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The Cost of Memorializing: Analyzing Armenian Genocide Memorials and Commemorations in the Republic of Armenia and in the Diaspora
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL FOR HISTORY, CULTURE AND MODERNITY www.history-culture-modernity.org Published by: Uopen Journals Copyright: © The Author(s). Content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence eISSN: 2213-0624 The Cost of Memorializing: Analyzing Armenian Genocide Memorials and Commemorations in the Republic of Armenia and in the Diaspora Sabrina Papazian HCM 7: 55–86 DOI: 10.18352/hcm.534 Abstract In April of 1965 thousands of Armenians gathered in Yerevan and Los Angeles, demanding global recognition of and remembrance for the Armenian Genocide after fifty years of silence. Since then, over 200 memorials have been built around the world commemorating the vic- tims of the Genocide and have been the centre of hundreds of marches, vigils and commemorative events. This article analyzes the visual forms and semiotic natures of three Armenian Genocide memorials in Armenia, France and the United States and the commemoration prac- tices that surround them to compare and contrast how the Genocide is being memorialized in different Armenian communities. In doing so, this article questions the long-term effects commemorations have on an overall transnational Armenian community. Ultimately, it appears that calls for Armenian Genocide recognition unwittingly categorize the global Armenian community as eternal victims, impeding the develop- ment of both the Republic of Armenia and the Armenian diaspora. Keywords: Armenian Genocide, commemoration, cultural heritage, diaspora, identity, memorials HCM 2019, VOL. 7 Downloaded from Brill.com10/05/202155 12:33:22PM via free access PAPAZIAN Introduction On 24 April 2015, the hundredth anniversary of the commencement of the Armenian Genocide, Armenians around the world collectively mourned for and remembered their ancestors who had lost their lives in the massacres and deportations of 1915.1 These commemorations took place in many forms, including marches, candlelight vigils, ceremo- nial speeches and cultural performances. -
Ethnic Return of Armenian Americans: Per- Spectives
Karolina Pawłowska: Ethnic return of Armenian Americans: Perspectives Ethnic return of Armenian Americans: Per- spectives Karolina Pawłowska University of Adam Mickiewicz in Poznan, [email protected] Abstract The field research conducted among the very few Armenian Americans who have moved to Armenia showed that the phenomena of migration of the diaspora of Armenians to Armenia holds great potential both as a theoretical issue within migration studies and potentially a social phenomenon, as Armenian Americans differ from other migrants and expats in Armenia, because they carry stereotyped pre-images of that land that influence their expectations toward their future lives there. Field research conducted in Armenia in 2012 shows that the disillusionment that repatriation brings causes internal tensions and identity crises, eventually forcing migrants to redefine their role in Armenia in the frame- work of their contribution to the development of their homeland, often isolating them from local Armenians through diaspora practices and maintaining the symbolic boundary between these two groups of Armenians in Armenia. KEYWORDS: diaspora, ethnic return, symbolic boundary, boundary maintenance, so- journers Introduction Both diaspora and specifically the Armenian diaspora are topics well explored in litera- ture (Cohen 2008; Dufoix 2008; Bauböck & Faist 2010; Tölölyan 2012). However, the migration of Armenians from the diaspora to Armenia is not a popular topic among re- searchers and the diaspora of Armenians themselves. The number -
Yeghishe Charents March 13, 1897 — November 29, 1937
Հ.Մ.Ը.Մ.-Ի ԳԼԵՆԴԵԼԻ ԱՐԱՐԱՏ ՄԱՍՆԱՃԻՒՂԻ ՄՇԱԿՈՒԹԱՅԻՆ ԲԱԺԱՆՄՈՒՄՔ Homenetmen Glendale Ararat Chapter Cultural Division Get to Know… Volume 2, Issue 3 March 2009 YEGHISHE CHARENTS MARCH 13, 1897 — NOVEMBER 29, 1937 Yeghishe Charents (Yeghishe Soghomonian) was born in March 13, 1897 in Kars, currently located in North-Eastern Turkey. Born into a family of tradesman, he became one of the legendary figures of Armenian art and anti-Soviet activism. His works have fostered generations of patriotic Armenians and have been translated and read by peoples as diverse as the subjects on which he wrote. One of the leaders of the literary elite of the Soviet Union, his poetic dynamism and musical modality set him apart as one of the most inspired poets—not Armenian poet, but poet—of the twentieth century. Charents spent 1924 and 1925 as a Soviet diplomat, traveling throughout the Armenian Diaspora urging Armenian writers to return to Armenia, and continue their literary work there. After returning to Armenia, in 1925, he and a group of other Armenian writers founded a literary organization called the Association of Armenian Proletarian Writers. Unfortunately, many of his colleagues were either deported to Siberia, or shot or both, under Stalin’s regime. During the years following 1925, Charents published his satirical novel, Land of Nairi (Yerkir Nairi), which rapidly became a great success among the people. Later on, Charents became the director of Armenia’s State Publishing House, while he continued his literary career, and began to translate, into Armenian, literary works by various writers. Charents also published such famous novels as: Rubayat (1927), Epic Dawn (Epikakan Lussapats, 1930), and Book of the Road (Grik Chanaparhi, 1933). -
What Makes a Restaurant Ethnic? (A Case Study Of
FORUM FOR ANTHROPOLOGY AND CULTURE, 2017, NO. 13 WHAT MAKES A RESTAURANT ETHNIC? (A CASE STUDY OF ARMENIAN RESTAURANTS IN ST PETERSBURG) Evgenia Guliaeva Th e Russian Museum of Ethnography 4/1 Inzhenernaya Str., St Petersburg, Russia [email protected] A b s t r a c t: Using restaurants in St Petersburg serving Armenian cuisine as a case study, the article studies the question of what makes an ethnic restaurant ethnic, what may be learnt about ethnicity by studying a restaurant serving a national cuisine, and to what extent the image of Armenian cuisine presented in Armenian restaurants corresponds to what Armenian informants tell us. The conclusion is that the composition of the menu in these restaurants refl ects a view of Armenian cuisine from within the ethnic group itself. The representation of ethnicity is achieved primarily by discursive means. Neither owners, nor staff, nor customers from the relevant ethnic group, nor the style of the interior or music are necessary conditions for a restaurant to be accepted as ethnic. However, their presence is taken into account when the authenticity or inauthenticity of the restaurant is evaluated. Armenian informants, though, do not raise the question of authenticity: this category is irrelevant for them. Keywords: Armenians, ethnicity, ethnic restaurants, national cuisine, authenticity, St Petersburg. To cite: Guliaeva E., ‘What Makes a Restaurant Ethnic? (A Case Study of Armenian Restaurants in St Petersburg)’, Forum for Anthropology and Culture, 2017, no. 13, pp. 280–305. U R L: http://anthropologie.kunstkamera.ru/fi -
A History of Armenian Immigration to Southern California Daniel Fittante
But Why Glendale? But Why Glendale? A History of Armenian Immigration to Southern California Daniel Fittante Abstract: Despite its many contributions to Los Angeles, the internally complex community of Armenian Angelenos remains enigmatically absent from academic print. As a result, its history remains untold. While Armenians live throughout Southern California, the greatest concentration exists in Glendale, where Armenians make up a demographic majority (approximately 40 percent of the population) and have done much to reconfigure this homogenous, sleepy, sundown town of the 1950s into an ethnically diverse and economically booming urban center. This article presents a brief history of Armenian immigration to Southern California and attempts to explain why Glendale has become the world’s most demographically concentrated Armenian diasporic hub. It does so by situating the history of Glendale’s Armenian community in a complex matrix of international, national, and local events. Keywords: California history, Glendale, Armenian diaspora, immigration, U.S. ethnic history Introduction Los Angeles contains the most visible Armenian diaspora worldwide; however yet it has received virtually no scholarly attention. The following pages begin to shed light on this community by providing a prefatory account of Armenians’ historical immigration to and settlement of Southern California. The following begins with a short history of Armenian migration to the United States. The article then hones in on Los Angeles, where the densest concentration of Armenians in the United States resides; within the greater Los Angeles area, Armenians make up an ethnic majority in Glendale. To date, the reasons for Armenians’ sudden and accelerated settlement of Glendale remains unclear. While many Angelenos and Armenian diasporans recognize Glendale as the epicenter of Armenian American habitation, no one has yet clarified why or how this came about. -
Road from Home to America, Middle East and Diaspora, About Being Armenian Genocide Female Survivor
www.ccsenet.org/ies International Education Studies Vol. 4, No. 3; August 2011 Roots and Routes: Road from Home to America, Middle East and Diaspora, about Being Armenian Genocide Female Survivor Ani Derderian Aghajanian Washington State University E-mail: [email protected] Received: February 11, 2011 Accepted: February 28, 2011 doi:10.5539/ies.v4n3p66 Abstract Adolf Hitler, on August 22, 1939 stated, “I have given orders to my Death Units to exterminate without mercy or pity men, women, and children belonging to the Polish-speaking race. It is only in this manner that we can acquire the vital territory which we need. After all, who remembers today the extermination of the Armenians?” (Kherdian, 1979). Armenia is a land which has been ravaged by war on far too many occasions. Other nations keep turning it into a battlefield and tearing it apart. Armenian people have survived for many generations and their stories are told and retold during the hard winters. Armenians’ survived just as Armenia and Armenian culture have survived (Downing, 1972). Therefore, diverse life experience, traditions, histories, values, world views, and perspectives of the diverse cultural groups make up a society and preserve culture (Mendoza and Reese, 2001). In this study, two Armenian books “The Road from Home” and “The Knock at the Door” were analyzed. These books are organized as personal stories and experiences about Armenian female genocide survivors and are supplemented by background information on Armenian people before and after the genocide of their culture, including a brief history, discussion of traditions, recipes, music and religion. -
The Armenian Church and the Russian State, 1825-55
DRAFT: Please do not cite or circulate. Carolina Seminar, “Russia and Its Empires, East and West,” September 17, 2015 Divine Diplomacy: The Armenian Church and the Russian State, 1825-55 Stephen Riegg PhD Candidate History Department UNC-Chapel Hill Monument to “Russian-Armenian friendship” in Yerevan. Photo property of the author. 1 DRAFT: Please do not cite or circulate. Introduction A large crowd in Yerevan braved the winter chill of 2 December 2013 to watch the unveiling of the city’s latest sculptural addition. Dignitaries at the ceremony included Serzh Sargsyan, the president of the Republic of Armenia, and Maksim Sokolov, the Russian Minister of Transportation.1 Towering behind the men stood the new, fifteen-foot-tall marble monument. It depicts two women, their veiled heads slightly bowed toward each other, bound in an intimate embrace. A large cross, the focal point of the sculpture, not only links the women but also finds shelter in their unity. While new to the Armenian capital, the monument is a larger replica of an older statue in central Moscow, whose inscription declares: “Blessed over centuries is the friendship of the Russian and Armenian peoples.” The political partnership and the ecumenical solidarity evoked by these monuments experienced their defining epoch during the reign of Tsar Nicholas I (1825-55). This paper examines the encounter between the tsarist state and the Armenian Church in that period, placing this dynamic within a broader discussion of Russian imperialism. I argue that St. Petersburg capitalized upon the political influence of the Armenian Church to advance its foreign policy in the Ottoman and Persian capitals. -
Armenians of Tampa Bay : a Long Way Home
University Honors Program University of South Florida St. Petersburg, Florida Certificate of Approval Honors Thesis This is to certify that the honors thesis of AnnaNefedova Has been approved by the thesis committee On May 2, 2002 as satisfactory for the thesis requirement for the University Honors Program Thesis Cmmnittee: Thesis Advisor: Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D. Committee Member: Daanish Nlustafa, Ph.D. ARMENIANS OF TAMPA BAY: ALONG WAY HOME (THE HISTORY OF THE ARNIENIAN PEOPLE AND ITS INFLUENCE ON THE TAMP ABAY ARNIENIAN COMivfUNITY) By: Arma Nefedova A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University Honors Program University of South Florida May,2001 Thesis Advisor: Raymond Arsenault, Ph.D. Thesis Committee Member: Daanish Mustafa. L_.__ _ _ _ TABLE OF CONTENTS .... 1. [ntroduction ... .. .... ............ .) 2. Armenians: Who They Are Origins and Location ............................ .. ............... ... ....... 7 Armenian Language. .................... ......... ... ...................... 9 Transcaucastan. R eg10n. m. -?Oth C entury....... ... 11 Armenia Today ........................... ................. ... ............. 12 3. The Long Road to the Present Ancient History and its Influence on the Place of the Armenian Nation in the World Today ....... ........... ....... ... .. .... 14 First Conflicts Changing Times ....... .... ..... .. .......... .................. ..... 20 Christianity in Armenia and its Consequences.. .............. 21 Arabic Conquest of Asia . 23 Armenian History in 11-19 centuries -
The Armenian Diaspora and the Negotiations Between Turkey and Armenia, 2009-2010
When the Diaspora Becomes an Obstacle: The Armenian Diaspora and the Negotiations between Turkey and Armenia, 2009-2010 Gallia Lindenstrauss The involvement of diasporas in state-of-origin peace processes is usually categorized as either “positive” or “negative.” Some scholars, when explaining “negative” involvement, point to the identity-related issues that cause extreme and non-compromising views among diasporic members. This article claims that any major development in the homeland forces the diaspora to reflect on its identity, and that this reflection can cause resentment, and even lead to actions against such developments. This issue can be linked to the concept of “ontological security,” that is, the idea that routine in relations with significant others contributes to a consistent sense of identity. The claim is supported by analyzing the case of the Armenian diaspora and the 2009-2010 negotiations between Armenia and Turkey. Members of the Armenian diaspora are mainly descendants of survivors of the Armenian genocide of 1915, and as such feel they are the custodians of Armenian identity. The protocols signed by Turkey and Armenia on October 10, 2009, that were meant to establish diplomatic relations and open the shared border between the states, were received by most Armenian diasporic organizations with more resentment and protest than in Armenia itself. Two clauses in particular have raised an outcry. The first is the establishment of an intergovernmental subcommittee to examine the historical differences between 63 Gallia Lindenstrauss the countries. This conflicts with Armenia’s longstanding insistence on referring to the events of 1915 as genocide. The second clause requires Armenia’s recognition of the border between Armenia and Turkey, a demarcation that Armenia, since gaining independence, has refused to recognize officially. -
Rich Faith of an Ancient Culture Waves of Immigration Build a Church Armenia Sits at the Intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East
Rich Faith of an Ancient Culture Waves of Immigration Build a Church Armenia sits at the intersection of Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. In 301 AD, it was the first sovereign nation to accept Christianity as a state religion. Christianity was suppressed in Armenia for more than 600 years under the Ottoman authority. More recently, Armenia gained its sovereignty after the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991. “Being Christian kept us Armenian,” Bishop Mouradian says. Since the faith was widely adopted early in the modern history of Armenia it became deeply rooted in cultural identity. Bishop Mouradian Armenian Catholics began arriving in the celebrates Mass at By Beth Griffin United States in the late nineteenth century, Our Lady of Nareg following the first in a heart-breaking series Parish on Easter. eing Armenian and being of massacres and genocides in their home- Christian are like two wings of land. They settled on the East Coast and “Bthe same bird. The bird can’t asked Patriarch Stepan-Bedros X Azarian to fly with only one wing,” says Bishop Mikael send a priest from Armenia to serve them. Antoine Mouradian, leader of the Armenian Bishop Mouradian says the first wave of Catholic Eparchy of Our Lady of Nareg. Armenian immigrants concluded with sur- “My first priority is to keep my people in the vivors of the 1915 genocide that killed more Catholic faith with the growing challenges in than 1.5 million people. A second wave of the United States and Canada. Second is to immigrants came after the Second World War, keep them as Armenians, because for us, to and the most recent wave began after imper- be Christian and to be Armenian is one thing. -
Armenian Cuisine: a Construct in the Service of Identity
ARMENIAN CUISINE: A CONSTRUCT IN THE SERVICE OF IDENTITY by Gevorg Mnatsakanyan Presented to the Department of English and Communications in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts American University of Armenia Yerevan, Armenia May 24, 2018 2 Abstract The central issue of the present paper is to study the role of Armenian cuisine in the reemergence of an Armenian national identity during the wave of national(ist) awakening that swept Soviet Armenia of the 1960s. Focused around a textual analysis of Armenian Cuisine (Haykakan Khohanotsʿ), a cookbook first published in 1959 under the auspices of Soviet gastronomic engineer Anastas Mikoyan, the first section of the research findings explores the socio-historic conditions of its creation, as well as its function in the formulation of a unified concept of Armenian cuisine. The second part to the analysis draws from the findings of the first to understand how these socio-historic conditions gave birth to a form of discourse that placed Armenians as its subjects, who upon internalizing said discourse, used it to associate with a glorified historic past seen as central to its national identity. The paper concludes by establishing the unmistakable relation between cuisine and identity, while pondering the inherent dangers of overidentification with nationalist discourse and possible avenues for the future evolution of Armenia’s culinary tradition. 3 Introduction The director of the Harvard Negotiation Project, Brian Mandell, explains negotiation as the art of letting other people have it your way. Insofar as culture is the point of suture of negotiated meanings, Armenians seem to have been very successful in negotiating their culinary culture. -
Armenian Claims and Historical Facts Questions and Answers
ARMENIAN CLAIMS AND HISTORICAL FACTS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Center for Strategic Research – 2005 ANKARA WAS EASTERN ANATOLIA 1 THE ORIGINAL HOMELAND OF THE ARMENIANS? 2 ARMENIAN CLAIMS AND HISTORICAL FACTS CONTENTS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS ......................................................................................... 5 QUESTION 1: WAS EASTERN ANATOLIA THE ORIGINAL HOMELAND OF THE ARMENIANS? ................................................................................... 7 QUESTION 2: DID THE TURKS TAKE THE LANDS OF THE ARMENIANS BY FORCE?.......................................................................................................... 9 QUESTION 3: HAVE THE TURKS ALWAYS ATTACKED AND MISRULED ARMENIANS THROUGHOUT HISTORY ? ............................................... 12 QUESTION 4: DID THE TURKS REALLY TRY TO MASSACRE THE ARMENIANS STARTING IN THE 1890's ? ......................................................................... 17 QUESTION 5: WHAT IS MEANT BY THE TERM "GENOCIDE" ?............................ 27 QUESTION 6: DID THE TURKS UNDERTAKE A PLANNED AND SYSTEMATIC MASSACRE OF THE ARMENIANS IN 1915 ? ....................................... 28 QUESTION 7: DID TALAT PASHA SEND SECRET TELEGRAMS ORDERING MASSACRES? ...................................................................................................... 33 QUESTION 8: DID 1,5 MILLION ARMENIANS DIE DURING WORLD WAR I ?.......................................................................................................................... 39 QUESTION