35th Anniversary Conference
March 26-28, 2009
University of California, Los Angeles
Session 1. Thursday, 1:00-2:30 p.m.
Medieval Literature and the Arts
Theo van Lint, Oxford University, Chair
* Andrea Scala, University of Milan, “About the Name of the Latin
Language in Classical Armenian”
* Robert Thomson, Oxford University, Emeritus, “Armenian Biblical
Commentaries: The Present State of Research”
* Sona Haroutyunian, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, “Dante
Alighieri and the Mekhitarist School of Translation”
Session 2. Thursday, 2:30-4:00 p.m.
Medieval History and Culture
Anne Elizabeth Redgate, Newcastle University, Chair
* Sergio La Porta, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, “Cultural
Interaction and Cultural Strategies in Post-Seljuk Armenia”
* Sara Nur Yildiz, Bilgi University, Istanbul, “Competing for the
Il-Khan’s Favor: Seljuk and Armenian Rivalry in Thirteenth Century
Mongol-Dominated Anatolia”
* Tom Sinclair, University of Cyprus, “Coins, Trade, and Cities in
Greater Armenia during the Il-Khanid Period”
Refreshments, 4:00-4:15 p.m.
Session 3. Thursday, 4:15.6:30 p.m.
Researching the Contemporary Armenian Diaspora: Consolidating the
Past, Situating the Future
Khachig Tölölyan, Wesleyan University, Chair
* Sossie Kasbarian, Graduate Institute of International and
Development Studies, Geneva, “From Exile to Empowerment Reinvigorating
the Concept of Diaspora: The Armenian Case”
* Aida Boudjikanian, Montreal, “The Literature on the Armenian
Diaspora in France and Canada”
* Susan Pattie, University College London, “Twenty-First Century
Armenians: Is Anyone Paying Attention?”
* Anny Bakalian, City University of New York, “Still Alive and
Thriving: Assimilation and Identity among Armenian Americans in the
21st Century”
* Nelida Boulghourdjian, University of Buenos Aires, “Migration
Studies in Argentina: The Armenian Case”
* Discussant: Aram Yengoyan, University of California, Davis
Friday, March 27, 2009, 1200 Rolfe Hall, 9 A.M. 9 P.M.
Session 4. Friday, 9:00 a.m.
Armenian History as Connected History
Houri Berberian, California State University-Long Beach, Chair
* Sebouh Aslanian, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, “From
‘Autonomous’ to ‘Interactive’ Histories: World History’s Challenge to
Armenian Studies”
* Peter Cowe, UCLA, “The Armenian Oikoumene of the 11th to 14th
Century in Search of a Holistic Discourse”
* Rachel Goshgarian, Zohrab Center, New York, “The Futuwwa and
Armenian History in the Late Medieval ‘Islamicate’ World of Anatolia”
* Elyse Semerdjian, Whitman College, “Morality, Communalism, and the
Armenians of Ottoman Aleppo”
Refreshments, 11:00-11:15 a.m.
Session 5. Friday, 11:15 a.m.1:00 p.m.
Economy, Society, and Culture of Early Modern East Central Europe
(14th 19th Centuries)
George Bournoutian, Iona College, Chair
* Andreas Helmedach, Center for the History and Culture of East
Central Europe (GWZO), Leipzig, “Armenian Minorities as Actors in
Early Modern Globalization”
* Bálint Kovács, Center for the History and Culture of East Central
Europe (GWZO), Leipzig, “Interregional Cultural Relations of the
Transylvanian Armenians in the 17th and 18th Centuries”
* Judit Pál, Babes-Bolyai-University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania, “The
Social and Economic History of the Armenians in Transylvania in the
18th and 19th Centuries”
Lunch Recess, 1:00-1:45 p.m.
Session 6. Friday, 1:45-3:45 p.m.
Between Perversion and Representation: Sexual Allegories in Armenian Literature
Rubina Peroomian, UCLA, Chair and Discussant
* Tamar Boyadjian, UCLA, “The Female City and Its Textual Function:
Grigor Tghay’s Lament over the City of Jerusalem”
* Talar Chahinian, UCLA, “The Crisis of Incest: Reconfiguring the
Catastrophe in Orpuni’s ‘Vartsu Seniag, ‘ Sarafian’s Ishkhanuhin, and
Shahnur’s ‘Buynuzlenere’”
* Myrna Douzjian, UCLA, “Challenging Social and Literary Norms:
Sexual Agency in Violet Grigorian’s Poetry”
* Lilit Keshishyan, UCLA, “Sexual Perversion as Political Allegory in
Gurgen Khanjian’s Hivandanots”
Session 7. Friday, 4:00-6:00 p.m.
New Perspectives on The Armenian Genocide
George Shirinian, Zoryan Institute, Chair
* Taner Akçam, Clark University, “Ottoman Documents and Genocidal
Intent of the Union and Progress Party”
* Janet Klein, University of Akron, “The Kurds and the Armenian
Genocide: Reflections on Historiography”
* Lerna Ekmekcio lu, New York University, “Approaching the Unlucky
Sister and Her Child: Sexual Violence as a Marker during and after the
Armenian Genocide”
* Vahram Shemmassian, California State University-Northridge, “The
Rescue of Captive Genocide Survivors, 1919-1921”
Light Dinner Recess (on site), 6:00-7:00 p.m.
Session 8. Friday, 7:00-9:00 p.m.
Contemporary Armenia
Hovann Simonian, University of Southern California, Chair
* Khatchik Der Ghougassian, Universidad de San Andrés, Buenos Aires,
“Market Fundamentalism, Economic Hardship, and Social Protest in Armenia”
* Konrad Siekierski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland,
“Nation and Faith, Past and Present: The Contemporary Discourse of the
Armenian Apostolic Church in Armenia”
* Tamara Tonoyan, National Institute of Health, Yerevan, “HIV/AIDS in
Armenia: Migration as a Socio-Economic and Cultural Component of
Women’s Risk Settings”
* Anahid Keshishian-Aramouni, UCLA, “Inknagir Magazine: Frivolous
Iconoclasm or Marker of Artistic Liberty?”
* Gregory Areshian, UCLA, Pavel Avetisyan and Armine Hayrapetyan,
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Yerevan, “Archaeology in
Post-Soviet Armenia: New Discoveries, Problems, and Perspectives”
Session 9. Saturday, 9:00-10:30 a.m.
Discourse and Violence: Revisiting the Adana Massacres of 1909
Richard Hovannisian, UCLA, Chair
* Ohannes Kiliçdagi, Bilgi University, Istanbul, “Ottomanism among
the Anatolian Armenians after the 1908 Revolution”
* Bedross Der Matossian, MIT, “From Verbal to Physical Violence:
Ihsan Fikri’s Itidal and the Massacres of Adana in 1909”
* Rubina Peroomian, UCLA, “The Poetics of Violence in Literary
Responses to the Adana Massacres”
Session 10. Saturday, 10:30 a.m.12:45 p.m. The State of Armenian
Studies Chairs and Programs in the United States Marc Mamigonian,
NAASR, Chair (with comments on prehistory of Armenian programs)
* Taner Akçam, Clark University
* Kevork Bardakjian, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
* Peter Cowe, UCLA
* Richard Hrair Dekmejian, USC
* Barlow Der Mugrdechian, California State University-Fresno
* Roberta Ervine, St. Nersess Seminary
* Richard Hovannisian, UCLA
* Jirair Libaridian, University of Michigan-Ann Arbor
* Christina Maranci, Tufts University
* Simon Payaslian, Boston University
* Ara Sanjian, Armenian Research Center, UM-Dearborn
* Vahram Shemmassian, California State University-Northridge
Lunch Recess, 12:45-1:30 p.m.
Session 11. Saturday, 1:30-3:00 p.m.
Church Politics and Identity
Abraham Terian, St. Nersess Seminary, Chair
* Paul Werth, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, “Rumors and Projects
of Ecclesiastical Union: Armenians, Orthodoxy, and the Problem of
Confessional Distinctions in Imperial Russia”
* Ara Sanjian, University of Michigan-Dearborn, “The British Foreign
Office, the Church of England, and the Crisis in the Armenian Church
at Antelias, 1956-1963”
* Marlen Eordegian, Vanderbilt University, “Straddling Religion and
Politics: The Case of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem”
Session 12. Saturday, 3:15-5:45 p.m.
Armenians, World War II, and Repatriation
Barbara Merguerian, Armenian International Women’s Association, Chair
* Vartan Matiossian, Hovnanian School, New Jersey, “‘White’
Armenians, ‘Aryan’ Armenians: Combating Racial Views during the First
Half of the 20th Century”
* Gregory Aftandilian, Washington, D.C., “World War II as an Enhancer
of Armenian-American Second Generation Identity”
* Levon Thomassian, California State University-Northridge, “Summer of ’42”
* Astrig Atamian, National Institute of Oriental Languages and
Civilizations, Paris, “Being an Armenian Communist in France during
the Cold War”
* Sevan Yousefian, UCLA, “The Formation of Soviet Armenian
Immigration Policy: Diaspora Networks, Armenian Cadres, and the
Postwar Repatriation Campaign”
* Joanne Laycock, University of Manchester, “‘Belongings’: People and
Possessions in the Armenian Repatriations, 1947-1949”
Concluding Comments and Discussion, 5:45-6:00 p.m.
Architectural Exhibit by US Chapter of Armenian Architects Association
Conference Sponsors: Society for Armenian Studies UCLA Center for Near
Eastern Studies UCLA Center for European and Eurasian Studies USC
Institute of Armenian Studies National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research
and The Armenian Studies Programs of Armenian Center, Columbia
University Armenian Research Center, University of Michigan-Dearborn
California State University-Fresno California State
University-Northridge University of California, Los Angeles University
of Michigan-Ann Arbor
Thirty-Fifth Anniversary Banquet, Taghlyan Center 1201 N. Vine Street,
Hollywood, California, 7:30 p.m.
Banquet Sponsor: Armenian Educational Foundation
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