Rebellious Misfits: Self-Representations of Armenian Children who Survived the Genocide

This study examines the self-representations of Armenian child survivors during the Armenian genocide, while engaging with new historiography on children and youth. Armenian children survived under paradoxical circumstances: they were targets (and hence victims) of direct violence, sexual exploitation, and the erasure of identity, but they were also agents who resisted through escape, deception, and defiance. Their agency was neither limitless nor transformative, but primarily a means of endurance, shaped by age, gender, and social bonds. Relying on various works in the self-narrative and testimonial genres as primary sources, including oral histories, memoirs, and diaries written at different points in time in the twentieth century, I analyse how child survivors depicted themselves as heroes-rebellious misfits who resisted authority, protected the weak, retaliated against oppressors, and embarked on perilous journeys. These narratives highlight survival, play, friendship, and solidarity amid trauma. I argue that, though often used as evidence of Armenian victimhood, survivor testimonies also reveal a parallel narrative: one of agency, resilience, and self-determination, thus challenging traditional portrayals of genocide survivors solely as passive victims.