By Candler Lowe, Campus Carrier Arts & Living Editor
Berry professor of government John Hickman received the opportunity to expand his knowledge on the Armenian genocide by spending part of his summer traveling through Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Hickman visited the Tsitsernakaberd, the museum and memorial for the Armenian genocide of 1915.
This semester, Hickman is teaching a class on war crimes and genocide. He used his time abroad to gather information about the events that he teaches in his class.
“Armenians in the Ottoman Empire were the victims of a genocide by the Turkish government in 1915,” Hickman said. “The Turks have never admitted it was a genocide. Denial is pretty ardent.”
This genocide is just one of the topics discussed in “War Crimes and Genocide,” an upper-level government class. Hickman’s experiences will enable him to speak more appropriately about these tragic happenings.
Hickman hopes that his trip will benefit his class by incorporating the material from his travels abroad.
In his spare time, Hickman was also able to enjoy other aspects of these countries, such as the wine-making region of Georgia and the city of Etchmiadzin, the pre-eminent center of authority in the worldwide Armenian Apostolic Church.