1. “How Silkworms Make Silk” Online Video. Vox News, 20 November 2014. Web.

Accessed 6 April 2016.

The video shows the process of harvesting silkworms, the profession of Desdemona before they are forced to flee their village. The novel carries the theme of rebirth, the silkworm cocoon, as it applies to the forced leave of one’s homeland and assimilation. Desdemona carries the knowledge of her silk-work, and her equipment with her as a reminder of her home.

2. Zikakoa, Ioanna. “Remembering the Great Fire of Smyrna.” The Greek Reporter. Greek History. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

This article remembers the Great Fire of Smyrna from the Greek perspective, or the side that lost and fell victim to genocide. The article provides an important perspective as a voice from the side that did not write history which relates well to our discussion on the Ahmad novel about history and perspective. Lastly, the article grapples with the idea of Smyrna and the modern identity of Izmir and how this affected the Greek and Armenian community.

3. United Nations. "United Nations Convention on Genocide." United Nations Audiovisual Library. 46.09 (2009): n. pag. 9 Dec. 1948. Web. 5 Apr. 2016.

I chose to include the United Nations Convention on Genocide because of the strong connection between genocide, exile, and right of return. The Genocide Convention convened in response to the Holocaust and the Armenian genocides. The genocide in Middlesex causes the family to immigrate to America, and as a result become exiles and a diaspora.

4.“The Statue of Liberty’s gender changed nothing. It was the same here as anywhere: men and their wars.” This is in reference to Desdemona’s comment “Maybe because she’s a woman there won’t be war here”. The statue of liberty is a symbol of immigration and travel that plays off the intersex motif in Middlesex.

5. Cosgrove, Ben. “Detroit Burning: Photos from the 12th Street Riot.” Time Magazine. Time. 12 July 2002. Web. 06 Apr. 2016.

I chose to include a photo series on the 1967 Detroit race riots because it creates a great parallel to the burning of Smyrna creating a temporal connection between generations of a family of immigrants. In addition, the fire also deals with issues of race, other, and the reconciliation of a forced immigration.

6. Stroebel, William. “Distancing Disaster: Trauma, Medium, and Form in the Greco-Turkish War and Population Exchange”. Journal of Modern Greek Studies, 2014, Volume 32, Issue 2. Book. 06 April 2016.

This novel discusses issues of trauma as a result of the Greco-Turkish war specifically in regards to the Genocide and forced migration of thousands. It also makes use of memoirs to assess the population exchanges and better encapsulate the concept of collective trauma.

7.  Berdichevsky, Norman. “Parallel Zionisms: Chinese, Greek, Armenian, and Hungarian Parallels of Nationhood, Diaspora, Genocide, Exile, Partition, and Aliya”. World Affairs. Vol. 169, No. 3 (Winter 2007), pp. 119-123. Journal. 06 April 2016.

This journal article compares and draws similarities various genocides, exiles, and diasporas through the lens of ‘zionism’. It will prove to be a useful text for comparative movement studies between mass forced exiles, which relates to my original thought to connect the Nakba and the great fire of smyrna.

8. Yildirim, Onur. “Diplomacy and displacement : reconsidering the Turco-Greek exchange of populations”. London : Routledge, 2012. Book. 06 April 2016.

This book gives a historical overview of Turco-Greek population exchange at the time of the fall of the Ottoman empire and WWI. I can use this source to better understand ideas of migration and displacement that were occurring at this time in the Mediterranean.