Society of Armenian Studies to Host Conference on ‘Armenians in America’

The Society for Armenian Studies has organized an international conference titled, ‘The Armenians in America,’ to take place on Nov. 17, in Boston.

The SAS organized conference will feature two panels beginning at 1 p.m. in Salon B of the Boston Marriott Copley Place Hotel. The conference is free and open to the public.

The first panel on “Travel, Collective Memory and Homeland among Armenian-Americans,” chaired by Marc Mamigonian (National Association for
Armenian Studies and Research, NAASR), will include the presentation of three papers:

• “Connections for Families Disrupted: Travels to Anatolia by Diasporans,” Margaret Manoogian (Western Oregon University) and Anny Bakalian
  (Emerita Associate Director MEMEAC, CUNY)

• “Coming to Terms with Home and Homeland,” Carel Bertram (San Francisco State University)

• “Homeland Perception and Identity Construction: The Case of Los Angeles Armenian Community,” Sona Nersisyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia)

The second panel titled “Diversities of Armenianness in American and Diasporic Contexts,” will be chaired by Vahe Sahakyan (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor). Papers to be presented are:

• “Armenian Jehovah’s Witnesses: Nationalism in a Strictly Non-Nationalist Sect,” Anatolii Tokmancev (UCLA)

• “Language in Diaspora: Problematizing Ideology, Identity, and Symbolism,” Shushan Karapetyan (UCLA),

• “Inheritance of Exile: Negotiating Memory, Home, and Belonging in Armenian-American Literature about the Lebanese Civil War,” Helen Makhdoumian (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign)

In addition, the Middle East Studies Association (MESA) is hosting a conference from Nov. 17-20. During this meeting, SAS has sponsored a session on Nov. 18, at 1:45 p.m. and has co-sponsored another with the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association on Nov. 19 at noon.

The session on Nov. 18, entitled “New Issues, Perspectives, and Sources in Armenian Studies,” chaired by SAS President Barlow Der Mugrdechian (California State University, Fresno) will include the following papers:

• “Ritualized Rapes and Body Destruction of the Armenian Women During the Genocide,” Anna Aleksanyan (Clark University)

• “Revisiting the Ottoman Courts-martial of 1919-1920 Under the Light of New Archival Documents,” Emre Can Daglioglu (Clark University),

• “The Hunchakian Revolutionary Party from 1891-1895,” Varak Ketsemanian (Princeton University),

• “‘Human Trafficking’ during the Armenian Genocide,” Arda Melkonian (UCLA)

Ümit Kurt (Harvard University) will be the discussant for the panel.

The SAS co-sponsored session on Nov. 19, which will take place in the form of a discussion, is entitled “Knowledge Production, Exclusion, Inclusion: The Repositioning of Armenians in Ottoman and Turkish Historiography.” It will include the participation of:

• Carel Bertram (San Francisco State University)

• Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska-Lincoln)

• David E. Gutman (Manhattanville College)

• Alyson Wharton (University of Lincoln [UK])

• Rachel Goshgarian (Lafayette College)

• Yasar Tolga Cora (University of Michigan)

• Lerna Ekmekcioglu (MIT)

There will be over ten other Armenian-themed papers that will be presented by scholars during the course of the MESA conference. For a full program, visit: https://mesana.org/mymesa/meeting_program_list.php?list=1.