The Armenian granddaughters of 1915

Abstract

The aim of this study was to qualitatively explore the experiences of Armenian granddaughters who are the descendants of those who experienced 1915 and to explore the possible intergenerational consequences of a massive social trauma via a psychoanalytically informed perspective. Ten participants were found through convenience sampling. Face-to-face interviews were conducted in an open-ended question format. The analyses revealed some intergenerational consequences involving transmission of trauma, a disrupted intergenerational and familial communications as well as operation of silences within various contexts, a range of emotional responses that coincide with sequelae of trauma, an interrupted sense of cohesion and continuity of culture, identity, and history as well as a discussion on how mechanisms of transmission may operate non-verbally. The accounts of participants also indicated some consequences of being embedded in a “traumatogenic” social context. Although the sample size only gives a cross sectional view of the experiences of Armenian granddaughters living in Turkey, mostly Istanbul, the intergenerational traces of trauma were observed through the existence of a variety of intense emotions, responses and mechanisms of transmission as well as a struggle between a sense of disrupted personal agency and attempts at resurrecting agency and healing.