Race War and the Global Imperial Order: The Armenian Genocide of 1915

In: The Australian journal of politics and history: AJPH, Band 63, Heft 3, S. 382-393

Abstract

The centenary of the genocide of the Ottoman Armenians was commemorated in 2015 by the world‐wide Armenian diaspora community, as well as within Armenia itself. This article critically examines the ways in which the memory of the genocide of the Armenians has been framed in terms of race, with Western observers from 1915 on applying racialized discourses to the Ottomans and the events of the Armenian genocide. The article considers the evolution of notions of "racial extermination" and racial incompatibility and incommensurability in the era of imperialism prior to and during the First World War, and draws attention to the nexus between imperial revisionism, global politics and genocidal racial violence. Finally, the article considers the links between the Armenian genocide and the genocidal politics of the Nazi regime.