Annual Colloquium in Armenian Studies

Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies
University of California, Los Angeles
Royce Hall 314
February 7, 2020

9:30 – 10:00 Breakfast

10:00 – 10:10 Opening Remarks
Anatolii Tokmantcev (Director of the 2020 Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)

Dr. S. Peter Cowe (Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies, Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)

Panel 1: Homeland and Diaspora: Displacement and its Effects
Chair: Armen Adamian, Ethnomusicology, UCLA

10:10 – 10:30
Ani Shahinian, “The Martyrdom of Awag Salmastec‘i (1390): An Inquiry into Business Relations Between Christians-Muslims in Salmast, Persia and Bałeš, Lake Van Region in Late Medieval Armenia” (University of Oxford)

10:30 – 10:50
Bogdan Pavlish, “Networking in Exile: Patronage and Marriage Strategies of Armenian Refugee Kaspar Butachowicz in Late Seventeenth-Century Poland-Lithuania” (Northwestern University)

10:50 – 11:10
Ayşenur Korkmaz, “‘No Place Like Home’: ‘Ergir’ and the ex-Ottoman Armenians in Soviet Armenia” (University of Amsterdam)

11:10 – 11:30
Nane Khachatryan, “Construction of Visual Representation of Armenia as a Travel Destination: A Synthesis of Tourist and Local Gazes” (Erasmus University Rotterdam)

11:30 – 11:50 Discussion

Noon – 2:00 Lunch

Panel 2: 19^th century Ottoman Armenian Literature
Chair: Jesse Arlen, Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, UCLA

2:00 – 2:20
Nora Bairamian, “Beyond the Iron Ladle: Education, Gender and Economic Independence in the Work of Mkrtich Khrimean ‘Hayrik’” (Columbia University)

2:20 – 2:40
Arif Tapan, “Reading Nineteenth-Century Armeno-Turkish Novels as Another Phenomenon: A Narratological Perspective” (Boğaziçi University)

2:40 – 2:50 Discussion

2:50 – 3:15 Coffee/Tea

Panel 3: Women in Contemporary Armenia
Chair: Natalie Kamajian, World Arts & Cultures/Dance, UCLA

3:15 – 3:35
Hasmik Knyazyan, “‘Hanging Out to Dry, or…’: The Socio-Cultural Aspects of Hanging Laundry (the Armenian Case)” (Independent Researcher)

3:35 – 3:55
Ani Der Grigorian, “Spontaneous and Unorganized? Reconceptualizing Formal and Informal Activism in the Armenian Women’s Movement” (London School of Economics and Political Science)

3:55 – 4:05 Discussion

Panel 4: Socio-Political Trends in Contemporary Armenia
Chair: Arpi Melikyan, French & Francophone Studies, UCLA

4:10 – 4:30
Lilit Ghazaryan, “Language Practices and Policies in Kindergartens in Yerevan, Armenia” (UCLA)

4:30 – 4:50
Urban Jaksa, “Pashinyan vs. the Karabakh Clan: Re-Examining Patronal Relations Between Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh” (University of York)

4:50 – 5:00 Discussion

5:00 ­– 5:15 Guest Speaker
Dr. Sergio La Porta (Haig and Isabel Berberian Professor of Armenian Studies, Fresno State University)

5:15 ­– 5:20 Salmast Heritage Association Award

5:30 – 6:30 Reception in Melnitz Hall (outside of James Bridges Theater)

Film screenings in James Bridges Theater, Melnitz Hall 1409

6:30 – Screening of “Motherland” by Emily Mkrtichian & Jesse Soursourian, followed by Q&A with director

7:15 – Screening of “Gate to Heaven” by Jivan Avetisjan, followed by Q&A with director

Organized by UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures.

Co-sponsored by National Association for Armenian Studies and Research, Society for Armenian Studies, UCLA Campus Programs Committee, Center for European & Russian Studies, Center for  Medieval & Renaissance Studies, Program on Central Asia, Center for 17th & 18th Century Studies, Department of Near Eastern Languages & Cultures, Promise Institute for Human Rights, Center for Near Eastern Studies, Department of Slavic, East European & Eurasian Languages & Cultures, Center for World Languages, Department of Comparative Literatures, Voskevaz Winery