Lizzie Hedrick
Growing up in an Armenian community in Wisconsin,
Richard Antaramian began wondering about his family’s history.
The answers he received didn’t adequately address his curiosity.
“It pushed me into more rigorous areas of inquiry, and ultimately I
came out with a Ph.D. and a lifelong desire both to teach and research
the rich history of the Armenian people,” said Antaramian, assistant
professor of history and holder of the Turpanjian Early Career Chair in
Contemporary Armenian Studies at the USC Dornsife College of Letters,
Arts and Sciences.
He currently teaches two undergraduate courses on the Ottomans and
World War I. In the spring he’ll teach a class on the Armenian diaspora.
“Exploring Armenia in such depth offers a wonderful opportunity for
our students,” said Steve Kay, dean of USC Dornsife, at an anniversary
gala that raised nearly $2 million to support research, education and
outreach. “At any given time, USC has almost 1,000 Armenian students on
our campus. But, thinking bigger, we have thousands of students who are
not Armenian who also can learn from our scholars’ incredible wealth of
knowledge.”
The IAS was established in 2005 as part of a partnership between USC
and the Armenian community to structure a multidisciplinary center of
learning. The fall gala paid tribute to USC President C. L. Max Nikias, a
staunch supporter since the institute’s inception.
“President Nikias advocated for us 10 years ago, and we are grateful
that he continues to believe that, in scholarship, there are no
insignificant fields,” said Charles Ghailian, chair of the IAS
Leadership Council. “Going forward, the institute will be a more
visible, active organization that initiates research, collaborates with
other global centers of Armenian studies and engages with various areas
of study on campus.”
Ambitious aims
Newly appointed IAS Director Salpi Ghazarian ’75 — who earned her
bachelor’s from USC Dornsife in history and social science — has
ambitious goals for the institute’s growth, including hosting cultural
events and lectures, and bringing Armenian political figures to campus
for discussions with faculty and students. Ghazarian will build on the
foundation laid by Richard Dekmejian, who has directed the institute for
the past decade.
She also hopes to foster an environment of expanded research and
publication, delving into such issues as the Armenian diaspora and the
Armenian Genocide.
“I am so pleased to be able to come back to USC to participate in
expanding the field of Armenian studies so that it both contributes to
and benefits from this incredibly broad scholarly community,” said
Ghazarian, who previously founded and directed The Civilitas Foundation,
a civic organization and advocacy group that empowers its employees to
make decisions about and raise awareness of Armenian issues through the
Internet, research and public programming.
Earlier this year, the Armenian Film Foundation officially gave J.
Michael Hagopian’s collection of 400 digitized interviews of Armenian
Genocide survivors and witnesses to the Visual History Archive at the
USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education.
Richard Hovannisian, adjunct professor of history, was appointed to
take the lead on advising the USC Shoah Foundation on integrating these
testimonies into the archive of 53,000 interviews from the Holocaust and
other genocides.
Ghazarian plans to work with the USC Shoah Foundation to develop lesson plans based on these testimonies.
“There is no aspect of our existence that was not impacted by the Armenian Genocide,” Ghazarian said.
As history unfolds
Antaramian’s research focuses on the role of the Armenian Church under
Ottoman governance during the 19th century. At USC, he will expand his
dissertation, “In Subversive Service of the Sublime State: Tanzimat,
Consolidating Jurisdiction and Armenian Reform in the Ottoman Empire,
1844-1896” into a book.
“We are typically told that there was an antagonistic relationship
between Armenians and the Ottoman governance — but that’s not the case,”
Antaramian said. “My research shows that the Armenian Church itself
became a site of politics in the Ottoman Empire.”
Antaramian appreciates having the opportunity to research and teach
in Los Angeles, which has a diverse Armenian community from Turkey,
Syria, Iran and many other countries of the diaspora.
“To me, diaspora signifies all the communities throughout the world
who share common experience and institutional connections,” Antaramian
said. “If a student wanted to do oral interviews with someone for a
project or paper, he or she could do it right here.”
He also believes that the depth of the Armenian diaspora in Los
Angeles will attract graduate students and visiting scholars to USC
Dornsife.
Antaramian and Ghazarian will work together to encourage scholarship and raise awareness of Armenian issues — past and present.
“This is a new era of scholarship, a new broad interdisciplinary
world of study — generally in the 21st century, certainly at USC, and
now with Armenian studies at USC Dornsife,” Ghazarian said. “Going
forward, we will make the institute’s presence permeate into many other
disciplines, offering a unique opportunity both for students and
professors to get a deeper understanding of what it means to be
Armenian.”
"USC News" (news.usc.edu), December 2, 2014
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