lecture titled ‘On Witnessing: The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust.’ The core distinction, university studies and peace studies departments are sponsoring the lecture, which is free and open to the public. For more information, please contact Tess Jones at 315-228-7815.
Kalaidjian seeks to understand how genocide has shaped literature in the twentieth century. Although he says he had always been aware of the atrocities that shaped his grandfather’s life, it took a barrage of media images from Africa and the Balkans to jolt him into turning his professional energies toward researching genocide in literature. In doing so, he discovered his grandfather’s writings and an entire genre of literature whose scholarly depths have yet to be plumbed: the literature of third-generation Armenian-American genocide survivors.
This past spring, Kalaidjian received a University Research Committee grant that enabled him to acquire 50 videotapes of firsthand survivor testimony. The tapes, from the Zoryan Institute in Cambridge, Massachusetts, became available in Emory’s Special Collections Department this fall along with a wide range of genocide and Holocaust studies materials.
Founded in 1819, ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ is a nationally ranked, highly selective, residential, liberal arts college. Situated on a rolling 515-acre campus in central New York State, ÌÇÐÄÊÓƵ attracts motivated students with diverse backgrounds, interests and talents.
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