CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND PRESERVATION IN DIASPORA

Oxford Armenian Studies

Seminar - Hilary Term 2013

CULTURAL PRODUCTION AND PRESERVATION IN DIASPORA

Dr Hratch Tchilingirian, Oriental Institute

In addition to language, preservation of culture is a significant component in the discourse of identity formation and preservation in Diaspora; in the case of the Armenians, it is the discourse of 'hayapahpanum' (‘preservation of Armenianness’).  The seminar will continue the discussions of the last term that dealt with some of the methodological and conceptual questions of culture. This term will focus on various dimensions of cultural production and how they relate to the preservation of "Armenian identity".

6:30 - 8:00 PM, Oriental Institute, Lecture Room 1

·     Tuesday, 22 January (Week 2)

VISUAL AND PERFORMING ARTS

This session will explore the works of a number of diaspora artists with roots in the Middle East, such as painters Paul Guiragossian, Krikor Norikian and Shant Avedissian and performing artists like Gerarld Avedissian, Krikor Satamian, and others. What is universal in their artistic creation and what is particularly Armenian?

·     Tuesday, 5 February (Week 4)

MUSIC: FROM KOMITAS TO RABIZ

The seminar will present the writings of Komitas about Armenian ethnographic music 

and discuss the sociological dimensions of the genres of Armenian music -- 

e.g. 

ethnographic, liturgical, classical, pop and rabiz ("tavern music") -- in both Armenia and the Diaspora

·     Tuesday, 19 February (Week 6)

LITERATURE: "PEOPLE OF THE BOOK"

This session will introduce a number of diaspora writers, such as Vahe Oshagan, Vahe Berberian and others, and present a sociological reading of their works in order to draw attention to some of the problems of language, literary production and readership in the Diaspora.

·     Tuesday, 5 March(Week 8)

WHAT IS 'ARMENIAN' ABOUT ARMENIAN CULTURE?

This final session of the seminar will tie together all the discussions and will attempt to outline the key elements of "Armenian culture". What is it that needs to be "preserved" in Armenian culture? What are the key "cultural components" in 'hayapahpanum'? etc.

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For further details about the seminar please contact Dr Hratch Tchilingirian: hratch.tchilingirian@orinst.ox.ac.uk 

or Prof. Theo van Lint, Calouste Gulbenkian Professor of Armenian Studies:  theo.vanlint@orinst.ox.ac.uk