Alice von Bieberstein, "Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey" (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025)
About this episode
Alice von Bieberstein discusses her book on the political-economic impacts of the Armenian genocide in contemporary Turkey.
Temptations in Ruin: S overeign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey (U Pennsylvania Press, 2025) examines the political-economic afterlife of the Armenian genocide in present-day Turkey, focusing on the region of Muş (Moush). Anthropologist Alice von Bieberstein explores how the 1915 genocide and dispossession of Armenians shaped property regimes, citizenship, and economic logics that continue to reverberate today.By combining ethnography with historical context and diverse perspectives, Temptations in Ruin generates new insights into how past violence shapes contemporary economic practices and social relations. To tell this history, von Bieberstein introduces the concept of “sovereign accumulation” to describe the ways in which the state and other actors mobilize histories of sovereign violence for present-day economic benefit. This framework illuminates the legacy of violence and resource extraction present in such practices as urban renewal projects, treasure hunting for “Armenian gold,” and heritage tourism and identifies these practices’ very existence as manifestations of the economic aftermath of the genocide.Temptations in Ruin uncovers the ways in which…
People in this episode
Guest: Alice von Bieberstein
Topics covered
- post-genocide Turkey
- Armenian genocide
- sovereign accumulation
- economic practices
- property regimes
- urban renewal
- heritage tourism
Keywords
- Armenian genocide
- sovereign accumulation
- economic aftermath
- property regimes
- urban renewal
- heritage tourism
- Muş
- Turkey
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: U Pennsylvania Press
Books & works: Temptations in Ruin: Sovereign Accumulation and the Making of Post-Genocide Turkey
Places: Turkey, Muş, Armenian gold
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