Dr. Khatchig Mouradian is lecturer at Columbia University and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress. 

Title: Ethnic Cleansing in the Long 19th Century: The Native American, Circassian, and Armenian Cases

Abstract: This lecture explores the historical trajectories of ethnic cleansing, placing the phenomenon within the broader context of imperial decline, nation-state formation, and ideological shifts between the 19th and early 20th centuries. By examining three key case studies—the forced removal of Native American tribes in the United States, the expulsion of the Circassians from the Caucasus, and the destruction of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire—the lecture analyzes how political, military, and ideological forces intersected to facilitate forced displacement and genocide. The lecture will trace the evolution of ethnic cleansing as a strategy shaped by changing notions of nationalism, sovereignty, and racial hierarchies. It also engages with the complexities of terminology—examining how ethnic cleansing relates to, but is not always synonymous with, genocide—and the debates surrounding these definitions.

Bio: Khatchig Mouradian is a lecturer in Middle Eastern, South Asian, and African Studies at Columbia University, and the Armenian and Georgian Specialist at the Library of Congress. He is also a lecturer at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee. Mouradian is the author of the award-winning book The Resistance Network: The Armenian Genocide and Humanitarianism in Ottoman Syria, 1915-1918, published in 2021. He is a co-editor of After the Ottomans: Genocide’s Long Shadow and Armenian Resilience (2023) and The I.B.Tauris Handbook of the Late Ottoman Empire: History and Legacy (forthcoming in 2025).