You might remember Ashley Kalagian Blunt from the previous episode, “Down Under”. In this episode, I talk to Ashley about her academic work on the Armenian Genocide and genocides in general. In her novella, ‘My Name is Revenge’, she uses the tale of Simpson and His Donkey as a way of understanding different viewpoints of history.

Given this week is ANZAC Day, I invited her on the show to talk about the links between the ANZAC invasion of Gallipoli and the links to the Armenian Genocide.

Ashley highlights the parallels between the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust. We also discuss the Armenian Diaspora, the influence of Armenian language and culture, and the importance of recognising historical atrocities to prevent future genocides.

Genocide is a feature of human history and Australian history is not immune from that. We talk about the Tasmanian genocide, The Conquest of the Desert, The Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust, as well as genocides currently occurring. We discuss what they have in common and what are some of the features of these inhumane events.

We leave with commentary about what we can possibly do to make this world a safer and more positive place, using Simpson and His Donkey as an example.

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