Armenian News Network - Groong: Week In Review Podcast

Academia and academic work, especially in the fields of humanities and social sciences, has always been instrumentalized by various ideologies and/or political regimes. Moreover, various disciplines within each of those fields such as anthropology, art history, literature, etc., have a long tradition of being the middle children of academia and are rarely considered to have a role in shaping minds and trends in society. In Armenia the roles of humanities and social science have undergone changes since soviet and immediate post-soviet times. At a time where both these fields were viewed as instruments of legitimization of Communism and later nationalism, academics in these fields had to navigate the murky waters of ideology less they were willing to be labeled “pseudo-academics” or even worse as traitors.

The challenge of having robust disciplines in humanities and social sciences in Armenia is manifold. These include encouraging critical thinking void of ideology, the role of individuals with degrees in humanities and social sciences in the larger society, challenging pre-existing paradigms and many more. 

𝐃𝐫. 𝐀𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐊𝐨𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐤𝐢𝐚𝐧, who is a senior lecturer of political science and international relations at Bentley University in Massachusetts, discusses with:

𝐃𝐫. 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥𝐚 𝐇𝐚𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐲𝐮𝐧𝐲𝐚𝐧, who is Associate Professor of Art History and the chair of the Department of Fine Arts and Art History at the American University of Beirut. She is founding member of BICAR (Beirut Institute for Critical Analysis and Research) and the Johannissyan Research Institute in the Humanities in Yerevan, Armenia. She is editor of ARTMargins peer-reviewed journal (MIT Press). Her monograph The Political Aesthetics of the Armenian Avant-garde: The Journey of the “Painterly Real'" was published by Manchester University Press in 2017 and 2019.

Editors:
  - 𝐀𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧
  - 𝐇𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐧

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On November 9, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Russia signed The Statement ending the war in Artsakh, known more commonly as Nagorno-Karabakh. Russia emerged as a major winner, by ending the violence, introducing peacekeepers, and upholding its historical role as the regional referee in the Caucasus. What are Russia’s interests in the region, and in this agreement?

Guest
-- 𝐏𝐢𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐨 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐤𝐚𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐧

Hosts:
-- 𝐀𝐬𝐛𝐞𝐝 𝐁𝐞𝐝𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧
-- 𝐇𝐨𝐯𝐢𝐤 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐚𝐧

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Topics:
- Turkey and Azerbaijan Connecting
- Armenia’s Political Opposition Uniting
- Does Putin support Pashinyan?
- Robert Kocharyan Interview

Guests:
- Varuzhan Geghamyan
- Asbed Kotchikian

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Episode 30 | Recorded: Dec 6, 2020 

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ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 29 - Nov 29, 2020

Topics Covered:
- Border Demarcation between Armenia and Azerbaijan
- The Scene in Yerevan
- COVID Update
- Armenia Fund support for the post-war Economy

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Resident Panelists:
- Asbed Kotchikian
- Hrant Mikaelian

Recorded: Nov 29, 2020 

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Born in Sanahin, Armenia in 1895, Anastas Ivanovich Mikoyan was the most prominent Soviet state figure of Armenian origin. A survivor, Mikoyan managed to weather every Soviet leader from Lenin to Brezhnev.  He was once the #2 man in Moscow after Nikita Khrushchev, and his legacy is complex.  Today on Groong, we will explore this extraordinary historical figure.

To help us unpack the historical legacy of Mikoyan, Pietro Shakarian joins us today from Cleveland. Pietro is a historian and a Ph.D. candidate in Russian History at the Ohio State University. His dissertation focuses on Mikoyan’s reforms in de-Stalinization and the nationality sphere in the Khrushchev-era USSR. His analyses on Russia, Armenia, and the post-Soviet space have appeared in The Nation, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, the Russian International Affairs Council, Russia Direct, and Hetq.  He has also worked with the Gomidas Institute in London on the republication of 19th century accounts of the Russian Caucasus and Armenia.

Editors:
  - Asbed Bedrossian
  - Hovik Manucharyan

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ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 27 - Nov 15, 2020

Topics Covered:
- The war ends. What are the terms of the deal?
- Pax Russiana
- The extent of Turkey’s presence in Azerbaijan
- Jubilation in Baku

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Resident Panelists:
- Asbed Kotchikian
- Emil Sanamyan
- Artyom Tonoyan

Recorded: Nov 15, 2020 

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ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 26 - Nov 8, 2020

Topics Covered:
- Six weeks of war, what to do next.
- What is Russia thinking?
- To recognize or not to recognize.

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Resident Panelists:
- Asbed Kotchikian
- Emil Sanamyan
- Yeghia Tashjian

Recorded: Nov 7, 2020 

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ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 25 - Nov 1, 2020

Topics Covered:
- Summary of diplomatic activities
- Iranian mediation offers
- Negotiations in Geneva
- Support from ex-presidents
- Latest update on the war

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Resident Panelists:
- Asbed Kotchikian
- Suren Sargsyan

Recorded: Oct 30, 2020 

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Since September 27, Azerbaijan has been waging an all out war on Artsakh, cluster-bombing towns and villages and killing civilians and destroying churches and cultural centers, with the aim to destroy and depopulate the region. The worldwide Armenian Diaspora has come together to fight this existential threat.

We’ve read much about the Diaspora’s activities around most of the world, but what about the Arab world? This episode explores some of the challenges and opportunities that the Armenian communities in the Arab world face.

To help guide today’s Conversation on Groong, we have with us Prof. Asbed Kotchikian, who is a senior lecturer of political science and international relations at Bentley University in Massachusetts where he teaches courses on the Middle East and the former Soviet space.

Prof. Kotchikian is joined by:

Katia Peltekian, who has been teaching at the American University of Beirut since 1988. She has published two books which compile newspaper articles and reports from the Genocide years published in the Canadian and British press. Katia has been compiling news for the Armenian News Network Groong since 1999.

And

Vera Yacoubian, who is the executive director of the Armenian National committee of the Middle East. She’s a PhD candidate in political science and a lecturer at the American university of Beirut (AUB) in politics. Vera also teaches courses on The Armenian Genocide at Haigazian university.

Editors:
  - Asbed Bedrossian
  - Hovik Manucharyan

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ANN/Groong Week in Review Episode 23 - Oct 25, 2020

Topics Covered:
- International diplomacy on the move?
- What is Turkey’s endgame?
- War and post-war economy
- Update on COVID

Your Hosts:
- Asbed Bedrossian
- Hovik Manucharyan

Resident Panelists:
- Asbed Kotchikian
- Hrant Mikaelian
- Emil Sanamyan

Recorded: Oct 25, 2020 

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