General introduction

2015 marks the centennial of the Armenian genocide. The long lasting taboo -in Turkey- of not using the “G-word” seems to be over. However, as the black-hole like nature of genocide -the magnitude of violence and the sheer intensity of tragedy- somewhat inevitably pulls the histories of Ottoman Armenians to a plain of how or why the genocide unfolded, the need arises for works that would document and make sense of the history of Armenians and their place in a complex space of a multicultural empire and beyond. This certainly involves renewing our lenses in studying the genocide as well: Going beyond the question of whether genocide took place or not necessitates focusing on hitherto un(der)explored dimensions of the major catastrophy.

The contributions below offer possible pathways for these endeavors. We have asked our authors to reflect on the state of the art in their relevant disciplines concerning the history of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and beyond. The different strands of scholarship below are brought together by their willingness to critically engage with different dimensions of the “Armenian Question.” Focusing separately on questions of historiography (Der Matossian), property (Polatel), gender (Ekmekçioğlu), and literature (Uslu), they offer ways of understanding the history of Armenians as a constituent community in the Ottoman Empire, as well as new lenses to analyze the genocide. In charting a wide set of primary and secondary resources and perspectives, the individual contributions and the roundtable as a whole constitute a modest attempt to inform and direct future scholars towards new avenues for research and analysis.