The Observable Unknown — Episode Summary

Podcast: The Observable Unknown
Host: Dr. Juan Carlos Rey
Guest: Dr. Carla Garapedian
Date: September 7, 2025
Episode Title: [Not Provided]

Episode Overview

This episode explores the delicate intersections of history, trauma, memory, art, and justice through the work of Dr. Carla Garapedian—journalist, filmmaker, and archivist. Dr. Garapedian reflects on her personal motivations, documentary projects, (notably "Nemesis 1921" and "Screamers"), the process of preserving genocide survivor testimony, and the mystical experience of being a "guardian of memory." Throughout, host Dr. Juan Carlos Rey draws out profound insights on how the preservation and retelling of suppressed stories becomes an act of collective healing and agency, with contemporary relevance for confronting injustice today.

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Bearing Witness: Storytelling, Identity, and Agency

• Garapedian’s Approach: She explains that while her stories often center on particular groups (e.g., the Armenians), they resonate as allegories for universal human experiences and moral dilemmas. She wants audiences to reflect personally: “I want to give the audience or the viewer the opportunity to make decisions about what he or she would do in that same situation so that they feel some form of agency.” ([03:39])
• Personal Connection: A pivotal moment in her journalistic career came during coverage in Chechnya, when a peer observed, “You couldn't help your people when the genocide happened, but maybe you can help these people now.” ([05:58]) This catalyzed her awareness that personal and historic wounds inform her professional motivations.

2. Impact of Testimony: Trauma, Presence, and Memory

• Working with Survivor Testimonies: Digitizing and archiving Armenian and Rwandan genocide testimonies changed Garapedian profoundly. She describes feeling the "presence" of survivors as a kind of haunting—affecting all involved: “You could say, well, that's the vicarious trauma. From a scientific point of view, you could argue that, or you could say that is actually the presence of the person coming through, or you could say it's both. We can't measure the spirit, the essence of the person. We can't measure that. We can feel it though.” ([08:51])
• Moral Responsibility: Acknowledges the necessity to be mindful of the psychological toll on editors and coworkers handling such stories.

3. Nemesis 1921: History as Mirror and Warning

• Contemporary Resonance: Garapedian relates the story of a 1921 Weimar Germany trial over the assassination of a genocide architect, and how Germany’s role provided a template for later horrors: “It is something that can happen to any people, however so called civilized... We are all responsible for it at some level.” ([11:29])
• Incrementalism of Atrocity: She discusses the incremental, rationalized slide toward authoritarianism and genocide, with a cautionary note: “There always is a rational argument.” ([13:56])
• Historical Accountability: The trial inspired Raphael Lemkin's creation of the UN Genocide Convention. But Garapedian notes the irony of legal codes that often fail to prevent future atrocities.

4. Reconciling Fact and the Ineffable

• Personal Encounter with the Unexplained: Garapedian's lifelong friendship with someone possessing extrasensory abilities opened her mind to phenomena beyond empirical explanation, despite her upbringing in a family of journalists: “There are things in this world of such a magnificent scale that we do not understand. And it made me open to that... How do you live in that world and still be in the empirical world of fact?” ([18:24])
• Universal Consciousness: Speculates that her friend's accuracy suggests “there is some kind of universal consciousness,” paralleling her view that filmmaking can feed and shape it. ([20:26])

5. Music, Film, and Emotional Transmission

• Screamers & System of a Down: Garapedian was initially alienated by heavy metal but came to see the band's music as a powerful conduit for outrage and emotional engagement with genocide. Young fans learned about topics like genocide and activism through the band, broadening the film’s impact: “The band shook me up and took me out of my intellectual apathy and moved me more towards the activism that I saw was necessary.” ([25:17])
• Evolving Film Practice: She discusses intentionally integrating diverse musical genres into new projects, inspired by filmmakers who cross genres to subvert expectations and reach broader audiences.

6. Archival Work and the Sacredness of Memory

• The Search for “Auction of Souls”: Garapedian recounts her ongoing search for the lost 1919 film—a quest paralleling the spiritual journey of reclaiming history: “[My friend] could see it on the shelf. And she said, the print’s almost laughing, Carla, and is waiting for you to discover it...” ([37:12])
• Archives as Living Spaces: Archives like the Armenian Film Foundation and USC Shoah Foundation are “not just stuck on a dusty shelf,” but intended for intergenerational, multimedia engagement (“...for the Armenian group...and those who want to learn about genocide and see, this is the first popular feature film about a genocide that we are aware of. So presenting it as how the culture at that time represented genocide in a movie, I think that's...probably important to keep it intact.” [46:21]).
• Technology and Accessibility: Enthusiastic about expanding interactivity—e.g., holographic testimony for classrooms, searchable archives connecting experiences across genocides.

7. Personal and Familial Legacy

• Family History in Public Discourse: Shares her great-grandfather’s trial on racial classification in U.S. immigration—a historical episode now adapted as a New York play, reflecting on the ambivalence of personal history entering public consciousness. ([46:52])
• Mystical Experiences: Describes a moment of being guided by a cedar scent to discover her ancestor’s exit document: “Suddenly the fragrance of cedar filled my room...I opened the cedar chest...and would you believe on the bottom...there was the exit document.” ([49:39])
• On Legacy: “I recognize that there is a generational wound...I’d like to think that I’ve gone some way towards healing that for myself and for...the Armenian diaspora, but a much wider group, the world population, that we do have within ourselves the capability of stopping this behavior.” ([51:18])

8. Mystery, Help from Beyond, and Continuing the Work

• Being Supported by the Unseen: Garapedian credits “unseen forces” and appeals to the numinous as key sources of sustenance and motivation: “When I ask for help and support, I get it in some way...it gives me sustenance. Sometimes it also makes me slow down and be more human and caring...” ([54:56])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Motivation and Identity:
  “You couldn't help your people when the genocide happened, but maybe you can help these people now.” — Anonymous peer to Garapedian, [05:58]
• On Trauma’s Presence:
  “We can’t measure the spirit, the essence of the person. We can’t measure that. We can feel it though.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [09:06]
• On the Incremental Slide to Atrocity:
  “It can happen to any people, however so called civilized... We are all responsible for it at some level.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [11:29]
• On the Power of Music:
  “The band shook me up and took me out of my intellectual apathy and moved me more towards the activism that I saw was necessary.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [25:17]
• On Archival Testimonies:
  “I think the majority of them would like to think that a young person is learning about it and that we...Maybe it's not a young person, maybe it's a journalist, maybe it's a film researcher, maybe it's an artist, maybe it's a composer...The archive also allows you to go across genocides, so you could search for all women who've experienced rape...So the research power of a searchable archive is...that's a new thing.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [39:37]
• On Spiritual Guidance and Archival Work:
  “Suddenly the fragrance of cedar filled my room... and I opened the cedar chest... and would you believe on the bottom, the bottom of the chest... there was the exit document.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [49:39]
• On Legacy and Healing:
  “I’d like to think that I’ve gone some way towards healing that for myself and for... the world population, that we do have within ourselves the capability of stopping this behavior.” — Dr. Carla Garapedian, [51:18]

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Timestamp | Segment & Topic | |-----------|----------------| | 00:00–02:57 | Intro: Dr. Juan Carlos Rey & guest introduction | | 02:57–06:39 | Garapedian on storytelling, personal identity, and motivations | | 06:57–10:16 | Testimony work, survivor presence, trauma, archival process | | 10:43–14:13 | Nemesis 1921, agency, collective responsibility, relevance today | | 17:06–21:34 | Fact vs. ineffable, psychic experiences, consciousness | | 22:08–26:38 | Screamers, System of a Down, music as activism, emotional bridge | | 31:53–35:00 | Pivotal testimony, medium as message, emotional impact | | 36:14–41:41 | Search for “Auction of Souls,” sacredness of archives | | 46:52–50:32 | Family legacy, mystical guidance, the cedar chest episode | | 51:18–56:12 | On legacy, generational healing, hope for impact | | 54:56–56:12 | Mystical support, numinous motivation, team consciousness |

Conclusion & Lasting Insights

Dr. Carla Garapedian’s presence on The Observable Unknown illuminates the inseparable ties between remembering and healing, between artistic creation and justice. By fusing testimony, cinema, music, and the mysteries of intuition, Garapedian champions memory as an active force—one capable of unsettling, transforming, and humanizing both individuals and societies. As Dr. Rey summarizes, she is “a guardian of stories the world really has tried to silence,” reminding us that each act of remembrance is also a call to action.

For listeners drawn to the union of science, spirit, and human story, this conversation offers profound reminders: The past is never truly past. The unseen is often present. And the stories we choose to carry are the ones that shape our future.