New Roads

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.

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.

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.

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. Armenian.USC.edu

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. To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, please visit Armenian.USC.edu

Amid slow change in Gyumri, the metal containers still stand, failing to resist rust and decay any longer, as reminders of the earthquake that buried my parents’ youth and the future and promise of an entire generation. In this episode of The Quake, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies's Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan explores the very personal and public story of rescue in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Gyumri, Armenia.

“The workers broke the concrete panels with sledgehammers, then welders cut the metal and opened a passage to rescue my aunt and my two cousins.” In this episode of The Quake, the USC Institute of Armenian Studie's Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan explores the very personal and public story of rescue in the aftermath of the 1988 earthquake in Gyumri, Armenia. To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, please visit. armenian.usc.edu.

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 17 & 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. Their philanthropy bankrolled Armenian printing capacity in Venice, Amsterdam, Livorno, Madras, Calcutta, Lvov and New Julfa.

"My father, kept climbing the stairs of the wreckage and carried out their library, book stack by book stack” USC Institute of Armenian Studies Chitjian Researcher Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan continues exploring the very personal and very public story of the 1988 earthquake that struck his hometown Gyumri, Armenia.

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. Join Salpi Ghazarian, Director, USC Institute of Armenian Studies and Dr. Houri Berberian, Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies at UC Irvine in this ep

“I was born in a kindergarten. Something terrible had happened to my hometown two and a half years earlier that had left the city without a maternity hospital.” Tune in to THE QUAKE - a new podcast miniseries from the Institute where Institute’s Chitjian Research Archivist Gegham Mughnetsyan explores the very personal and public history of the powerful earthquake that devastated the northern region of Armenia and his hometown Gyumri on December 7, 1988.

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. Join Salpi Ghazarian, Director, USC Institute of Armenian Studies and LA City Councilmember, Paul Krekorian in this episode of Unpacking Armenian Studies. To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, please visit Armenian.USC.edu

Dr. Shant Shekherdimian is a pediatric surgeon who has researched Armenia’s and Karabakh’s health care systems – policy, service delivery, education, quality and needs . He also focuses on the supply and demand of health care services from outside Armenia – from Diaspora and volunteer organizations. Host - Salpi Ghazarian, Director, USC Institute of Armenian Studies

Art history is not just the history of art, it’s history. Period. Dr. Christina Maranci, Tufts University, is a historian whose research places art, architecture, and the material objects of Armenia and Armenians within a critical and historical context. It’s a different, and illuminating (pardon the pun) take on Armenian history.  It brings to life the connections between ancient monuments and modern preservation and creation efforts.

Unpacking Armenian Studies - Dr. Georgi Derlugyan 11/5/2018