Stewards of Trauma:Oral History and its Implications, organized by the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, in conjunction with the USC Shoah Foundation Institute, will offer two panel discussions on the evolving place and role of oral history in the field of Armenian Studies.  The presentations will take place on Tuesday, October 25, from 10:30 am to 2:00 pm, at the Institute of Armenian Studies.

The first panel, organized by Manuk Avedikyan, is on Armenian Genocide survivor testimonies at USC Shoah Foundation’s collection and consists of four scholars presenting their works which have utilized the survivor testimonies in their research. 

The second panel is a roundtable discussion among oral history researchers of different generations on the toll that is left on the oral historians who hear personal, often tortured, testimonies and take on the responsibility of becoming stewards for the stories entrusted to them. The roundtable discussion is chaired by Institute Director and long-time oral history practitioner Salpi Ghazarian and includes Institute’s deputy director Dr. Shushan Karapetian, Institute’s archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan and former student worker Sarkis Tricha who all have done interviews as part of Institute’s Digital Diaspora project.