Den armeniska frågan

Folklivsforskning — folkmordsforskning

Abstract

For several reasons, genocide may be studied as "folklife". For one thing, mass murdering is often carried out by ordinary people, "like you and me". A second criterion is the collective nature of genocide, which makes it a social behaviour. Finally, genocide is a phenomenon which is open to multidimensional analysis, just like any institutionalised human behaviour. However, this being so, the question of moral responsibility becomes problematic, particularly in historical retrospect. For example, what about Turkey's responsibility for the genocide of the Armenians in the days of the Ottoman Empire? International law and social science give divergent answers.