Armenian Studies in America

The Society for Armenian Studies concluded a three-day conference held at the UCLA in commemoration of its 35th anniversary. The banquet held on the last day of the conference recognized the achievements of various scholars with awards and accolades of worthy proportions, but not in tune with the work that lies ahead, and serious concerns about who is to do it, and how to finance it.

Armenology, or the study of Armenian topics in America is 50 years old this year. First established - by funds raised in the local community – as an endowed chair at Harvard University in 1959, followed by another chair at UCLA in 1965 where Masters of Arts and Ph.D. degrees in Armenian history, language, literature and culture were to be awarded. The crowd at the banquet was reminded that hard-working Armenians donated their entire month’s wages at the time for the creation of something they saw as sacred for their heritage and identity. Today, there are 15 chairs in Armenian studies in universities across the United States.

The fact that most of these were established in the far-far away 60’s, 70’s and 80’s attest to the fact that the Armenians, some of us today, often regard as the cause for diluting our identity were – in fact – “good Armenians”, to say the least. They must have also been very bright people who understood that organizing their resources towards scholarship and higher learning was the noblest of all causes. The so called “Golden 90’s”, on the other hand, saw many Armenians prosper and get rich – but not for the benefit or advancement of any intellectual work. We still don’t get it: A dozen dinner-dances held over one weekend around LA’s Armenian community does not make us so smart or savvy after all. Most of the wealth dissipated with the latest financial meltdown anyway. We now live in big homes on top of mountains with pools we do not use, and Camelot-style dining rooms that are off limit to dinner guests because the 12 seater table is “Imported from Italy”. We socialize for the sole purpose of having the one thing that has weakened many over-extended and over-spent modern societies: too much fun.

Today-besides Harvard University and UCLA- University of Michigan, Clark University, Tufts, Columbia and CSU Fresno are also hosts to Armenian studies chairs that employ tenured professors who must study and research the essence of Armenian existence from time immemorial to the present. They are expected to discover the minute details of Armenian civilization including language and literature, to unearth the secrets of our history, and the nuances of contemporary Armenia’s complex politics with some of the most undesirable neighbors in the world. It is a tall order indeed!

While the rest of us are untrained to decipher most facts and information in mere books, it is the skill of these men and women to classify and analyze data that pour out of archives stored in Paris, London, Moscow or Washington DC. Millions of Armenians were living on their ancestral lands for centuries across the Ottoman Empire, and their story is still locked away in documents that are held in secrecy to this day. It is yet to be told.

While the Genocide overpowers the purpose of Armenian studies in general, there are many other topics of utmost importance for the final definition of the Armenian identity – some may seem tedious and boring by some accounts (the Hittites and the Sumerians, for example), others are very exciting and up-to-date (For example issues, such as the social, political and economic dealings of the Armenians of Glendale). We are, at this stage of our existence in America, a community without an objective record of our existence. Newspapers record events, but rarely report on incidents or react to plans that influence the lives of people or impact the community. No research has been done on relevant current topics such as the youth, organizations, schools, the professional class, mixed marriages or linguistic assimilation. No one has yet traced the story of the Western Armenian dialect since its abrupt departure from Lebanon and Syria, and its demise in France and America.

Having said all that, I still see Genocide studies as the most critical topic that must progress for the sake of our sanity and dignity. Assuming that there are already 2181 (A mere assumption) books already published on the Genocide, it would give me a great sense of comfort to know that someone in academia is working on book number 2182. If we do not continue to prioritize and fund the exploration and research relentlessly on the topic, then we will be condemned to have Turkish charlatan and revisionist historians tell the story of “our” Genocide to the rest of the world. We face a fate similar to the Palestinians, whereby the story of their national experience and aspirations are documented and interpreted by Jewish journalists, historians and political scientists working out of American newspapers, universities, and think tanks.

We must retain our sense of urgency to keep, strengthen and fund Armenian studies and programs in American universities. More and more of those positions are going to odars. By the very nature of their structure, they may as well be offered to a Turk, “knowledgeable” of the topic, and even possibly fluent in Armenian. One never knows!

We are at the threshold of the next 50 years, and this is what’s going on: A community in LA that has detached itself from the chairs in its midst. The two UCLA chairs are vaguely remembered. In New York, another Armenian marker on the map, the Columbia University chair has been vacant for 10 years. Elsewhere retiring tenured professors are known to have ended their careers without grooming Ph. D’s that could in time qualify to replace them. Scholars, by nature, are solitary people, but that may also be the cause as to why they have not inspired and organized the community that funds their chairs to be more demanding of the host universities to respect and honor their pledge to Armenian studies. They must also play the key role in a smooth transition from one chair holder to another.

There’s been much talk about shifting Armenian studies from its Near Eastern connections (i.e. Turkey, Iran, and Israel) onto the larger sphere of Slavic (Russian, Caucasus and European) studies. But no success yet! There are no real think tanks and institutes that host talented young scholars to research current topics and publish their findings. There are virtually no funds allocated for translations or special research to qualified scholar, albeit for a limited amount, culminating in a paper or a book for which additional funds will be needed for publication.

The Society for Armenian Studies Journal did not receive the minimal financial backing from able donors or organizations when it attempted to change its one-a-year format to four issues a year, where “Turkey watch” would have been one of the issues. No one seemed to pay attention.

“Armenians are running the risk of becoming invisible, because no one is writing about us”, as Khachig Tololyan said during one of the sessions of the Society for Armenian Studies conference. “You want to be known by the world, then you must publish”, was Anny Bakalians call at the same session.

Currently we have only one chair for Genocide Studies (at Clark University in Worcester, Mass.), “which shows how neglected the effort is”. These remarks were coming from Taner Akcam, the holder of the chair. What happened to us during the past 15 years, the so called “years of prosperity”? Did we lose our minds and our soul?!

For now, the needs seem very clear and the responsibility rests with the holders of the chairs, as well as the rest of us: To find and encourage and recruit people willing to dedicate their life to Armenian studies, and (since one cannot pursue studies without concerns for employment) then to place them into jobs where they can lecture, research and publish. We desperately need different views on all topics for the sake of discussion, debate and learning. Our nation deserves its share of thinkers, and intellectuals must reclaim their place as leaders of the community after 15 years of desolation. We trusted people who lead us by “financial models” all these years, and what have we got to show for it?

So what is it that I imagine to be good material for Armenian studies? Frankly, everything and anything. For example, I am proud to have learned that Armenians were people of significance during the Byzantine Empire as well as the British Raj. But to imagine that Armenians just showed up one day in India to build schools, monasteries and printing houses is silly and absurd. The answers are to found in meticulous research. It is a fascinating story of historic connection of a merchant class from Persia, their Christian-Catholic affiliation with immense networks of traders in and out of India which over time led our people to the gates to Venice (San Lazaro and the Mekhitarists), Cairo (Boghos Nubar and the AGBU), and Baghdad and London (Gulbenkian, Mr. 5% himself) …all places where the Armenian presence survives to this day. I am looking forward to reading Sebouh Aslanian’s Ph.D. dissertation when it is published.

What are we to record about our life and times here today? Is what we do today going to be relevant for our history in the future? It will, only if we advance the best and the brightest amongst us to write about it.