Master of Arts, Miami University, 2020, History

From 1919 to 1924, the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), supplied over 5 million German children with food aid that came to be known as the Quakerspeisung. Following four years of fighting and the British Blockade, Germany lacked proper food reserves and production to supply its ailing population. Amidst a concern of revolution and food riots, the German government appealed to the Allied Nations to support the nation with food. However, the American public was not ready to support Germany with humanitarian relief due to the recent fighting and as such the American Relief Administration (ARA) was not able to help the German people. Herbert Hoover, the director of the ARA, reached out to the Quakers and tasked the American Friends Service Committee with helping Germans. The Quakerspeisung which officially started in February 1920, would, in the words of AFSC co-founder Rufus Jones, "Americanize" the German nation and return the former war enemy into the international community. This thesis will show the motivations of US humanitarian relief to Germany and the impact of the Quaker feeding. Furthermore, the project will highlight the Weimar government's response to the aid and their plans to support national reconstruction by focusing on children.

Committee: Erik Jensen PhD (Advisor); Amanda McVety PhD (Committee Member); Steven Conn PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: European History; History

BA, Oberlin College, 2018, History

This project looks at how politicized identity and community was formed in Armenian America through the creation and dissemination of Armenian genocide memories. The Armenian genocide, which occurred in 1915, resulted in the mass dispersion of the Armenian people, and in great numbers to America. The traumatic genocidal experience, along with erasure by the Turkish government, has resulted in the genocide being the most seminal piece of Armenian community building and political organization. Most work done on the Armenian-American community and Armenian genocide focuses on the impact of non-recognition by the Turkish government. In my thesis, I seek to rediscover the ways that the Armenian-American community historically utilized this trauma in order to redefine their identity and look towards new possibilities of identity, community, and memory. This exploration of the intersections of memory, political organizing, and community building showcases the hopeful potentials of traumatic events.

Committee: Zeinab Abul-Magd (Advisor); Leonard V. Smith (Committee Chair); Renee Christine Romano (Committee Member); David Edward Kelley (Committee Member) Subjects: History

BA, Oberlin College, 1980, History

As the central focus of my senior thesis at Oberlin College, I have chosen to edit Stanley Kerr's correspondence of 1919-1920. This correspondence of nearly 300 pages is a detailed observation by a young American relief worker of the aftermath of the Armenian genocide and deportations in Allied occupied post-war Turkey. My purpose is not to provide a commentary on the correspondence. Rather, it is to reproduce the letters in their original form in order present new primary material for historians. I also envision a possible M.A. or Ph.D. thesis using this collection. Therefore, I feel that I have only begun to scratch the surface in terms of what can be learned from the archives.My presentation of the correspondence includes a paper which provides a historical background to the position of the Armenians in Turkey during World War One. I seek to explain the historical events which brought about the Armenian opposition to the government of the Ottoman Empire, as well as the reasons for which the Ottoman Turks found it necessary to systematically deport all of Turkey's Armenian population and why two-thirds of the Armenians were massacred in the process. The purpose of the paper is to provide a historical background to the Armenian Question in Turkey and a setting for post World War One Marash and the situation my grandfather encountered there.

Committee: Steven Mintz (Advisor) Subjects: History

Master of Environmental Science, Miami University, 2017, Environmental Sciences

The internship was completed from December 16, 2013, till July 31, 2016, at the Armenian Water and Sewerage Closed Joint Stock Company (AWSC), Investment Programs Coordination Directorate, Head office, Yerevan, Republic of Armenia. The main project of the internship was “Water Supply and Sanitation Sector Project - Additional Financing” funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB). I was involved in the project as an Environmental and Social Impact Specialist. This report describes the tasks and assignments for which I was responsible.

Committee: Amélie Davis PhD (Advisor); Vincent Hand PhD (Committee Member); Jonathan Levy PhD (Committee Member) Subjects: Environmental Management

Doctor of Philosophy, The Ohio State University, 2010, History

During the Reagan administration, American policymakers devoted billions of dollars to humanitarian relief in an attempt to create a commercial empire by exploiting natural disasters. My project will serve as an investigation of American international disaster relief– an audit of who mattered most, who lived, and who died. My project will discuss several major themes, each a topic of debate within the field of American history. On the surface, my research will probe a previously unexamined element of Cold War state-to-state relations – American disaster relief policy. I will examine and uncover the motives behind the idiosyncrasies of American foreign disaster relief, illustrating that policymakers viewed humanitarian, economic, and security concerns as mutually reinforcing when administering disaster relief. Looking more deeply, however, my project will uncover a second story that ran parallel to American Cold War interests. The implementation of disaster relief provided space for policymakers and private businessmen to negotiate the boundaries of an emerging neoliberal empire that was both justified by and concealed under traditional Cold War discourses. Nations that provided disaster aid thus dictated terms of development in catastrophe-stricken countries. A study of international disaster relief will consequently reveal the ideology of American policymakers, the limits to American power, and emerging global trends obscured by the waning Cold War.

Committee: Peter Hahn PhD (Advisor); Stephanie Smith PhD (Committee Member); William Childs (Committee Member) Subjects: History

Master of Arts (MA), Ohio University, 2007, International Studies - International Development Studies

This thesis analyses the incidence and nature of the trafficking in people in Armenia. The phenomenon of trafficking is considered to be one of the most pressing and complex issues in the contemporary world. The thesis adopts a human rights approach, contending the promotion of international human rights norms through a Three “P's” policy that highlights the three most important aspects of any anti-trafficking program: Preventing exploitation from occurring in the first place; Protecting those identified as victims; and Prosecuting those who trafficked and exploited them. Alongside the analysis of the universal and regional instruments and mechanisms available to address the problem of trafficking in the human rights context, this thesis provides an overview of the emergence of Armenia's NGO sector and its development and describes the NGO sector role and activity against trafficking in women for sexual exploitation. The thesis concludes with recommendations for strengthening the anti-trafficking efforts in Armenia.

Committee: Elizabeth Collins (Advisor) Subjects: