Lecture by Dr. Anna Aleksanyan, a Postdoctoral Fellow of the Armenian Genocide Research Program within the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA,

Monday, November 17, 2025
6:00 PM - 8:00 PM (Pacific Time)
UCLA Bunche Hall, Room 10383

After being deported from their homes and arriving at transit camps, Armenian women had varying experiences depending on their location within the empire's Arab-speaking provinces. After crossing the Taurus Mountains, the deportees were forced to follow one of two routes: one to the east and the other to the north of Syria. For those on the eastern deportation route, the resettlement areas extended as far south as Ma'an, passing through Hauran, Dera, Amman, and Kerek. Although famine and disease led to a significant loss of life in these areas, there were no massive massacres reported. Nevertheless, survival came at a great cost, marked by daily struggles and uncertainty. In contrast, the other deportation route traveled through the northern reaches of Arab Mesopotamia, where exiled Armenians were confined in concentration camps known as tent cities. Many were subsequently deported deeper into the desert, where they faced mass killings in 1916. This lecture will discuss the experiences of three groups of exiled women based on their circumstances in these settlements: those who settled in the eastern regions, those who were confined in the northern tent cities and subsequently massacred in 1916, and those who were distributed throughout Turkish villages as slaves before reaching Syria. The last group consisted of women who survived the massacres of their caravans in 1915, managed to hide or were abducted along the way, and were eventually collected or arrested by gendarmes.

Anna Aleksanyan earned her Ph.D. at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies (History Department), Clark University. Her work explores gendered aspects of the Armenian Genocide in the experiences of its victimized females (1914-1918). Before starting her Ph.D., she worked at the Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute as a researcher for seven years. Aleksanyan received her BA and MA in History at Yerevan State University. From the fall of 2019 to the fall of 2022, she worked as an adjunct lecturer at the American University of Armenia. Currently, Aleksanyan is a postdoctoral fellow at the Armenian Genocide Research Program of the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA.

Sponsor(s): The Promise Armenian Institute, Armenian Genocide Research Program, PAI