Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Pietro Shakarian

June 18, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:40:16

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Ümit Kurt

June 4, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:45:43

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.

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.

After War – Before Peace: Instruments of Justice and Equity

May 20, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:41:16

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: Russia and Regional Security

May 18, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:36:24

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: View From Turkey

May 12, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:49:21

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: What Do the Leaders Want?

May 10, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:40:33

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: Path Toward Status for Karabakh

May 6, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:30:59

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: View from Russia

April 12, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:44:16

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.

After War – Before Peace: Life in Karabakh Today

March 23, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:45:21

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 to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

After War – Before Peace: Borders & Demarcation

March 8, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:40:00

Discussing the daunting task of defining the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan following the 44-Day War, Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus and 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.

After War – Before Peace: Human Rights Law and POWs

March 4, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:42:05

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.

After War – Before Peace: The Questions

March 3, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:37:54

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. George Bournoutian

February 12, 2021  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:37:10

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 a list of Bournoutian’s publications, visit https://bit.ly/3tONUgn.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Khatchig Mouradian

January 22, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:41:57

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: After War – Before Peace: Steven Mann

November 12, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:33:46

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Armenia and Azerbaijan at War Pt. 5

November 6, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:54:36

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Armenia and Azerbaijan at War Pt. 4

October 30, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:24:36

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Armenia and Azerbaijan at War Pt. 3

October 23, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:20:07

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Armenia and Azerbaijan at War Pt. 2

October 16, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:22:26

Turkey & Russia — Friend or Foe?

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Armenia and Azerbaijan at War Pt. 1 

October 9, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:17:55

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Ari Şekeryan

September 18, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:28

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian

September 4, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:56:03

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Murat Cankara

August 28, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:52:55

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.

Additional Resources:

• Listen to Cankara’s talk at Innovate Armenia 2016: apple.co/3hDR5kC.
• To read some of Cankara’s articles, visit: asbu.academia.edu/MuratCankara.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Nubar Hovsepian

August 14, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:04

‘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.

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: bit.ly/2E33y24.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Philip Gamaghelyan

July 31, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:01:50

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.

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

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Myrna Douzjian

July 17, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:30:49

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Ronald Suny

July 3, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:48:16

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Marc Mamigonian

June 17, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:33:37

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Barlow Der Mugrdechian

May 27, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:43:01

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Donald Miller

May 7, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  01:00:50

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Mehmet Polatel

March 22, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:58

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Sato Moughalian

March 6, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:39:20

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Keith David Watenpaugh 

February 21, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:48:34

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Rik Adriaans

January 30, 2020  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:34:26

“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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Zeynep Devrim Gürsel

December 9, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:49:15

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Ayşenur Korkmaz

October 9, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:44:29

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 armenian.usc.edu.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Apo Boghigian

September 4, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:46:48

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 armenian.usc.edu.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Armen Der Kiureghian 

August 27, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:52:13

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 armenian.usc.edu.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Tsoleen Sarian (Project SAVE)

August 22, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:39:38

Photo literacy and identity – Tsoleen Sarian, Exec. Director of Project SAVE – The Armenian Photographic 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 armenian.usc.edu.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Jens Kreinath

July 2, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:11

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Victor Agadjanian

June 18, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:45:49

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Bedross Der Matossian 

June 6, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:53:04

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Armine Aleksanyan 

May 31, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:46

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Taner Akçam (Part 2) 

May 6, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:45:23

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Taner Akçam (Part 1) 

May 1, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:39:15

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Nazan Maksudyan 

April 23, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:40:57

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Shushan Karapetian 

April 17, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:43:14

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.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Lilit Keshishyan 

April 9, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:42:35

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.

UNPACKING ARMENIAN STUDIES With Dr. Tom Catena

February 14, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:32:57

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.

UNPACKING ARMENIAN STUDIES With Rober Koptas

January 23, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:58:04

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.

UNPACKING ARMENIAN STUDIES With Dr. Anna Ohanyan

January 17, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:45:15

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.

UNPACKING ARMENIAN STUDIES With DR. Kristin Cavoukian 

January 9, 2019  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:38:02

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.

UNPACKING ARMENIAN STUDIES With DR. Sebouh Aslanian 

December 18, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:47:45

Dr. Sebouh Aslanian, born in Ethiopia, studies the Armenian merchants from Iran’s New Julfa region who operated simultaneously and successfully across all the major empires of the 17thand 18th centuries. These merchants were the original transnational, global Armenians, and their legacy is visible throughout South and East Asia in the form of churches and cultural monuments. Most remarkably, their philanthropy bankrolled Armenian printing capacity in Venice, Amsterdam, Livorno, Madras, Calcutta, Lvov and New Julfa.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Houri Berberian 

December 10, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:42:49

Dr. Houri Berberian has written about Armenian involvement in Iran’s Constitutional Revolution. She talks about life in Lebanon during the Civil War to undergraduate studies at UC Berkeley where she came to appreciate the connectedness of the peoples and issues of the greater Middle East, and the Armenian role in regional processes.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Paul Krekorian 

December 4 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:39:36

Los Angeles City Councilmember Paul Krekorian is at the forefront of policy development.  He talks about growing up in the San Fernando Valley, his involvement in politics and policy, and how to connect people’s needs to government policies.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Shant Shekherdimian

November 26, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:44:46

Health care research usually falls outside mainstream Armenian Studies, yet, any focus on contemporary issues of development must address the complexities of health care delivery. Dr. Shant Shekherdimian, UCLA, talks about Armenia’s and Karabakh’s health care systems – policy, education, and needs – his conclusions are surprising.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Christina Maranci 

November 16, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:46:45

Art history is not just the history of art, it’s history. Period. Dr. Christina Maranci, of Tufts University, is a historian whose research places art, architecture especially, and the material objects of Armenia and Armenians within a critical and historical context.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Katy Pearce 

November 5, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |   00:56:32

Dr. Katy Pearce, a professor of communications, talks about Armenia, Azerbaijan, social media, and the study of societal transformation.

Unpacking Armenian Studies With Dr. Georgi Derlugian 

November 5, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:55:24

Professor Georgi Derlugian of the New York University Abu Dhabi, discusses ‘normal’ life in the Soviet Union, Armenia’s post-Soviet evolution, revolution, and the “New Armenia.”

Unpacking Armenian Studies: Welcome

October 1, 2018  |  USC Institute of Armenian Studies  |  00:00:50