NEW YORK—Scholars Israel Charny, Roger Smith, and David Gaunt are among the confirmed speakers at “Responsibility 2015,” the international conference marking the Centennial of the Armenian Genocide, to be held on March 13-15, 2015, at New York’s Marriott Marquis Hotel.
Israel Charny
Charny is the executive director of the Institute on the Holocaust and Genocide in Jerusalem, which he founded with the late Shamai Davidson, M.D., and Elie Wiesel in 1979. He has been devoted to the study of the Holocaust and genocide since the mid-1960’s. He is the editor of Encyclopedia of Genocide, written by nearly 100 experts from many countries. This 2-volume, 720-page reference tool, which brings together the results of decades of scholarship in a single edition, was published in 1999. He is a founder, alongside Helen Fein, Robert Melson, and Roger Smith, of the International Association of Genocide Scholars, which was established in 1994.
Roger Smith
Smith is Professor Emeritus of Government at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, where he has taught political theory and the comparative study of genocide. He has written extensively on the nature, language, history, and denial of genocide. In addition to numerous articles, he is the editor and co-author of Guilt: Man and Society, and editor of Genocide: Essays Toward Understanding, Early-Warning, and Prevention. Since 2003, he has been the director of the Genocide and Human Rights University Program, and since 2004, chair of the International Institute for Genocide and Human Rights Studies (a division of the Zoryan Institute).
David Gaunt
Gaunt is Professor of History at Södertörn University College in Stockholm, Sweden. He is a social historian who has written widely on the history of minorities and everyday life. He is the author of Massacres, Resistance, Protectors: Muslim-Christian Relations in Eastern Anatolia during World War I, a seminal work on the Assyrian Genocide. Gaunt completed his doctorate at Uppsala University in 1975.
Earlier, the organizers had announced the names of other confirmed speakers, including jurist Geoffrey Robertson, actor and playwright Eric Bogosian, photojournalist Scout Tufankjian, novelist Chris Bohjalian, scholars Richard Hovannisian, Debórah Dwork, Raymond Kévorkian, Roy L. Brooks, Elisa Von Joeden-Forgey, Janna Thompson, and Jermaine McCalpin, and journalists Robert Fisk, Laure Marchand, Guillaume Perrier, and David Barsamian.
The “Responsibility 2015” Conference is being organized by the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) Eastern U.S. Centennial Committee, under the auspices of the Armenian Genocide Centennial Committee of America, Eastern Region.
Evening sessions bringing together policymakers, political leaders, artists, and celebrities known for their activism and humanitarian work will highlight the theme of responsibility to confront past injustices and struggle towards preventing new ones.
The conference begins with a plenary sessions on Fri., March 13. The final panel concludes on March 15 at 4:30 p.m. Registration will open in February.
Photography and art exhibits with the theme of survival will be held at the same venue for the duration of the conference.
The organizing committee is comprised of the following scholars and activists: Khatchig Mouradian and Hayg Oshagan, co-chairs; George Aghjayan, Kim Hekimian, Antranig Kasbarian, Sarkis Balkhian and Henry Theriault.
For periodic updates, please contact conference coordinator Maral Choloyan at info@responsibility2015.org, or visit the conference Facebook page or the conference website, http://responsibility2015.org.
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