Memory Citizenship in Diaspora

In this paper, I examine how memories of the Armenian genocide (1915-18) have reverberated among Armenian youth in Canada. I ask: How do young individuals of Armenian descent remember the Armenian genocide a hundred or more years after it happened, and thousands of miles from where it happened? In what ways do legacies of genocide shape their sense of belonging to Canada?

The data for this paper come from in-depth interviews I conducted using a semi- structured and thematic format. Between 2015 and 2016, I interviewed twenty young individuals of Armenian descent in the Greater Toronto Area. Although the interview data is multi-faceted and quite extensive, in this paper I focus on a specific set of themes and patterns, discussing how these young individuals articulate their sense of belonging to Canada. I argue that Armenian youth redefine existing notions of citizenship with their memory activism. Instead of seeing citizenship simply as a formal category of identification, Armenian youth interpret it as a cultural category of (un) belonging and they practice it through particular acts of memory. Their involvement in public performances of memory and identity, particularly by commemorating the Armenian genocide and demanding Turkey’s recognition, has been key to the formation of their political subjectivities; i.e., their identities not only as the youth of the Armenian nation, but also as active agents of memory who insert the particular history of Armenians into the national historical narrative of Canada. Therefore, I contend that memory is central not only to these youth’s constructions of ethnic identity in a diaspora group, but also to their interpretations and practices of citizenship, such as civic participation, claim making and public visibility.