Hye Sharzhoom Armenian Action
STAFF REPORT
The Society for Armenian Studies, a professional society composed of scholars interested in Armenian Studies, is holding its 21st annual meeting as part of the Middle East Studies Association Annual Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. from December 6-10. The conference headquarters will be the Washington Hilton and Towers where all meetings and panels will be presented.
As part of the Annual conference, scholars from throughout the country and the world gather to present their latest findings. Panels are organized by region, discipline, and time period. There will be five sessions relating to Armenia and the Armenians.
On Thursday, December 7 from 3:00-5:00 pm a roundtable discussion will be held on The Karabagh Conflict and Armenian-Azerbaijan Relations: The Quest for Regional Stability. It is co-sponsored by the International Society for Azerbaijani Studies and the Society for Armenian Studies. Guests will include: His Excellency Rouben Shugarian, Ambassador of the Republic of Armenia; His Excellency Hafiz Pashayev, Ambassador of the Republic of Azerbaijan; David Nissman, Washington, D.C.; Joseph Kechichian, Rand Corporation. Discussants are: Tadeusz Swietochowski, Monmouth College and Levon Marashlian, Glendale Community College. Richard G. Hovannisian of UCLA will chair the discussion.
In addition to the round table discussion four panels organized around specific Armenian themes will be presented.
The panel Shiraz, Isfahan, Tehran-Persian or Armenian Art? will be held from 5:30-7:30 pm on Thursday, December 7. Four panelists will present papers: Jews and Armenian in Safavid Iran-Their Self Definitions Contracted in Images, Alice Taylor, West Los Angeles College; The New Julfa Style of Armenian Manuscript Bindings, Dickran Kouymjian, California State University, Fresno; The Armenian Church of Shiraz: An Armenian-Safavid Monument, Marco Brambilla, DOMUS; and Armenian Architects in Tehran: Persian Architecture of Early 20th Century, Mina Marefat, Smithsonian Institution. The chair of the panel is Lucy Der Manuelian of Tufts University.
On Friday, December 8 from 8:00-10:00 am the Society for Armenian Studies is sponsoring a two-part panel called The Armenian Genocide: An Eighty Year Perspective. Part I: Historical Dimensions will have as its chair/discussant Richard G. Hovannisian of UCLA. Papers to be presented are: Some Comments About Decision Making, Stepan Astourian, UCLA; Finishing the Genocide: Angora’s Elimination of Armenian Survivors, 1920-1923, Levon Marashlian, Glendale City College; Resistance to Genocide: The Armenian Experience, 1915-1995, Roger Smith, College of William and Mary; andThe Role of Historical Memory in Interpreting Current Events in the Republic of Armenia, Donald Miller, University of Southern California.
The second of the two part panel is titled Armenian Literature and Catastrophe and will be held from 10:30am-12:30 pm on Friday December 8. The panel, chaired by Lorne Shirinian, will include: Across the Chasm: From Catastrophe to Creativity, Barlow Der Mugrdechian, California State University, Fresno; William Saroyan and the Armenian Genocide, David Calonne, Siena Heights College; Literary Response to Catastrophe, Rubina Peroomian, UCLA; and Survivors Memoirs of the Armenian Genocide, Lorne Shirinian, Royal Military College of Canada.
On Saturday, December 9, from 8:00-10:00 am a panel will be held on Armenia in the Age of the Il-Khans . Chair of the panel is Barlow Der Mugrdechian of California State University, Fresno. Papers include: The Seljuk-Il-khanid Conflict and the Armenian Confraternity of Erznka, S. Peter Cowe, Columbia University; The Reign of Hasan-Jalal-Daula, Armenian Ally of Hulagu Khan, Robert H. Hewsen, Rowan College of New Jersey; King Het’um’s Alliance with the Mongols: A Mutually Beneficial Relationship, Don Stark, University of Chicago; and.The Economy of Armenia in the Il-khanid Period, T.A. Sinclair, University of Cyprus. Discussant for the panel is Dickran Kouymjian of California State University, Fresno.
The final panel is scheduled for Saturday, December 9 from 4:00-6:00 pm is The Armenians Community in 20th Century Iran co-sponsored by the Society for Armenian Studies and the Society for Iranian Studies. The chair/discussant for the panel is George Bournoutian of Iona College. Papers include: The Role of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Houri Berberian, UCLA; Krikor Eghikian, The Jangalis, and the Armenians, Aram Arkun, Zohrab Institute; The Armenians of Iran and the Communist Movement in Iran, Cosroe Chaqueri, Columbi University; and The Armenian Diaspora in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1979-1989, Eliz Sanasarian, USC.