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Groundbreaking Symposium At Columbia University Focusing On Monument

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  • Groundbreaking Symposium At Columbia University Focusing On Monument

    GROUNDBREAKING SYMPOSIUM AT COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY FOCUSING ON MONUMENTS & MEMORY

    By MassisPost
    Updated: February 3, 2015

    By Taleen Babayan

    Major scholars from around the world will participate in a timely,
    and thought-provoking conference at Columbia University, "Monuments
    and Memory: Material Culture and the Aftermath of Histories of Mass
    Violence" on Friday, February 20, 2015.

    This all-day symposium concentrating on material culture and memory,
    with the ruins of the ancient Armenian city of Ani as the centerpiece,
    is organized and hosted by Peter Balakian, Donald M. Constance H.

    Rebar Professor of the Humanities at Colgate University, and Rachel
    Goshgarian, Assistant Professor of History at Lafayette College, and
    sponsored by the Armenian Center of Columbia University, Columbia's
    Institute for the Study of Human Rights, the Institute for Comparative
    Literature and Society, and the Armenian General Benevolent Union.

    The conference will explore the general themes of restoration,
    restitution and social justice and will be groundbreaking in its
    comparative analysis of Jewish monuments in Eastern Europe, Muslim
    monuments in the Balkans, and Armenian-Christian monuments in Turkey.

    Four sessions revolving around these topics will take place throughout
    the day, each chaired by a member of the Columbia community who will
    conduct and moderate the question and answer sessions.

    The first session, "Monuments and Memory: the Significance of Material
    Culture in the Aftermath of Genocide," (10:00 a.m. to 11:15 a.m.),
    chaired by Christine Philliou, Associate Professor of History at
    Columbia University, will address the historical contexts for the
    destroyed or appropriated material cultures of minority peoples in
    the aftermath of histories of mass violence. The current conditions of
    these monuments will be analyzed, as well as their roles in collective
    memory for both occupying and exiled cultures. Presenters include
    Peter Balakian; Andrew Herscher, Associate Professor of Architecture
    at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and Marianne Hirsch, William
    Peterfield Trent Professor of English and Comparative Literature at
    Columbia University.

    The second session, "The Medieval Armenian City of Ani: A Case Study
    in the Politicization of Art History, History, Historical Monuments
    and Preservation in a Post-Genocidal Context," (11:30 a.m. to
    12:45 p.m.), chaired by Nanor Kebranian, Assistant Professor in
    the Department of Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies
    at Columbia University, will include papers on subjects related to
    Ani's multicultural past, cultural destruction, restoration projects,
    depiction in modern Turkey, and place in the construction of Armenian
    identity. Presenters include Rachel Goshgarian; Christina Maranci,
    Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Associate Professor of Armenian Art
    and Architecture at Tufts University; Heghnar Watenpaugh, Associate
    Professor of Art History at the University of California, Davis;
    and Yavuz Ozkaya, Restoration Architect at PROMET Architecture and
    Restoration Co.

    The third session, "Monuments, Memory, Restitution, and Social Justice:
    What issues do monuments raise in these historical contexts?

    How can social justice and restitution be achieved decades after the
    event of genocide or mass-killing?" (2:15 p.m. to 4:30 p.m.) will be
    chaired by Hamid Dabashi, Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies
    and Comparative Literature at Columbia University. Presenters include
    Osman Kavala, Founder of Anadolu Kultur; Leo Spitzer, Kathe Tappe
    Vernon Professor of History at Dartmouth University; and Elazar Barkan,
    Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

    The concluding session will be a round table discussion followed by
    a reception for participants and attendees.

    "Rachel and Peter are bringing together a wide range of speakers
    to address the issue of Ani, from historians to cultural heritage
    advocates, to practicing architects actively engaged in restoration
    projects at Ani," said Maranci.

    "I hope that it will galvanize more dialogue about the fate of the
    churches and other ancient monuments in and around Ani, because of
    their historical and architectural importance and because of their
    structural vulnerability."

    "There is tremendous opportunity here to address the painful history
    of Armenians and Turkey and forge a different way forward regarding
    Armenian cultural heritage in Turkey," said Watenpaugh, who recently
    published, "Preserving the Medieval City of Ani: Cultural Heritage
    Between Contest and Reconciliation" in the Journal of the Society of
    Architectural Historians. "This is the right time to have a critical
    and public discussion about this site, and the broader issues it
    raises."

    Mark Momjian Esq., Chair of the Armenian Center and an alumnus of
    Columbia College and Columbia Law School, emphasized his alma mater's
    role not only in aiding the survivors of the Armenian Genocide,
    but in advocating support of the Armenian Republic.

    "Ambassador Henry Morgenthau was an alumnus of Columbia Law School,
    and he is in the pantheon of heroes to the Armenian people. Talcott
    Williams was the first director of Columbia's School of Journalism,
    and he was heavily involved with Near East Relief. George Edward
    Woodbury, a comparative literature professor at Columbia, assailed
    the perpetrators of the Armenian Genocide. And there are countless
    others," said Momjian, a Philadelphia lawyer and community activist.

    "This symposium marks the centennial of the Armenian Genocide,
    but it also honors the many Columbians who denounced this terrible
    crime against humanity and who worked tirelessly to help the Armenian
    people."

    The event will take place in Room 1501 of Columbia University's
    Morningside Campus International Affairs Building, located at 420
    West 118th Street, from 10 a.m. until 6 p.m. with breaks for lunch
    and coffee. A reception will follow. This event is free and open to
    the public.

    http://massispost.com/2015/02/groundbreaking-symposium-at-columbia-university-focusing-on-monuments-memory/

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