Academic Activism and Armenian Genocide Recognition in Australia
Drawing on her own experience lobbying the Australian federal government, O'Brien traces the history of Armenian Genocide recognition in Australia and the obstacles to it. She analyzes the geopolitical and historical barriers: above all Australia's relationship with Turkey dating to the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, and the weight of Gallipoli in Australian military memory and national identity. She then examines the Joint Justice Initiative, the Armenian-Assyrian-Greek coalition through which she works to overcome those barriers. The article situates scholarship inside advocacy, arguing that academia is an active participant in the fight for political change rather than a bystander to it.