Children and Nation: Forcible Child Transfer and the Genocide Convention through Historical and Contemporary Lenses
Yerevan, May 13-15, 2023
Saturday May 13, 2023
9:00 am – 9:30 am
Registration
9:30 am – 10:00 am
Welcome speeches
10:00 am – 11:30 am
Panel One (Moderator: Harutyun Marutyan)
Edita Gzoyan Understanding Forcible Child Transfer: From Lemkin’s Notion to a Genocidal Crime
Melanie O’Brien Forcible Transfer of Children: How Does the Law Interpret “Forcible”?
Ruth Amir Conscription and Enlistment of Child Soldiers: A Specter of Forcible Child Transfer
Q&A
11:30 am – 12:00 pm
Coffee break
12:00 pm – 1:50 pm
Panel Two (Moderator: Donna-Lee Frieze)
Caroline Schneider The Impact of Forcible Child Transfer on the Children: The Yazidi Case
Henry TheriaultImpossible Harms: The Challenging of Repairing Key Impacts of Genocide on Children
Cindy Ness & Alden Ness Social Death as it Relates to Forced Child Transfer and Genocide
Asya Darbinyan Can Children Speak? Children’s Perspectives on Forced Displacement and Survival during the Armenian Genocide
Q&A
1:50 pm – 2:40 pm
Lunch
2:40 pm – 4:00 pm
Keynote: Professor Debórah Dwork with Max Arian
4:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Coffee break
4:30 pm – 6:00 pm
Panel Three (Moderator: Asya Darbinyan)
Donna-Lee Frieze Kanyini and Terra Australis Incognita: A Prelude to a Discussion on Stolen Generations Testimonies
Hilary Earl Shooting Victims. Capturing Terror: The December 1941 Škēde Beach Photographs of Children and Youth
Rubina Peroomian The Institutions of Turkification and Assimilation in the Eyes of Armenian Orphans Who Fled Them
Q&A
7:00 pm
Dinner
Sunday May 14, 2023
9:00 am – 9:30 am
Registration
9:30 am – 11:20 am
Panel Four (Moderator: Armen Marsoobian)
Peter Balakian Literary Witness and Survivor Memoir of the Cambodian Genocide: Loung Ung’s First They Killed My Father
Serafim Seppälä Religion and Spirituality in the Memoirs Written by Child Survivors of the Armenian Genocide
Steve McCullough The Witness Blanket: Decolonizing Digital Storytelling About Canada’s Residential School System
Elisa von Jordan-Forgey What is Transferred with Our Children? Understanding the Genocidal Nature of this Crime
Q&A
11:20 am – 12:20 pm
Visit to the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum
12:20 pm – 12:50 pm
Coffee break
12:50 pm – 2:20 pm
Panel Five (Moderator: Peter Balakian)
Regina Galustyan Child Transfer in the Ideological Framework of Racial Nationalism: The Ottoman Case
Shushan Khachatryan From the Devşirme Practices to the Armenian Genocide: On Religious Legitimization of Christian Minors’ Conversions
Armen Marsoobian Saving the Body but Not the Soul: The “Rescue” of Children in the Aftermath of the Armenian Genocide
Q&A
2:20 pm – 3:20 pm
Lunch
3:20 pm – 5:10 pm
Panel Six (Moderator: Steve McCullough)
Narine Margaryan The Turkification of Armenian Children in the Ottoman Empire’s State Orphanages (1915-1918)
Jared McDonald “Passed off as Orphans”: Civilian-led Child Confiscations as a Defining Contributing Factor in the Genocide of the Cape San, c.1806-1830
Elisenda Calvet Martinez Spanish Stolen Babies: The Transfer of Children with a “Republican Gen”
Felix Berry Forcible Transfer: Genocide (and) Recognition Politics in Canada
Q&A
Monday May 15, 2023
9:00 am – 11:00 am
Debrief on Conference Workshop: Towards a Forcible Child Removals Group Work Proposal
11:00 am – 5:00 pm
Excursion