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Article In: Narrative Inquiry: Online-First Articles

Telling the unspoken

Narrative, silence, and the intergenerational transmission of Armenian Genocide trauma

ORCiD logo with link | Institute of Philosophy and SociologyWarsaw
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Abstract
This article shines a light on the range of narrative processes through which descendants of Armenian Genocide (Medz Yeghern) survivors have inherited and reinterpreted traumatic histories within diasporic family contexts. Focusing on a selection of survivors who were children in 1915 (the “1.5 generation”), the study analyzes how memories of violence and displacement are shaped through everyday family communication and emotional dynamics. Drawing on a diverse corpus of Armenian diasporic cultural texts and employing interpretive narrative analysis, the article identifies a typology of four narrative modes of transmission. The findings show that transmission occurs not only through explicit recollections and moral injunctions, but also through affective atmospheres, patterned silences, and the narrative labor of later generations. By highlighting the performative work required to transform inherited fragments into coherent stories, the study contributes to broader understandings of how intergenerational storytelling mediates between vulnerability and resilience in the aftermath of mass violence.
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Sources and methodology
  • Methodological limitations and reflexive note
  • Conceptual framework: A narrative approach to intergenerational memory
  • The raw material of transmission: 1.5 generation memories as narrative fragments
  • Intergenerational transmission of traumatic memories
    • Case 1: Narrative transmission — Narrative saturation (Flora Keshgegian)
    • Case 2: Affective transmission — Affective atmosphere (Shake’ Topalian)
    • Case 3: Silence and rupture — Narrative repair (Suzanne Khardalian)
    • Case 4: Retrospective reinterpretation — Narrative thresholds (Arlene Voski Avakian)
    • Synthesis of findings: The dynamics of narrative labor
  • Considerations and conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
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