The role of interpretation becomes fundamental in respect to unpacking memory, and by extension, elucidating how it is that we engage, consciously or unconsciously, in the construction of representational identities through commemoration. In the case of the Armenian Genocide, interpretations are further complicated by the presence of unresolved trauma, or more concretely, the denial of the memory of genocide. This trauma results in the inability to access the events of 1915 as political/memorial/historical/material "sites" of discourse. In order to negotiate this trauma, commemorative works such as the Soghomon Tehlirian monument in Fresno, Ca, have been constructed. This rhetorical space of "genocide" offers strategic access to memories and meaning and allows for a perpetuation of historical narrative in its most palatable and controlled forms. Through this enjoinment of identities, Armenians are offered a sense of identity and agency in direct opposition to a historical experience/representation that granted them neither