Violence, Trauma and Historical Memory in the South Caucasus

In 1991, independent Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia emerged from the dissolution of the USSR. Despite optimistic hopes, all three countries were riven by war. In 2022, a new wave of Russian emigres fleeing conscription reawakened memories of colonial oppression. This course examines social, cultural and political attempts to overcome the violent legacies inherited from colonial, Soviet and post-Soviet conflicts. We will engage in reading first-hand memoir accounts and interviews, official government documents, and theoretical work in memory studies and conflict transformation and assess both the causes for conflict as well as its long-term impacts. We will focus on the questions: how should a society heal from its traumatic past? Is healing even possible? What role does historical truth and reconciliation play in building contemporary reality?