With the public release of her new book The Sins of the Fathers: Turkish Denialism and the Armenian Genocide, Dr. Siobhan Nash Marshall began her book tour in California. On December 10th, a small presentation was hosted by the Ararat Eskijian Museum in Los Angeles.
Dr. Nash-Marshall opened her lecture with mention of her personal relation to the Armenian Genocide through her godmother, Anotnia Arslan. Through Dr. Arslan’s fascination with her family history, only ascertained from incomplete fragments of evidence, Dr. Nash-Marshall was introduced to a struggle all Armenians similarly undergo—a persistent disconnect between present and past. What can be said of Armenian history must now be interpreted through scattered pieces, many of which are incomplete or wholly missing given Turkey’s continued efforts to edit or destroy remaining evidence. Dr. Nash-Marshall then likened this challenge to the current inability of Western thinkers to connected evidence to comprehend a larger situation or problem. Ignorance of facts and improper interpretation of facts in the Western world aid the denial of the Armenian Genocide, though unintentionally. An American biologist will not condemn the changing of biological names in Turkey if he does not first understand that the original names were Armenian and then further comprehend the implications of such a change. Dr. Nash-Marshall sees such ignorance, as a professor and philosopher, rampant in Western intellectuals, leading to a general misunderstanding of modern problems as well as their remedies.
Following the presentation, second edition copies of The Sins of the Fathers were offered for sale. Proceeds will be utilized by CINF for 2018’s summer teaching initiative in Artsakh.