Author Identifier (ORCID)
Sebnem Nazli Karali: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7292-2539
Abstract
This work of creative nonfiction employs a hybrid creative-critical methodology that combines autobiographical narrative and interview-based research within the framework of memory studies. Drawing on Marianne Hirsch’s concept of postmemory, the article examines how knowledge of the Armenian Catastrophe is transmitted, refracted, and contested across generations in the Armenian diaspora in Australia. It situates The Edge of the World, Marcella Polain’s semi-autobiographical novel, within broader traditions of diasporic and postmemory writing, arguing for its significance as a literary meditation on historical rupture and inherited trauma. Interweaving Karali’s personal diasporic narrative with a close reading of Polain’s novel and her in-depth interview with Polain, the piece explores how fiction, testimony, and lived experience intersect in the production of historical knowledge. Its use of academic language as a framing device foregrounds the difficulty of having the Armenian Catastrophe recognised as an object of legitimate knowledge, while its hybrid form mirrors the bricolaged identities shaped by migration. By foregrounding individual-level accounts and reflective storytelling, the article aligns with micro-historical approaches that collapse boundaries between grand historical narratives and embodied experience. In doing so, it offers a novel intervention into discussions of memory, truth, and the intergenerational transmission of trauma within diasporic cultural production.
Keywords
Armenian catastrophe, Armenian-Australian, diaspora, intergenerational trauma, migration, postmemory
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of Publication
1-1-2026
Publication Title
Journal of Intercultural Studies
Publisher
Taylor & Francis
School
Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA)
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Comments
Karali, S. N. (2026). ‘Half-Armenian’, fully diasporic: Navigating memory, trauma, and identity in Marcella Polain’s The Edge of the World. Journal of Intercultural Studies. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1080/07256868.2026.2636888