The Circassian Genocide: Memory, Recognition, and Survival, Dr. Chen Bram
Dr. Chen Bram, The Circassian Genocide: A Struggle for Memory, Recognition, and Survival, Sunday, August 4, 2024, 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
The Russian colonization of the Caucasus, from the late 18th century and throughout the 19th century, led to a long and bloody war between the Russian conquerors and the Circassians (the Adyghe people themselves) and other Caucasian peoples. This war led to "ethnic cleansing" that included deportation and mass slaughter that some consider one of the first acts of genocide in modern times. Estimates range from one million to one and a half million victims, and a similar number of refugees who left their country. Following the Russian takeover of the Caucasus, the Circassians largely lost their place on the stage of history. Their story was not told at all, and if it was told, it was from the Russian point of view. The occupiers, or the Ottomans, absorbed the refugees – and also used them for their own needs. With the collapse of the Soviet Union, a Circassian national movement emerged, and in the 1990s there were also hesitant attempts to provide recognition and redress – for example, by allowing Circassians from the diaspora to return to the Caucasus. These ceased with the rise of Putin and a strict policy of Russification in the North Caucasus. The Russo-Georgian war in 2008 brought new developments, including the opening of the Tsarist archives in Tbilisi and subsequent research that established the genocide. As a result, ceremonies and activities to commemorate the genocide were established in the Circassian diaspora, culminating during the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi. At the same time, a "war on memory" emerged between Russia and its supporters, activists, and researchers. The war in Ukraine has once again exposed the implications of Russian imperial ambitions, but at the same time has also marginalized the dynamics taking place in the North Caucasus. For the Circassians, the memory of the genocide has become a marker not only of remembrance and a demand for recognition, but of dealing with the simple question of the long-term consequences of the genocide and exile: will they be able to survive as a people?
Chen Bram is an anthropologist and educator, with additional training in organizational studies and group facilitation.
Faculty member at Hadassah Academic College in Jerusalem, research fellow at the Truman Institute at the Hebrew University and the Ben Zvi Institute.
Conducted fieldwork in several localities with concentrations of immigrants from the Caucasus and Central Asia in Israel, among service providers and policymakers in the context of the migration of the 1990s, as well as in the Caucasus, Central Asia, and among immigrants from these regions in North America.
At the same time, he has been researching the Circassians in Israel, the Caucasus, and other diasporas for years. He has worked for years as an engaged anthropologist, a facilitator and consultant with public organizations, various communities, government ministries, and local authorities, and was co-director of a research group on the subject of 'Anthropological Knowledge - Relevance, Use, and Potential' at the Van Leer Institute.