This course examines issues in Armenian culture (folklore, literature, architecture, visual arts, and film), with particular attention to Armenian cultural identity and socio-political movements in today’s Armenia and in diaspora. Lectures, readings and discussions in English. No knowledge of Armenian language is required (students with knowledge of Armenian read in the original).

As a discipline, history has documented the Armenian genocide through eyewitness and survivor accounts and archival research. The grand narrative that has emerged, particularly in response to the Turkish government’s denialism, proves the truth of the genocide through facts and accounting. This course proposes to explore questions of filmic representation as they relate to this historical truth. Through viewings of films that approach the issue of the genocide and readings that theorize loss, trauma, and memory, we will consider some complex questions about historical representation: What is the relationship between historical narratives and artistic representation? Can film depict the experience of witnesses and the death of victims? What are the political and cultural ramifications of the genocide in present-day Armenia, the diaspora, and Turkey? While gaining an understanding of the ethical, political, and aesthetic considerations involved in the depiction of the Armenian genocide, students will also have the opportunity to make points of comparison with the representation of the Holocaust and Rwandan genocide in film. At the same time, we will discuss the goals of various subgenres of film—documentary, drama, adaptation, and animation—in order to explore the ways in which generic expectations inform our understanding of content. Texts: All readings will be provided on bCourses and films will either be screened in class or available for viewing at the Moffitt Library Media Resources Center. Readings include the work of authors such as Cathy Caruth, Hamid Dabashi, David Kazanjian, Dominick LaCapra, Primo Levi, Marc Nichanian, and Hayden White. Films include the work of directors such as Fatih Akin, Serge Avedikian, Frunze Dovlatyan, Atom Egoyan, Terry George, Michael Hagopian, Naré Mkrtchyan, and Alain Resnais. Requirements: class participation; 100-200 pages of reading/week; two five-page papers; and individual project or final ten-page paper.

Prerequisites: None. Readings, lectures, and discussion in English. Students with knowledge of Armenian are encouraged to do at least some of the reading in Armenian.

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