- Summary
- "A young Armenian-American goes to Turkey in a 'love thine enemy' experiment that becomes a transformative reflection on how we use--and abuse--our personal histories. Meline Toumani grew up in a close-knit Armenian community in New Jersey where Turkish restaurants were shunned and products made in Turkey were boycotted. The source of this enmity was the Armenian genocide of 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Turkish government, and Turkey's refusal to acknowledge it. A century onward, Armenian and Turkish lobbies spend hundreds of millions of dollars to convince governments, courts and scholars of their clashing versions of history. Frustrated by her community's all-consuming campaigns for genocide recognition, Toumani leaves a promising job at The New York Times and moves to Istanbul. Instead of demonizing Turks, she sets out to understand them, and in a series of extraordinary encounters over the course of four years, she tries to talk about the Armenian issue, finding her way into conversations that are taboo and sometimes illegal. Along the way, we get a snapshot of Turkish society in the throes of change, and an intimate portrait of a writer coming to terms with the issues that drove her halfway across the world. In this far-reaching quest, told with eloquence and power, Toumani probes universal questions: how to belong to a community without conforming to it, how to acknowledge a tragedy without exploiting it, and most importantly how to remember a genocide without perpetuating the kind of hatred that gave rise to it in the first place"-- Provided by publisher.
- Format
- Book
- Author/Creator
- Toumani, Meline.
- Published
- New York : Metropolitan Books/Henry Holt and Company, 2014
- Locale
- Armenia
Turkey
- Edition
- First edition
- Contents
-
Part One. Diaspora
1. When We Talk About What Happened
2. Summer Camp, Franklin, Massachusetts, 1989
3. "How Did They Kill Your Grandparents?"
4. A Real Armenian
5. False Assumptions
6. "With this madness, what art could there be?"
Part Two. Alternate Realities
7. "So You Are a Bit Mixed Up, Now"
8. "Armenians Are Killers of Children"
9. January 19, 2007
Part Three. Turkey
10. Paradoxes
11. Language
12. Knowing and Not Knowing
13. How to Be a Turk
14. Official History
Part Four. Armenia
15. Country on Maps
16. Hello, homeland!
17. Reunions
Part Five. Power
18. Narcissism of small similarities
19. Excess Baggage
20. Soccer Diplomacy
21. Terms.
- Notes
-
Includes bibliographical references (pages 285-286).
Part One. Diaspora -- 1. When We Talk About What Happened -- 2. Summer Camp, Franklin, Massachusetts, 1989 -- 3. "How Did They Kill Your Grandparents?" -- 4. A Real Armenian -- 5. False Assumptions -- 6. "With this madness, what art could there be?" -- Part Two. Alternate Realities -- 7. "So You Are a Bit Mixed Up, Now" -- 8. "Armenians Are Killers of Children" -- 9. January 19, 2007 -- Part Three. Turkey -- 10. Paradoxes -- 11. Language -- 12. Knowing and Not Knowing -- 13. How to Be a Turk -- 14. Official History -- Part Four. Armenia -- 15. Country on Maps -- 16. Hello, homeland! -- 17. Reunions -- Part Five. Power -- 18. Narcissism of small similarities -- 19. Excess Baggage -- 20. Soccer Diplomacy -- 21. Terms.
