September 13-15, 2024
In-Person Event Days One and Two:
Harvard University: Sackler Lecture Hall
485 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass, 02138
In-Person Day Three:
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA 02478
Friday, September 13, 2024
DAY ONE
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Sackler Lecture Hall
485 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass, 02138
Welcoming Remarks and SAS History (4:00-4:30 pm)
Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln) and Christina Maranci (Harvard University)
Tributes
Panel 1 (4:30-5:30 pm)
Chair: Marc Mamigonian (NAASR)
Kevork Bardakjian (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor) in honor of Robert Thomson
Tamar Boyadjian (Stanford University) in honor of Avedis Sanjian & Robert Hewsen
Levon Avdoyan (Library of Congress) in honor of Nina Garsoian
Christina Maranci (Harvard University) in honor of Sirarpie Der Nersessian & Lucy Der Manuelian
Panel 2 (5:30-6:30 pm)
Chair: Hratch Tchilingirian (Oxford University)
Stephen Badalyan Riegg (Texas A&M University) in honor of George Bournoutian
Houri Berberian (University of California, Irvine) in honor of Anahide Ter Minassian & Louise Nalbandian
Marc Mamigonian (Boston University) in honor of Richard G. Hovannisian
Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State University, Fresno) in honor of Dennis Papazian
Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln) in honor of Vahakn N. Dadrian
Reception: (For conference participants only)
Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East, 3rd floor, 6 Divinity Ave, Cambridge, Mass 02138
Special Presentation of Armenian Folk Music
DAY TWO
Saturday, September 14, 2024
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
Sackler Lecture Hall
485 Broadway, Cambridge, Mass, 02138
BREAKFAST (8:30-9:30 am) (For conference participants only)
Panel 1 – Gender in Armenian Studies (9:30-11:30 am)
Chair: Elyse Semerdjian (Clark University)
Melissa Bilal (University of California, Los Angeles): The Other Teotig: Arshaguhi Teotig’s (1875-1922) Political Thought
Lerna Ekmekcioglu (Massachusetts Institute of Technology): Siran Seza: The Last Grande Dame of the Armenian Middle East and Her Yeridasart Hayuhi
Shushan Karapetian (University of Southern California): Performing Ethnolinguistic Masculinities
LUNCH (11:30 am-12:30 pm) (For conference participants only)
Panel 2- Genocide Refugees and Survivor Stories (12:30-3:30 pm)
Chair: Ümit Kurt (University of Newcastle, Australia)
Diana Yayloyan (Georgetown University): Land, Power, and Armenian-Kurdish Relations in the Late-Ottoman East: A Testimony of an Armenian Survivor from Van
Asya Darbinyan (Chhange): Refugees in the Caucasus: Novel Approaches to the Armenian Genocide Research
Victoria Abrahamyan (University of Geneva): Armenian Refugees Between Greece, Soviet Armenia and Syria, 1922-1926: The Entangled History of Population Exchanges and Partitions
Ayşe Parla (Boston University): Hostage Writing and Surviving Genocide in Hagop Mnts‘uri’s Istanbul Memoirs (1897)
Manuk Avedikyan (University of Southern California): Collecting Armenian Genocide Oral Histories Coast to Coast: Initiative and Cooperation
Coffee Break
Panel 3-Armenians in Turkey: Ambiguity, Erasure, and Pitfalls (3:45-5:15 pm)
Chair: Sossie Kasbarian (University of Stirling)
Hülya Delihüseyinoğlu (Newberry Library): Governing Armenian Schools Through Ambiguity
Hakem Al-Rustom (University of Michigan): Denativization: The Ongoing Erasure of Armenians in Contemporary Turkey
Hrag Papazian (University of Southern California): From “Crypto” to “Islamized” to “Muslim” Armenians of Turkey: Analytical Shortcomings and Ethico-Political Pitfalls of Classificatory Labels
Reception
The Armenian Museum of America (ALMA) (6:30-8:00 pm)
65 Main St, Watertown, MA 02472
DAY THREE
Sunday, September 15, 2024
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Ave, Belmont, MA 02478
Breakfast (8:00-9:00 am) (For conference participants only)
Introductory Remarks: Houri Berberian (University of California, Irvine) & Marc Mamigonian (NAASR) (09:00-09:15 am).
Panel 1- Identity Politics and Memory (9:15-11:15 am)
Chair: Richard Antaramian (University of Southern California)
Dzovinar Derderian (University of California, Berkeley): Complicating Relations of Power in the Ottoman Empire Through Armenian Petitions from of Van in the Mid-19th Century
Hasmik Khalapyan (American University of Armenia): Politics and Social Agendas of Fashion Among Ottoman Armenians in the Late Ottoman Empire
Bedros Torosian (University of California, Irvine): Sex, Patriotism, and Redefining Ottoman Citizenship in Exile
Flora Ghazaryan (Central European University): On the Eve of National Awakening: Early 19th Century Sectarian Violence of Armenian Communities in Istanbul
Coffee Break
Panel 2- Translation, Knowledge Production, and Mobility (11:30 am-1:15 pm)
Chair: Helen Makhdoumian (Vanderbilt University)
Henry Shapiro (Ibn Khaldun University): Early Modern Armenian Mobility and the Rise of Diary-Writing
Erin Piñon (Princeton University): Translating Translators: Armenian Vernacular Images in the 18th and 19th Centuries
Hülya Çelik (Ruhr University): Much the Same in Other Words? On Armeno-Turkish Translations in the Early 19th Century
Hratch Kestenian (City University of New York): Between Empires and Epidemics: Armenian Doctors and the Global Circulation of Medical Knowledge in the 19th Century
PARALLEL Panel 2 – Philology, Manuscripts, and Archives (11:30 am-1:15 pm)
Chair: Jirair Libaridian (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
Zohrab Gevorgyan (American University of Armenia): The Voyages of “Knowledge” in the Mediterranean According to Venetian and Genoese Notarial Documents Drawn up in Cilician Armenia (13th-14th cent.)
Ani Yenokyan (Matenadaran): The Legacy of the Prominent Bibliophile Vardan Bałišec‘I: Reconstructing the 17th-century Library at Amirdōlu Monastic School
Julia Hintlian (Harvard University): Searching for Molino: Sibyls and Amazons in a 17th-Century Armenian Manuscript
Lunch (1:15-2:15 pm) (For conference participants only)
Panel 3- Art, Architecture, Artists, and Dealers (2:15-4:15 pm)
Chair: Christina Maranci (Harvard University)
Talinn Grigor (University of California, Davis): The Description of Persia’s Notable Edifices and the Diasporicity of post-Safavid Armenian Art History
Alyson Wharton-Durgaryan (University of Lincoln): Life Stories of Armenian-Ottoman Antiquities Dealers: The Curious Case of Dikran Garabed/Khan Kelekian
Vazken Davidian (Oxford University): Exiles, Émigrés, Refugees: Ottoman Armenian Artists and The Arts of Dispersion
Sato Moughalian (City University of New York): The Union of Armenian Artists, 1916-1921: A Cultural Expression of “Nation”
PARALLEL Panel 3 – Architecture, Landscape, Memory, and the Senses (2:15-4:15 pm)
Chair: Rachel Goshgarian (Lafayette College)
Anahit Galstyan (University of California, Santa Barbara): Living with the Dead: Commemoration and Senses in Medieval Anatolia
Whitney Kite (Columbia University): The Virtues of Tillage: Interactions Between Monastery and Landscape and Tat’ev
Polina Ivanova (Harvard University): Land Inscribed in Stone and Parchment: Historical Geography, Local Memory, and Archiving Practices in the Story of a Fourteenth-Century Armenian Endowment, Its Ottoman Life, and Modern Afterlife
Coffee Break
Future Directions of the Field(s): An Open Discussion (4:30-6:00 pm)
Chair: Tsolin Nalbantian (Leiden University)
Artsakh Cultural Heritage – Lori Khatchadourian (Cornell University), Simon Maghakyan (California State University, Fresno)
Armenian Diaspora Studies – Hratch Tchilingirian (Oxford University), Khachig Tölölyan (Wesleyan University)
Armenian-American Studies – Nora Lessersohn (Harvard University)
Armenian History for the Twenty-First Century – Aram Ghoogasian (Princeton University)
Concluding Remarks (6:00-6:15 pm)
Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State University, Fresno)
Dinner (7:30-10:00 pm) (For conference participants only)
Organizing Committee
Chair, Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln)
Christina Maranci (Harvard University)
Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State University, Fresno)
Tsolin Nalbantian (Leiden University)
Marc Mamigonian (National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, NAASR)
Executive Secretary, Flora Ghazaryan (Central European University)
Academic Committee
Chair, Houri Berberian (University of California, Irvine)
Jesse Arlen (Zohrab Center, New York )
Sebouh Aslanian (University of California, Los Angeles)
Sossie Kasbarian (University of Stirling)
Ümit Kurt (University of Newcastle)
Helen Makhdoumian (Vanderbilt University)
Hazar Özdemir (Northwestern University)
Stephen Riegg (Texas A&M University)
Hratch Tchilingirian (Oxford University)
Society for Armenian Studies (SAS)
Executive Council
President Christina Maranci (Harvard University)
Vice-President Rachel Goshgarian (Lafayette College)
Secretary Armen T. Marsoobian (Southern Connecticut State University)
Treasurer Shushan Karapetian (University of Southern California)
Advisors Elyse Semerdjian (Clark University), Helen Makhdoumian (Vanderbilt University), Asya Darbinyan
Ex-officio JSAS Editor Tamar Boyadjian (Stanford University)
For more information, please contact the chair of the conference organizing committee Bedross Der Matossian, bdermatossian2@unl.edu
CO-SPONSORS:
The Mashtots Chair in Armenian Studies (Harvard University)
The Promise Armenian Institute (University of California, Los Angeles)
The Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History (University of California, Los Angeles).
The Narekatsi Chair in Armenian Studies (University of California, Los Angeles)
The Armenian Studies Program (California State University, Fresno)
The Institute for Armenian Studies (University of Southern California)
The Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies (Clark University)
The Center for Armenian Studies (University of California, Irvine)
The Center for Armenian Studies (University of Michigan, Dearborn)
The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (Belmont, MA)
The Armenian Studies Program (University of California, Berkeley)
The Armenian Research Center (University of Michigan, Dearborn)
THE CONFERENCE IS OPEN TO THE PUBLIC