Unpacking Armenian Studies: Recent Episodes
USC Institute of Armenian Studies
The USC Institute of Armenian Studies promotes scholarship that addresses national and global challenges; impacting policy, development, and progress.
Language Therapy with Dr. K which was hosted on this channel for the past 3 years now has its own separate chanel. Search and subscribe to the new channel wherever you get your podcasts to receive the upcoming episodes of the beloved podcast series!
What is Armenian mother guilt in the diaspora? How can a pandemic impact language dynamics in the home? Why is it that our professional expertise, competence, and training often disappear when it comes to things Armenian, our families, and our own children? Join Dr. K and Dr. Lori Mesrobian, USC professor of Spanish, as they discuss the extra complications of transmitting Armenian during the pandemic, the intense grief, disappointment, and shame associated with fears of loss, and the need for local and global language resources.
Are you up for a game of Belote? How did a French trick-taking card game gain such ubiquitous popularity both in Armenia and the diaspora? What is the special Armenian twist (hint: the bazar element) with its own language dynamics and social hierarchy? Though full of French, Turkish, and Russian words, why is it perceived as such an Armenian domain by players? Join Dr. K with research assistant and USC student Sarkis Tricha as they explore the roots and origins of Belote, the various game-specific terms used by speakers of Eastern and Western Armenian, the social dynamics and implications of the game, and the importance of using language as a means to play!
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
How do immigrants navigate integrating into host societies while still maintaining an orientation toward the homeland? What is the role of language in that process? What if they live in a society with a colonial/imperial legacy? Dr. K is joined by UCLA PhD candidate Anatolii Tokmantcev as they discuss the formation of Armenian communities in Russia, how Armenians are conceptualized in the Russian imagination, the factors that contribute to the quick loss of the Armenian language, and so much more. Join them for a fascinating discussion on the salience of language in particular sociolinguistic contexts.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
How do colonial and diasporic histories impact language dynamics? How do these forces manifest themselves in the case of curious hybrids or third-culture kids, the characterization author Nadia Owusu uses to encapsulate her Ghanian and Armenian-American heritage, through the lens of a child growing up in various international communities? Join Dr. K and Nadia Owusu as they discuss Aftershocks, Owusu’s powerful memoir, and use it as a springboard for topics such as colonialism, inherited languages, code-switching, accents, ownership, writing, and performing belonging.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What happens when an alternative weekly in Orange County starts a column called ¡Ask a Mexican!, in which journalist Gustavo Arellano responds to reader questions about Mexican-American stereotypes in a satirical, wonderfully witty and informative manner? And he uses Spanish and Spanglish in almost every response? And it becomes so successful that it turns into a book? Join Dr. K and trailblazing LA Times columnist and author Gustavo Arellano as they use his work to talk about journalistic tropes and conventions, immigrant stereotypes and experiences, and of course, issues of language. For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What do Europe’s reactions to this war seem to be saying about what Europe will or won’t tolerate when it comes to aggression and war? Has Europe’s vision of a united Europe changed irrevocably? Will small countries like Armenia, Moldova and Georgia now be faced with even starker choices between Russia and the West? How will Europe’s relationships with the countries of the Caucasus change and can those changes benefit societies in the Caucasus? Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian speaks with Dr. Vicken Cheterian, writer, journalist, scholar and author of War and Peace in the Caucasus, and a lecturer at Webster University Geneva.
This is Episode 11 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
How will Turkey’s military and diplomatic support to Ukraine — while disassociating from the Western campaign to limit Russia’s reach — determine its regional policies going forward? How will Armenia and Karabakh be impacted? How will negotiations regarding opening the Turkey-Armenia border figure into Turkey’s calculus for its role in the region? Amberin Zaman is a veteran Turkish journalist who has covered Turkey and the region for a variety of international publications. She is Senior Correspondent for Al-Monitor. She speaks with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian on the view of the Ukraine war from Turkey.
This is Episode 10 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
USC Professor Robert English studies the USSR, Russia and Eastern Europe. Here, he discusses the perceptions and policies of the other former Soviet republics in light of Russia’s actions in Ukraine, with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian. Russia’s intentions and possible encroachment (military, political and economic) on the other 13 republics, what might follow a cessation of hostilities, limited room to maneuver bilaterally with Russia, and the deepening of enmities exacerbated by this war, as well as similarities in use of violence against close populations – all of these impact Armenia, Georgia and their stability, security and sovereignty.
This is Episode 9 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Professor Ervand Abrahamian of City University of New York expresses his concerns about possible ramifications of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on Iran. In a conversation with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, they talk about Iran’s relations with all of the regional actors – Georgia, Armenia, the Caucasus, Turkey - in light of the war and its possible outcomes. Is this a return to the Tsarist Russian vision for the neighborhood?
This is Episode 8 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian speaks with Varoujan Avedikian, an attorney and former General Counsel to Armenia’s Central Bank, on the economic and monetary challenges and opportunities immediately resulting from the Ukraine war. Energy and food security, imports and exports, banking and insurance services, are all impacted in expected and unexpected ways.
This is Episode 7 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Armenia’s ambassador to Poland, Samvel Mkrtchian, is on the frontline with incoming refugees, and with an international community intent on finding a solution to the ongoing destruction of a country and a nation. He speaks with Institute Director and his former colleague at Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, Salpi Ghazarian, at length about international politics, power relations, and Armenia’s limited room to maneuver.
This is Episode 6 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Armenia’s embassy in Ukraine was among the last to leave the capital and move to Lviv, near the western border. Ambassador Vladimir Karapetyan speaks with Institute Director and his former colleague at Armenia’s Foreign Ministry, Salpi Ghazarian, about the complexity of Armenia’s foreign relations and interactions with the diplomatic community in Ukraine; about what the embassy and staff are doing in the midst of war, including protecting church sculptures, and offering aid to refugees; and about the old and large (near 500,000) Armenian community of Ukraine, and their place within Ukrainian society.
This is Episode 5 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Dr. Dominique Arel of the University of Ottawa is a scholar of the Ukrainian Diaspora, which is active and effective in Canadian, and global pol. In a conversation with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, he presents an overview of the four waves of Ukrainian migration to Canada, and how each reinforced the identity and organizational capacity of those who had arrived earlier. The conversation focuses on responses to the war and the ability to mobilize the community’s as well as the host country’s – Canada’s – political resources. It ends with the question that has no answer – how do two neighbors go back to any sort of normality after such massive, unprovoked violence?
This is Episode 4 of the limited series called Ukraine, Armenia, and War.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Armenia and Georgia, both caught in the very narrow space between the policies and actions of Russia and those of the West, are responding in very different ways to the Ukraine war. Olesya Vartanyan, based in Tbilisi, Georgia, is International Crisis Group’s Senior Analyst for the South Caucasus region and the guest for Episode 3 of this limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War. The conversation, with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, is about a fractured region.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
How do Armenians in Armenia and Karabakh / Artsakh view similarities and differences in the 2020 war with Azerbaijan, and the 2022 invasion of Ukraine by Russia. What are the information flows? What do the first wave of immigrants from Russia and Ukraine want? How has Karabakh’s security been impacted? CivilNet’s Editor-in-Chief Karen Harutyunyan is the guest in Episode 1 of a limited series called Ukraine, Armenia & War, on the Russian invasion of Ukraine as seen from Armenia and the Caucasus.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Professor Ronald Suny, a leading scholar of Soviet, post-Soviet and Russian history, the Caucasus, nationalism and ethnic conflict, speaks about sovereignty and “organized hypocrisy” – for Ukraine, Armenia, Karabakh, Iraq, Kosovo or the Donbas region. Is there inviolability of borders? What is the value of ‘recognition’?
This is Episode 2 of the limited series Ukraine, Armenia & War on the Russian invasion of Ukraine as seen from Armenia and the Caucasus.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
How can the cultural influences and language dynamics of an immigrant household make its way to heavy metal and some of the most transformational music of its time? Going from an Armenian private school to sold out arenas around the world, Shavo Odadjian of System of a Down talks to Dr. K about how growing up speaking both standards of Armenian sparked a mindset of adaptability and perseverance throughout his life and career.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
How can a psychologist use language as a tool for healing, and as a method of traveling to times and locations often buried and distant in the past? If both therapist and patient are bilingual, how are language dynamics negotiated and experienced during therapy? In this episode, Dr. K sits down with clinical psychologist Mariam Vanounts to discuss the role of language(s) and non-verbal communication in various forms of therapy.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
While Cheerios are commonly known as a popular breakfast food, the term has taken on a life of its own in the Armenian American context, referring to a specific way a person speaks or behaves. In this episode, Dr. K talks to a number of young Armenian Americans and immigrants from Armenia to uncover this phenomenon and determine who exactly is a Cheerios and how that label is used.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What does it take to become a priest in the Armenian Apostolic Church and what role does language play in the process? In this episode, Dr. K is joined by the Parish Priest of St. John Armenian Apostolic Church, Father Mesrop Ash, to explore the different roles within the Armenian Church and understand the various procedures and processes behind ordination.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What kind of influence can a dominant language have on a minority language? In this episode, Dr. K sits with linguist Dr. Niamh Kelly from the American University of Beirut to discuss why knowledge of one language, such as Arabic or English, can influence the sound system of Western Armenian. They also deconstruct different language myths regarding phonetics, accents, and “perfect” speech.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Who was Anastas Mikoyan? — Dr. Pietro Shakarian, a historian of Russia and the Soviet Union, discusses Anastas Mikoyan, often called the most influential Armenian in the Soviet Union — his life and his impact on Soviet history, from Lenin to Brezhnev, and on the development of Soviet Armenia.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Whether dancing at Armenian celebrations or watching Armenian dance companies perform on stage, it’s evident that the practice of Armenian dance is rich and diverse. In this episode, Dr. K sits with PhD student and dance practitioner Natalie Kamajian to define different types of Armenian dance and discuss what the discourse behind them says about how Armenian identity is performed.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Economics of genocide — Dr. Ümit Kurt, a historian of the modern Middle East, provides a rare look at economic factors as both cause and consequence of genocide. How and why did neighbors turn on neighbors? Because the financial incentives were great. Kurt, born in Aintab (Gaziantep), writes on the economics of genocide in his hometown.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Publications:
The Armenians of Aintab: The Economics of Genocide in an Ottoman Province (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2021)
Co-edited with Ara Sarafian, Armenians and Kurds in the Late Ottoman Empire (CA: The Press California State University Fresno, 2020).
Antep 1915: Soykırım ve Failler (Istanbul: İletişim, September 2018).
“The Political Micro-Economy of the Armenian Genocide, 1915-1922,” Journal of Balkan and Near Eastern Studies, vol. 20, no. 6, 2018, pp. 618-638.
“Theatres of Violence on the Ottoman Periphery: Exploring the Local Roots of Genocidal Policies in Antep,” Journal of Genocide Research, vol. 20, issue 3, 2018, pp. 351-371.
“The Curious Case of Ali Cenani Bey: The Story of a Génocidaire,” Patterns of Prejudice, vol. 52, issue 1, 2018, pp. 58-77.
The Spirit of the Laws: The Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide, co-authored with Taner Akçam (New York: Berghahn Books, 2017).
“Revisiting the Legal Infrastructure for Confiscation of the Armenian and Greek Wealth: A Political-Economic Analysis of the CUP Years and the Early Modern Republic,” Middle Eastern Studies, vol. 53, issue 5, 2017, pp. 700-723.
The After War - Before Peace series began in November with Ambassador Steven Mann, of the American diplomatic service. Now, more than a dozen episodes later, it comes to a close with Ambassador Marc Pierini, a veteran of the EU diplomatic service.
Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Ambassador Pierini, who is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, where his work focuses on developments in the Middle East and Turkey from a European perspective. In his decades as a career EU diplomat, one of his posts was as EU ambassador and head of EU delegation to Turkey (2006–2011) – what some would consider to have been the good years.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
For decades, Georgia was the transit hub point from west to east. Now, Georgian press see Armenia as taking over that position. Is the regional relationship seen as a zero sum game in Georgia? How does all of this impact Georgia’s vision about its place in the region and the world? What does all this say about regional cohesion and is that even an aspiration by the countries of the region?
Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak to Giorgi Kanashvili, head of the board for Tbilisi-based NGO, the Institute for the Study of Nationalism and Conflicts. He is also a research fellow at Democracy Research Institute and lectures at the Georgian American University and the International Black Sea University.
Also joining the conversation is George Tumasyan, head of the "Ardzagank" Armenian community platform of Georgia aimed at political and civic participation. He is also the founder of the Caucasian Academy of Diplomacy.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Iran, which shares borders with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, has maintained neutrality in the Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh conflict throughout the years. The question is – now what? Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak about the reactions within Iran during the war, as well as the Iran/Armenia/Georgia vertical axis that now has several obstacles in its path and Iran’s existing and aspirational relations with Russia.
Joining the discussion is Dr. Ervand Abrahamian, widely regarded as one of the leading historians of modern Iran, who is a distinguished professor of history at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, also joins the conversation. Azizi was an assistant professor of regional studies at Shahid Beheshti University (2016-2020) and a guest lecturer at the department of regional studies at the University of Tehran (2016-2018).
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What are the instruments of justice and equity in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War? What can the international organizations do? What conventions and statutes apply in this particular case? Salpi Ghazarian and Emil Sanamyan speak with Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan, a political scientist, climate negotiator and published author who served as Deputy Minister of Environment for the Republic of Armenia and is currently teaching at the American University of Armenia.
They also speak to human rights lawyer Sheila Paylan, who spent more than 13 years working as a legal advisor for the United Nations at various international tribunals, including the Rwanda and ex-Yugoslavia Tribunals and the Khmer Rouge Trials, as well as with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She recently moved to Armenia to assist the government with the post-war transition.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Olesya Vartanyan, senior analyst of the South Caucasus region for the International Crisis Group. Based in Tbilisi, Vartanyan researches and produces reports on regional security issues in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, with a particular focus on breakaway regions.
Founded in 1995, International Crisis Group is a field-based organization that does research and advocacy on preventing and mitigating deadly conflicts.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Was the war in Karabakh Turkey's re-entry into the Caucasus? Are Russia and Turkey on a collision course? How are Azerbaijani investments in Turkey driving the relationship between the two countries? Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan and renowned Turkish economist Dr. Cengiz Aktar about the views from Turkey following the latest war between Armenia and Azerbaijan where Turkish involvement played a decisive role.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
What are the leaders of Armenia and Azerbaijan saying? What aren’t they saying? And how does this impede forward movement? In fact, how does this harm peace? Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Dr. Vicken Cheterian to answer those questions. The focus of the discussion is on what's missing in the official public conversation between leaders of each side, and between leaders and their own constituents. Dr. Vicken Cheterian is a journalist, author and political scientist who teaches at Webster University in Geneva.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with longtime Caucasus researcher and area expert Dr. Laurence Broers. They discuss the possible pathways toward a lasting status in Karabakh/Artsakh in the aftermath of the recent 45-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, which ended with a trilateral document, brokered by Russia, that includes a 5-year deployment of peacekeepers in the region.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Dr. Sergey Markedonov, a political scientist specializing in conflicts, nationalism and nation building in the post-Soviet space and a researcher at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations. Civilnet's editor-in-chief Karen Harutyunyan also joins in to talk about the attitudes expressed in Russia concerning the conflict in Karabakh/Artsakh and the subsequent deployment of Russian peacekeepers in the region, as well as on the perceptions of those Russian attitudes in Armenia and the long term outlook beyond the five-year peacekeeping agreement.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
If the official language of the Republic of Armenia is Armenian, but the commonly spoken standard is Eastern Armenian, where does that leave Western Armenian speakers? In this episode, Dr. K is joined by Vahakn Keshishian, co-founder of Aghvor Paner, a Western Armenian language website, to discuss the changing perceptions of Western Armenian and how promoting the use of the language is a fruitful way to build communities. For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Karen Harutyunyan, editor-in-chief of Civilnet, who joined the conversation from Yerevan, along with Anush Ghavalyan from Stepanakert. The discussion raises questions about the post-war situation on the roads connecting Armenia and Karabakh, or Artsakh, and the daily challenges of residents returning to life and a new normal there.
Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Discussing the daunting task of defining the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the 44-Day War, Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with international law specialist Levon Gevorgyan of the American University of Armenia about the concept of internationally recognized borders. Dr. Gela Merabishvili, expert in political geography, also joins the conversation to discuss the challenges surrounding delimitation and demarcation of state borders, particularly after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
To view the map referenced in the episode, visit the Institute's Youtube page, where you can also watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan talk about the pressing issue of the fate of Armenian servicemen and civilians currently in captivity in Azerbaijan as a result of the latest war in Karabakh. Experts joining the conversation are professor David Glazier from Loyola Law School and international human right lawyer Siranush Sahakyan, who is currently on the legal team preparing the case on behalf of the Armenian POWs at the European Court of Human Rights.
To watch the live conversation on video, or to listen in Armenian, visit the Institute's Youtube page.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian and analyst/editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh platform, Emil Sanamyan, formulate a list of important topics and questions to be discussed in the upcoming episodes of the After War - Before Peace series with area experts, analysts, former and current diplomats. The conversation comes amid the tense situation following the 44-day war between Armenia and Azerbaijan, in and around Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh, which concluded with an uneasy settlement short of a final peace agreement.
To watch the conversation on video, visit the Institute's Youtube page.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Shifting Borders and Sovereigns — Dr. George Bournoutian, a professor of both Armenian and Iranian studies, recently retired from teaching at Iona College in New York. He speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about the dozens of volumes he has researched, published and translated into English, on Armenia, Armenians, the Caucasus, Russia and Iran – and Karabakh.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
For a list of Bournoutian's publications, visit https://bit.ly/3tONUgn.
In this episode, Dr. K sits with renowned Armenian calligrapher Ruben Malayan, three weeks into the 2020 Artsakh War, to discuss the breadth and impact of his work, as it relates to Armenian culture and society. They also unpack the crucial role of arts and humanities in moments of rupture.
For more on Malayan's work, visit armeniancalligraphy.com and 15levels.com.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
During Genocide: A Resistance Network? — Dr. Khatchig Mouradian, lecturer at Columbia University, has just been named the Armenian and Georgian Area Specialist at the Library of Congress. He speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about the initiatives taken by Armenians in Ottoman Syria to resist inevitable destruction and to find ways to rebuild. Dr. Mouradian’s new book is ‘The Resistance Network,’ a study of genocide, survivors and agency.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Vulgar vocabulary and cursing in a time of war? Hand-in-hand with an increased interest in learning and teaching Armenian? In this episode, Dr. K is joined by comedian Mary Basmadjian as they discuss her ability to break all kinds of gender and cultural norms, while simultaneously teaching the Armenian language through comedic skits such as "Vartoush Vocabulary."
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
In this episode of Language Therapy, Dr. K is joined by Khachatur Adumyan, one of Armenia’s most sought-after interpreters, who has interpreted for every Armenian prime minister since independence. They talk about the linguistic, cognitive, and ethical demands of the job, the nuances of interpreting from and into Armenian, and the day-to-day realities of an interpreter, all in the context of the Artsakh war and the pandemic.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian speaks with former US Ambassador Steven Mann about the ceasefire document signed by the heads of government of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia on November 10. What does it include? What does it leave out? Why? Ambassador Mann was US co-chair of the OSCE Minsk Group in the 2000s, and based on his familiarity with the parameters that would have to be identified by any agreement between the sides, helps clarify the provisions in this ceasefire document and what can be expected of a much more extensive and detailed peace agreement to come.
Read the official text of the ceasefire document here: https://bit.ly/3nioCD3.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The Institute presents audio of ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AT WAR - a series of public conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to ongoing escalation in Artsakh/Karabakh.
The fifth series in the conversation, entitled “Roads to Peace” features Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian; Fmr. U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Stephen Rapp; Fmr. OSCE Minsk Group U.S. Co-Chair Steven Mann; Prof. Milena Sterio; Information Security Analyst Samvel Martirosyan; Permanent Representative of Karabakh in Washington D.C. Robert Avetisyan; and Emil Sanamyan, analyst and editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh platform.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The Institute presents audio of ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AT WAR - a series of public conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to ongoing escalation in Artsakh/Karabakh.
The fourth series in the conversation, entitled “Understanding the 'International Community'” features Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian; Armine Aleksanyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Nagorno Karabakh; Nicholas Koumjian of the United Nations; Nate Schenkkan of Freedom House; Daniel Sneider, Lecturer at Stanford University; journalist Vicken Cheterian; Yavuz Baydar, Editor-in Chief of Ahval News; and Emil Sanamyan, analyst and editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh platform.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The Institute presents audio of ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AT WAR - a series of public conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to ongoing escalation in Artsakh/Karabakh.
The third series in the conversation, entitled “Armenia's Borders: Tavush Everyday” features Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian; Hayk Chobanyan, Governor of Tavush; Dr. Yevgenya Jenny Paturyan of the American University of Armenia; Hrant Mikaelian of the Caucasus Institute; and Emil Sanamyan, analyst and editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh platform.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The Institute presents audio of ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AT WAR - a series of public conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to ongoing escalation in Artsakh/Karabakh.
The second series in the conversation, entitled “Turkey & Russia — Friend or Foe?” features Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian; Prof. Robert English of the USC Department of Political Science and International Relations; Cengiz Çandar, Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the Stockholm University Institute for Turkish Studies; Russia analyst and journalist Anna Arutunyan; Karen Harutyunyan, editor-in-chief of CivilNet.am; and Emil Sanamyan, analyst and editor of the Institute’s Focus on Karabakh platform.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The Institute presents audio of ARMENIA AND AZERBAIJAN AT WAR - a series of public conversations with scholars, journalists, and government officials to give context to ongoing escalation in Artsakh/Karabakh. The first conversation, entitled "Security or Democracy — A False Dichotomy?," features Robert Avetisyan, Permanent Representative of the Nagorno Karabakh Republic to the U.S., Prof. Steve Swerdlow of the USC School of International Relations, Dr. Anna Ohanyan of Stonehill College, and Emil Sanamyan, editor of the Institute’s FOCUS ON KARABAKH.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Karabakh or Artsakh? Where do all the different names for this region come from? In this episode of Language Therapy, Dr. K talks to historian George Bournoutian, an expert on the history of Armenia and the Caucasus, to discuss the historical, political, and linguistic legacies of this region's various place names. For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Armenians in Turkey — Dr. Ari Şekeryan, raised in Istanbul, is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Michigan, studying the minority-majority relations in the final years of the Ottoman Empire. He talks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about the role of newspapers and churches in the vision for a united Armenia during that period.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu
Additional Resources:
Listen to Ari’s talk at Innovate Armenia 2017 about growing up and learning to be Armenian in Turkey here: https://bit.ly/2Fwg4IR.
Who is a 1.5 generation immigrant? What is the connection between generation and language? What are the challenges of transmitting Armenian as a 1.5 generation parent? And what's with all the guilt and shame? Dr. K is joined by attorney and co-founder of ToTalk Armenian, Armine Bazikyan, as they discuss Armine's family's struggles with language transmission and ToTalk as a possible solution.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Armenians Beyond Diaspora: How They Made Lebanon Their Own — A conversation with Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian about her work understanding Lebanese politics and how “Armenian” space is fashioned in a Lebanon where citizens are demanding the end to a decades-old sectarian government system that has sustained inefficiency, dysfunction and a non-representative, non-merit based power structure.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Memories of grandparents and all the ways Armenians refer to their grandparents in this episode of Inch by Inch.
Inch by Inch is an exploration of the details of intimate daily life and their connections to the larger questions, through the prism of Armenian cultural and linguistic memories.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Writing Turkish with Armenian letters — Dr. Murat Cankara teaches Turkish language and literature at the Social Sciences University of Ankara. He talks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about how and why 2,000 Armeno-Turkish novels and other works were published over centuries.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Additional Resources:
Listen to Cankara’s talk at Innovate Armenia 2016: https://apple.co/3hDR5kC.
To read some of Cankara’s articles, visit: https://asbu.academia.edu/MuratCankara.
What is the connection between artificial intelligence, psychology, and language? Who/what is the world's first emotionally intelligent hospital robot and what's the connection to Armenia? Dr. K talks to Karen Khachikyan, CEO and co-founder of Expper Technologies, the company behind Robin the Robot, as they discuss Robin's emotional and linguistic capacities in helping children overcome their stress, isolation, and anxiety in a hospital setting. Dr. Shant Shekherdimian and Dr. Mineh Badmagharian also join the conversation. For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
‘They needed a real Lebanon’ — Dr. Nubar Hovsepian is associate professor of political science at Chapman University. He speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about the Palestinian resistance movement, the role of education in forming national identity, and state building in Lebanon.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Additional Resources:
Hovsepian, Nubar. Palestinian State Formation: Education and the Construction of National Identity. Cambridge Scholars, 2008.
Listen to a conversation between Nubar Hovsepian, Arturo Sarukhan,and Manuel Pastor hosted by the Institute about human rights and refugees: https://bit.ly/2E33y24.
What kinds of language policies do multilingual families enact when the language or languages in the home are not the same as the dominant language outside the home? What if each parent speaks a different language? What types of reactions and attitudes do families have to deal with when they set specific family strategies for language transmission? Dr. K is joined by Los Angeles Times journalist, Esmeralda Bermudez, in a deep conversation about language, identity, immigration, heritage, and the parenting choices she and her Armenian husband make in their multilingual family.
Read Bermudez's piece on raising a multilingual daughter here: https://lat.ms/31lXw4M.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Conflict resolution and Nagorno-Karabakh — Dr. Philip Gamaghelyan is an assistant professor of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, and cofounder of the Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation and Caucasus Edition, an online journal. He talks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about the politics of memory, intervention, and the design of dialogue between Armenians, Turks and Azeris.
For more, visit Armenian.usc.edu.
Additional Resources:
- The Imagine Center for Conflict Transformation is an independent, non-political organization that sustains networks of individuals around the world committed to working across conflict divides. https://www.imaginedialogue.com
- Caucasus Edition is independent online publication that serves as a forum for scholars, practitioners, journalists, policy analysts and researchers. https://caucasusedition.net
- Conciliation Resources is a produced film co-produced by Armenian and Azerbaijani journalists and NGO leaders. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3yuVOK96RE
Dr. K is joined by world-renowned psycholinguist and international authority on bilingualism, François Grosjean, as they debunk some of the most prevalent myths about bilingualism. How can we nurture a happy bilingualism? What are the best family strategies and educational models? What are the advantages and disadvantages of bilingualism? Dr. Grosjean is the author of Bilingual: Life and Reality (Harvard University Press, 2010), among other books, and the very popular Psychology Today blog, “Life as a Bilingual.”
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Theatre of the absurd — Dr. Myrna Douzjian teaches Armenian language, theatre, literature, film at UC Berkeley. She is the rare graduate of an Armenian school who pursued Armenian Studies and she speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about those challenges as well as the difficulty of studying Armenian literature and drama as part of world literature.
For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Who is considered a bilingual? What does the day to day reality look like for those who lead their lives in two or more languages? And why are there still so many persistent myths about bilingualism and bilinguals? Dr. K is joined by world-renowned psycholinguist and international authority on bilingualism, François Grosjean, as they demystify bilingualism. He is the author of Bilingual: Life and Reality (Harvard University Press, 2010), among other books, and the very popular Psychology Today blog, "Life as a Bilingual."
Visit the USC Institute of Armenian Studies for more.
During a summer of cancelled plans due to the pandemic, here is a summer, in the form of memories, in this episode of Inch by Inch.
Inch by Inch is an attempt to explore little aspects of daily life and connect them to larger themes through a prism of memories and an Armenian cultural and linguistic twist.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
Soviet history and nationalism — Dr. Ronald Suny is a leading scholar of Imperial Russian and Soviet history, the Caucasus and more recently, of the Armenian Genocide, with significant contribution to the study of history and historiography. He speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about socialism, ethnic conflict and revolution.
Visit the USC Institute of Armenian Studies website for more.
Introducing Language Therapy with Dr. K, a new podcast about language in the Armenian context. Discover the quirky nuances, fun, and frustrations of language, as Dr. Shushan Karapetian delves into topics and questions you didn’t even know you were curious about. In this inaugural episode, Dr. K is joined by Gegham Mughnetsyan, as they discuss his recent Armenian translation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail. How do we talk about racial justice in Armenian?
50 years of Armenian Studies at NAASR — Marc Mamigonian is the Director of Academic Affairs at the Natl. Assn. for Armenian Studies and Research in Massachusetts. He discusses the trajectory and infrastructure of the field with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, and about the demand for rare books.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
Pickles and personal memories of pickling, plus added cultural and linguistic flavors in this episode of Inch by Inch.
Inch By Inch is an attempt to explore little aspects of daily life and connect them to larger themes through a prism of memories and an Armenian cultural and linguistic twist.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
One of the oldest Armenian Studies programs in the US is directed by a 3rd generation Fresnoan. Barlow Der Mugrdechian is the Coordinator of the Armenian Studies Program & Director of the Center for Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno. He speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about growing up in Fresno, visiting Soviet Armenia, wanting to learn Classical Armenian & studying with Armenian Studies giants.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
In this episode, the Institute’s Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan talks about bread in personal memories and its cultural and linguistic appearances in the Armenian context.
Inch By Inch is an attempt to explore little aspects of daily life and connect them to larger themes through a prism of memories and an Armenian cultural and linguistic twist.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
Studying genocides and religion — Dr. Donald Miller, co-founding director of strategic initiatives for the Center for Religion and Civic Culture at USC, studies global religious trends. He talks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about oral histories of Rwandan and Armenian genocide survivors and the questioning of faith during atrocities.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
For more, read Miller's latest book Becoming Human Again: An Oral History of the Rwandan Genocide Against the Tutsi.
Confiscation and destruction — Dr. Mehmet Polatel is a historian and a postdoctoral fellow at the USC Shoah Foundation, researching the confiscation and looting of Armenian properties during the genocide. He speaks with Institute director Salpi Ghazarian about the dispossession of Armenians and the late Ottoman Empire.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
How did the Armenian ceramic tradition go from Kutahya, Turkey to Jerusalem? What is the place of material culture in the loss of genocide & the renewal that came after? Flutist & author Sato Moughalian talks about her grandfather, David Ohannessian’s role in that journey & about her book, Feast of Ashes.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.
"Sisters" by John Hadfield, performed by Perspectives Ensemble members Sato Moughalian, Jacqui Kerrod, & John Hadfield.
The refugee as the ultimate modern person — Keith David Watenpaugh, professor and founding director of Human Rights Studies at UC Davis, studies the contemporary Middle East and the role of refugees and displaced persons in world history. He speaks to Institute director Salpi Ghazarian about being an activist scholar, the role of human rights in developing policy, and the Article 26 Backpack, a toolkit for academic mobility.
Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, at http://armenian.usc.edu.
"Those who criticize it will also dance to it at weddings." Anthropologist Rik Adriaans speaks to Institute director Salpi Ghazarian about ethnomusicology, patriotic music videos, post-socialism and the “R” word. Dr. Adriaans, a teaching fellow in digital anthropology at the University College London, studies the politics of Armenian public culture and the anthropology of rabiz music.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Renunciation of nationality — Dr. Zeynep Devrim Gürsel, Professor of Anthropology at Rutgers University, analyzes photography as a tool of governmentality. In this episode of Unpacking Armenian Studies, Gürsel speaks to Institute director Salpi Ghazarian about "mugshots taken in anticipation of a crime yet to be committed" as a consequence of Ottoman legislation. These photos of Armenian emigres, usually taken by Armenian photographers, became an early mode of border surveillance technology.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
View Coffee Futures at www.coffeefuturesfilm.com.
Roots, socio-spatial attachments and merging identities — Ayşenur Korkmaz is a Ph.D. Researcher at the University of Amsterdam, exploring the post-genocide understandings of the Armenian homeland ("Yerkir"). She speaks to Institute director Salpi Ghazarian about participating in Armenian “pilgrimages” through Turkey, to what were Western Armenian towns and villages. Korkmaz is currently a fellow at the USC Shoah Foundation.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Armine Aleksanyan, Deputy Foreign Minister of Nagorno Karabakh, took the stage at Innovate Armenia for a conversation on Karabakh with the Institute's Deputy Director, Dr. Shushan Karapetian. Aleksanyan then stayed on stage to present on 'Real Life in an Unrecognized Republic.' These talks were recorded live at Innovate Armenia on May 18, 2019 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Journalism from Los Angeles to Yerevan – For over 30 years, Apo Boghigian was the editor-in-chief of Asbarez, a daily bilingual Armenian newspaper in L.A. This month, he assumes the directorship of the Civilitas Foundation, and its media outlet CivilNet, in Armenia. Boghigian speaks to Institute Director and Civilitas co-founder Salpi Ghazarian, about his lifelong career in journalism and his new role.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Isfahan to Berkeley to Yerevan – Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian’s career is as diverse as it is long. The engineer turned university president speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about his personal, educational, and professional trajectory. He focuses on the founding of the American University of Armenia, in partnership with Mihran Agbabian, Stepan Karamardian, and Louise Manoogian Simone.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Photo literacy and identity – Tsoleen Sarian, Exec. Director of Project SAVE - The Armenian Photograph Archive, based in Boston, talks about the significance of understanding, preserving, and digitizing historic documents. In conversation with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, Sarian discusses how generations are finding ways to engage with Armenia and how Project SAVE is gathering documents from pre to post genocide.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Arevik Anapiosyan, Armenia's Deputy Minister of Education and Science, discusses Armenia's post-“velvet revolution” education policies – the challenges, strategies, and solution. This talk took place at Innovate Armenia on May 18, 2019 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Rober Koptas is the editor-in-chief of Aras Publishing, an Istanbul-based publishing house co-founded in 1993 by Hrant Dink, Mkrtich Margosyan, and Yetvart Tovmasyan. Koptas was previously editor-in-chief of Hrant Dink’s Agos newspaper. He spoke at Innovate Armenia about Istanbul’s Armenian community and his experience with hyphenated identities. This talk was recorded live on April 2, 2016 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Armenia’s Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan discusses the country's healthcare policy with Dr. Kim Hekimian, Assistant Professor of Nutrition in Pediatrics at Columbia University, and Dr. Shant Shekherdimian, Assistant Professor of Surgery at UCLA. The conversation was recorded live at Innovate Armenia on May 18, 2019 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Known as the mayor of the Internet, Reddit Co-founder Alexis Ohanian headlined the first ever Innovate Armenia. He spoke about his commitment to the past 100 years of the Armenian narrative, but also about his excitement for the next 100 years. This talk was recorded live at Innovate Armenia on February 21, 2015 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Artist, author and playwright Vahe Berberian is best known for his comedy stand-up routines about life in Armenia and the diaspora. He spoke at the first Innovate Armenia about the necessity of revamping Armenian culture, and learning how to laugh without feeling guilty. He covered a wide range of themes including preservation of language, investing in artists, and creating role models. This talk was recorded live at Innovate Armenia on February 21, 2015 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Harissa in Musa Dagh – Anthropology Professor Jens Kreinath of Wichita State University discusses his research with Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. Dr. Kreinath studies shared pilgrimage sites and Christian-Muslim relations in Hatay – historical Antioch, the southernmost province of Turkey, and home to Musa Dagh survivors in Vakifli, Turkey’s only remaining Armenian village.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Kreinath, Jens. 2017. "Aesthetic Dimensions and Transformative Dynamics of Mimetic Acts: The Veneration of Habib-i Neccar among Muslims and Christians in Antakya, Turkey." In Aesthetics of Religion: A Connective Concept, edited by Alexandra Grieser and Jay Johnston, 271–299. Berlin and New York: Walter de Gruyter.
Kreinath, Jens. 2017. "Interrituality as a New Approach for Studying Interreligious Relations and Ritual Dynamics at Shared Pilgrimage Sites in Hatay." Interreligious Studies and Intercultural Theology 1 (2):257–284.
Kreinath, Jens. 2019. "Aesthetic Sensations of Mary: The Miraculous Icon of Meryem Ana and the Dynamics of Interreligious Relations in Antakya." In Figurations and Sensations of the Unseen in Judaism, Christianity and Islam: Contested Desires, edited by Birgit Meyer and Terje Stordalen, 155–171, 288–290, 311-314. London/New York: Bloomsbury Academic.
Kreinath, Jens. 2019. "Tombs and Trees as Indexes of Agency in Saint Veneration Rituals: Bruno Latour’s Actor-Network Theory and the Hıdırellez Festival in Hatay, Turkey." Journal of Ritual Studies 33 (1):52–73.
Kreinath, Jens. 2019. "Playing with Frames of Reference in Veneration Rituals: Random Fractals in Encounters with a Muslim Saint." Anthropological Theory 19 (2). [in press].
Kreinath, Jens. 2020. "What Happens when the Story is Told? Afterthoughts on Narrative Culture and the Aesthetics of Religion: The Case of Armenian Christians from Musa Dağı." In Narrative Cultures and the Aesthetics of Religion, edited by Dirk Johannsen, Anja Kirsch and Jens Kreinath. Leiden/Boston: Brill. [forthcoming]
Professor Murat Cankara, who teaches Turkish Language and Literature at the Social Sciences University in Ankara speaks on the question of identity in Armeno-Turkish texts -- decades of publications of Turkish language works written in Armenian characters. This talk took place at Innovate Armenia on April 2, 2016 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Professor Manuel Pastor, USC Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society & Social Change, and Distinguished Professor of Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity, spoke on Mixing Identities: Immigrant Integration in Los Angeles. Dr. Pastor is also the director of the USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and for the USC Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration. This talk took place at Innovate Armenia on April 2, 2016, at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Dr. Mehmet Fatih Uslu, Assistant Professor of Turkish Language and Literature at Istanbul Shehir University, translated Zabel Yesayan's works from Armenian to Turkish. In this episode, Dr. Uslu talks about his "adventure with Armenian and with Zabel Yesayan." This talk took place at Innovate Armenia on May 18, 2019 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Dr. Ari Sekeryan, an honorary fellow of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford, speaks about growing up and learning to be Armenian in Turkey. This talk took place at Innovate Armenia on September 23, 2017 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan is Armenia’s Deputy Minister of Nature Protection. She earned a PhD in political science from the University of Cambridge and is a published author specializing in states in transition, conflict resolution, and security studies. In this episode, Dr. Ghaplanyan discusses Armenia’s evolving environmental policy. The talk took place at Innovate Armenia on May 18, 2019 at USC.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
Mysteries, miracles, and occasional miseries – Dr. Victor Agadjanian, professor of sociology at UCLA, comes across these phenomena in his research. From studying Swahili, to sexual risks of migrant women in Russia, to gender ideology in Karabakh, he focuses on social demography, migration, and sexual and reproductive health and behavior. In conversation with Salpi Ghazarian, director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, Dr. Agadjanian discusses his path to studying similar issues in disparate places, from Africa to Armenia.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Agadjanian, V. “Exclusion, violence, and optimism: Ethnic divides in Kyrgyzstan.” Ethnicities (online first)
Agadjanian, V., and Sarah R. Hayford. 2018. “Labor migration and marital dissolution in rural Mozambique” Journal of Family Issues 39(5): 1236-1257
Agadjanian, V., Cecilia Menjívar, and Natalya Zotova. 2017. “Legality, racialization, and immigrants’ experience of harassment in Russia”Social Problems 64(4): 558-576
Agadjanian, V., and Karine Markosyan. 2017. “Male labor migration, patriarchy, and the awareness-behavior gap: HIV risks and prevention among migrants’ wives in Armenia” AIDS Care 29(6): 705- 710
Agadjanian, V. 2015. “Women’s religious authority in sub-Saharan Africa: Dialectics of empowerment and dependency” Gender & Society 29 (6): 982–1008
Agadjanian, V., and Arusyak Sevoyan. 2014. “Embedding or uprooting? The effects of international labor migration on rural households in Armenia” International Migration 52(5): 29-46
From Jerusalem to Nebraska, Dr. Bedross Der Matossian, Associate Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, remembers life in a post-Ottoman city, and describes his path toward a study of the politics of the late Ottoman period. He speaks with Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. Dr. Der Matossian is currently president of the Society for Armenian Studies.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Bedross Der Matossian, Shattered Dreams of Revolution: From Liberty to Violence in the Late Ottoman Empire (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2014).
Bedross Der Matossian, Hüsrana Uğrayan Devrim: Geç Dönem Osmanlı İmparatorluğu'nda Hürriyet ve Şiddet (Istanbul: İletişim Publications, 2016) (Turkish translation of Shattered Dreams of Revolution).
Bedross Der Matossian, Sulaiman Mourad, and Naomi Koltun-Fromm (eds.), Routledge Handbook on Jerusalem (Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2018).
Bedross Der Matossian and Barlow Der Mugrdechian (eds.), Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches(Fresno, CA: The Press at Fresno State, Fall 2019).
Karabakh or Artsakh? Border security or daily life challenges? Armine Aleksanyan discusses these questions in conversation with Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies. Aleksanyan has been serving as the Deputy Foreign Minister of Nagorno Karabakh (Artsakh) since 2015. She is a graduate of both the Artsakh State University and the Diplomatic Academy of London at University of Westminster.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
From village boy, to student activist, to prisoner of conscience, to economist turned historian and sociologist, Dr. Taner Akçam has lived many lives. In conversation with Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, Dr. Akçam chronicles his unique journey to becoming a leading scholar in Armenian Genocide studies.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Akcam, Taner. Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide. Palgrave, 2018.
Akçam Taner, and Kurt Ümit. The Spirit of the Laws: the Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide. Berghahn Books, 2018.
The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials, with Vahakn Dadrian. New York: Berghahn Books, 2011.
A Shameful Act: Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. New York: Metropolitan Books, November 2006.
From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide. London: Zed Books, 2004.
He’s a boy from a village near Ardahan, a “revolutionary”, then a “terrorist” in the words of the Turkish government, and now an academic -- Dr. Taner Akçam is a leading historian of the Armenian Genocide. After escaping a Turkish prison, and settling in Germany, he began his research on political violence in the late Ottoman Empire and early Republic of Turkey. In 2008, Dr. Akçam was appointed Chair in Armenian Genocide Studies at Clark University.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Akcam, Taner. Killing Orders: Talat Pasha's Telegrams and the Armenian Genocide. Palgrave, 2018.
Akçam Taner, and Kurt Ümit. The Spirit of the Laws: the Plunder of Wealth in the Armenian Genocide. Berghahn Books, 2018.
The Young Turks' Crime Against Humanity: The Armenian Genocide and Ethnic Cleansing in the Ottoman Empire. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012.
Judgment at Istanbul: The Armenian Genocide Trials, with Vahakn Dadrian. New York: Berghahn Books, 2011.
A Shameful Act: Armenian Genocide and the Question of Turkish Responsibility. New York: Metropolitan Books, November 2006.
From Empire to Republic: Turkish Nationalism and the Armenian Genocide. London: Zed Books, 2004.
Inclusion and exclusion: the challenges of identity formation during childhood in Turkey, and in the study of children during genocide -- Dr. Nazan Maksudyan writes on these topics. Her research focuses on the history of children and youth in the Ottoman Empire during the 19th and early 20th centuries, with a focus on non-Muslims and gender, sexuality, education and humanitarianism.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
Ottoman Children & Youth During World War I (Syracuse University Press, 2019)
“Agents or Pawns? Nationalism and Ottoman Children during the Great War” (2016)
Orphans and Destitute Children in the Late Ottoman Empire (Syracuse University Press, 2014)
Women and the City, Women in the City (Berghahn, 2014), provided an under-researched gendered lens to Ottoman urban history.
“Orphans, Cities, and the State: Vocational Orphanages (Islahhanes) and ‘Reform’ in the Late Ottoman Urban Space” (2011)
“Foster-Daughter or Servant, Charity or Abuse: Beslemes in the Late Ottoman Empire” (2008)
Language and identity— but this time also about belonging and anxiety (or guilt) – Dr. Shushan Karapetian researches these issues in the framework of heritage languages in a diasporic context. In conversation with Salpi Ghazarian, director of the Institute of Armenian Studies, they discuss the trajectory of bilingual education, and the link between the Armenian language and expressions of Armenianness.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
References:
“Out of the box: Challenging approaches to language transmission in the Diaspora.” Innovate Armenia. University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA, April 2. https://bit.ly/21AKgSK
Karapetian, S. (2014) "How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?": A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles (Doctoral dissertation). https://bit.ly/2VM7Oal
Karapetian, S. (2019). “Eastern Armenian speakers as potential Western Armenian learners: Reflections on second dialect acquisition.” B. Der Matossian & B. Der Mugrdechian (Eds.), Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches. Fresno, CA: The Press at Fresno State. https://bit.ly/2VZycNS
Karapetian, S. (2018). “The evolving role of language in the construction of Armenian identity in the diaspora.” In H. Berberian & T. Daryaee (Eds.), Armenian Identity Through the Ages. Mazda Publishers.
Karapetian, S. (2018). “Defective Armenian: The destructive impact of heritage language anxiety.” In S. Kresin & S. Bauckus (Eds.), Connecting across Languages and Cultures: A Heritage Language Festschrift in Honor of Olga E. Kagan. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.
Karapetian, S. (2017). “Challenges with institutionalizing a pluricentric diasporic language: The case of Armenian in Los Angeles.” In O. Kagan, M. Carreira, & C. Chick (Eds.), A Handbook on Heritage Language Education: From Innovation to Program Building. New York and London: Routledge.
Identity, diaspora, literature -- Dr. Lilit Keshishyan explores these topics in a conversation with the Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies, Salpi Ghazarian. Her dissertation examines the representation and reconceptualization of identity in Armenian Diaspora literature focusing on the works of Vahé Oshagan, Hakob Karapents and Vahe Berberian.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.
The New York Times called him "Jesus Christ." He is Dr. Tom Catena, the 2017 Laureate of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the only doctor caring for 750,000 patients in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
He joins Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at USC, in this episode of Unpacking Armenian Studies.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit armenian.usc.edu.
The New York Times called him "Jesus Christ." He is Dr. Tom Catena, the 2017 Laureate of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative and the only doctor caring for 750,000 patients in the Nuba Mountains of Sudan.
He joins Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at USC, in this episode of Unpacking Armenian Studies.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Running an Armenian publishing house in Turkey is a challenge, on many fronts. Rober Koptas is editor-in-chief of the Aras Publishing House, co-founded in 1993 by Hrant Dink, Mkrtich Margosyan and Yetvart Tovmasyan. Aras publications are bridges between the Armenian experience and the Turkish readership. Rober Koptas joins Salpi Ghazarian and explains that readers also seek Aras publications because, independent of the Armenian content, many of the titles are windows into Anatolian life that is difficult to find in Turkish elsewhere. He speaks about the new crop of Turks in Armenian Studies, as well as the business, political and content decisions facing a small publishing house anywhere, and especially in Turkey. Are there enough capable translators? Who is the reading public that seeks these works? What are the distribution channels? Does the audience change with the political transformations? An unusual conversation about a unique institution.
Anna Ohanyan was the first generation of post-independence young academics to leave Armenia and continue her studies in the United States. She studies non-traditional, many-sided conflicts and complicated geopolitical agendas in the Caucasus and in the Balkans.
Anna Ohanyan is the Richard B. Finnegan Distinguished Professor of Political Science and International Relations at Stonehill College. She joins Salpi Ghazarian, Director of the Institute of Armenian Studies at USC, in this discussion of Unpacking Armenian Studies.
To learn more, visit armenian.usc.edu.
Armenian-ness, identity, exclusion, diasporas, homeland-diaspora relations are both personal and academic questions for Dr. Kristin Cavoukian of the University of Toronto.
Join Salpi Ghazarian, Director, USC Institute of Armenian Studies, in this episode of Unpacking Armenian Studies.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, please visit Armenian.USC.edu
Amid slow change in Gyumri, the metal containers still stand, failing to resist rust and decay any longer, as reminders of the earthquake that buried my parents’ youth and the future and promise of an entire generation.
In this episode of The Quake, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies's Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan explores the very personal and public story of rescue in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Gyumri, Armenia.
To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, please visit. armenian.usc.edu.