Unpacking Armenian Studies

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.