In the midst of constructing its new state-of-the-art headquarters in Belmont, MA, the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) has also expanded its programs and scholar support worldwide with an unprecedented level of activity in the first half of 2019.
Unprecedented Number of Programs
To date, in 2019, NAASR has sponsored or co-sponsored 38 programs on a wide variety of subjects and in many locations, the most in its history for a six-month period. These events have taken place in Massachusetts, California, New York, New Jersey, Washington, D.C., Maryland and, for the first time ever, with the AGBU Cairo in Heliopolis, Egypt. The programs have touched on numerous aspects of Armenian history and culture and included several NAASR/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lectures on Contemporary Armenian Issues.
Among these programs were co-sponsorships of four major conferences: “Armeno-Iranica: A Shared History,” at UCLA and UC Irvine; the 17th Annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies, at UCLA; “Entangled Encounters: Antiquity and Modernity in Armenian Studies,” at Harvard University; and the 2nd Feminist Armenian Studies Workshop: Gendering Resistance and Revolution, at the University of California, Irvine. NAASR also supported the screening of Armenian films at the 2019 Socially Relevant Film Festival in New York City and partnered with the Columbia University Armenian Center and other groups to present a series of lectures.
In keeping with its tradition of collaboration, NAASR works with many Armenian organizations, including frequent co-sponsorships with the Ararat-Eskijian Museum in California and St. Leon Armenian Church in New Jersey, as well as academic and other institutions such as Harvard, Tufts, Columbia, Georgetown, UCLA, and UC Irvine, as well as the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles.
A full listing of NAASR programs for 2019 is available online.
NAASR and Knights of Vartan Issue Scholar Grants
During this time, NAASR received its largest ever number of grant requests from scholars around the world, and on its own and in collaboration with the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies with which it has partnered since 2007, increased its scholar grants, issuing 19 from January to June of 2019 to the following scholars:
2019 Grant Recipients
Dr. Taner Akçam, Kaloosdian-Mugar Professor of Armenian Genocide Studies, Clark University, Worcester, MA, grant to conduct archival in Ottoman, German, British and American archives for new research project on Cemal Pasha and his role during Armenian Genocide. Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Tigran Aleksanyan, archaeologist, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia, support for project to document monuments preserved in the Republic of Armenia and Artsakh associated with the memory of Vardanants’ martyrs. Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Dr. Anahit Avagyan, Senior Researcher, Department of Researching and Editing of the Ancient Armenian Texts, Mashtots Matenadaran–Research Institute of Ancient Manuscripts, Yerevan, travel grant to present paper “Armenian Translation of the Pseudo-Athanasian Dialogue ‘Quaestiones ad Antiochum ducem’ (CPG 2257): Some Preliminary Remarks on its Possible Critical Edition,” at the 18th International Conference on Patristic Studies in August 19 to 24, 2019 at Oxford. Grant issued by NAASR.
Anoush Baghdassarian, MA student at Columbia University, New York City, travel grant to go to Armenia to conduct research for thesis on the attitudes of Syrian-Armenian refugees in Armenia toward efforts of redress and transitional justice in post-conflict Syria. Grant issued by NAASR.
Dmytro Dymydyuk, PhD candidate in History, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine), travel grant request to take part in the conference “Military Campaigns, Weaponry, and Military Equipment (Antiquity and Middle ages),” May 16 to 18, 2019 in Varna, Bulgaria, to present paper “One-Edged and Curved Blade in Bagratid Armenia (late 9th-mid 11th c.): Problem of Interpretation of Sources.” Grant issued by NAASR.
Khoren Grigoryan, PhD student, Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences, Republic of Armenia, travel grant to participate in 16th Annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies at UCLA, February 2, 2019, presenting paper “Transforming Identity after 1915: Case of Musa Dagh.” Grant issued by NAASR.
Julia Hintlian, PhD student in Religion, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, travel grant to present paper at the XVIII International Conference on Patristic Studies at the University of Oxford, August 19-24, 2019, presenting paper “Metz Mayr Miriam: The Embellished Armenian Lineage of Marutha of Maipherkat.” Grant issued by NAASR.
Vahe Hovsepyan, PhD student in Department of History, Yerevan State University, travel grant to conduct research in the St. Petersburg Russian State Historic Archive for dissertation on “Eastern Armenia in Caucasian Viceroyalty (1844-1882).” Grant issued by NAASR.
Carla Kekejian, PhD student in Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, travel grant to support participation in “Entangled Encounters” Armenian Studies Conference at Harvard University, March 28 to 29, 2019 to present paper “Harsneren: “Language of the Armenian Bride.” Grant issued by NAASR.
Hratch Kestenian, PhD candidate in History at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, travel grant to consult the Ottoman archives housed at the Başbakanlık and archives of Surp Prgich (Holy Savior) hospital in Istanbul for doctoral research for thesis entitled “The Making of a Social Disease: Tuberculosis and the Medicalization of Ottoman Society (1827-1922).” Grant issued by NAASR.
Dr. Umit Kurt, Polonsky Postdoctoral Fellow, The Van Leer Institute, Jerusalem, publication grant to support editorial work on English translation of his book Antep 1915: Soykirim ve Failler for publication by Palgrave. Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Marco Marsili, PhD student in Studies of Security and Defense from the ISCTE–Instituto Universitário de Lisboa (ISCTEIUL), travel grant to conduct fieldwork in Armenia and Karabakh in fall 2019 for thesis on Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Pauline Mari Pechakjian, MA student, Department of History, University of California, Irvine, travel grant to support research in Armenia for thesis “Rethinking ‘Repatriation’: A Social History of the Mass Migration of Diaspora Armenians to Soviet Armenia, 1946-49.” Grant issued by NAASR.
Amine Alkan Reis, PhD student, Fakultät VI Planen, Bauen, Umwelt of Technische Universitaet, Berlin, support for travel and fieldwork for thesis, “A Model Proposal for a Holistic Approach to the Conservation of Evacuated Rural Settlements in the North Eastern Anatolia’s Armenian Heritage: Case Study of Aprank (St. David) Monastery and Üçpınar (Aprank) Village.” Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Anoush Sargsyan, PhD candidate and Junior Researcher, Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts—Matenadaran, Yerevan, travel grant to attend conference “The Surrounding Forest: Trees in the Medieval Imaginary,” organized by the Department of English and Humanities School of Arts, Birkbeck, University of London, June 22, 2019, to present paper “Genealogical Tree of Christ in the Context of the Armenian Version of Peter’s Compendium in Historiae Genealogia Christi.” Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Henry Shapiro, Van Leer Institute, Fellow at the Polonsky Academy for Advanced Study Jerusalem, and Visiting Researcher at the Faculty for Humanities, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, travel grant to visit Istanbul to access materials on Eremia Chelebi for transformation of thesis “The Great Armenian Flight: The Celali Revolts and the Rise of Western Armenian Society” into book. Grant issued by NAASR.
Dr. Abraham Terian, retired Professor of Armenian Patristics and Academic Dean at St. Nersess Armenian Seminary, New Rochelle, NY, grant to support preparation of The Life of Mashtots‘ by His Disciple Koriwn, with an introduction, translation and commentary. Grant issued by the Knights of Vartan Fund for Armenian Studies.
Dr. Daria Vorobyeva, travel grant to expand PhD thesis “Forced Ethnic Migrants’ Integration: Syrian Armenians in Armenia and Lebanon (2011-2016),” completed at University of St. Andrews, Scotland (2018), leading to a book and an article publications. Grant issued by NAASR.
Ani Yenokyan, PhD student, Armenian State Academy of Fine Arts, and junior researcher at the department of Art History and Writing Center of Research, Mesrop Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts –Matenadaran, Yerevan, travel grant to participate in 16th Annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies at UCLA, February 2, 2018, presenting paper “The Illustrations of Armenian Printed Books in the Context of Early Modern Armenian Culture (16th-18th Centuries).” Grant issued by NAASR.
Grant Deadlines and Academic Committee
All relevant grant proposals are reviewed four times per year (March 15, June 15, September 15 and December 15) by NAASR’s Director of Academic Affairs Marc A. Mamigonian and the NAASR Academic Advisory Committee, currently consisting of Prof. Kevork Bardakjian, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; Prof. Valentina Calzolari, University of Geneva; Prof. Michael J. Connolly, Boston College; Prof. Bedross Der Matossian, University of Nebraska; and Prof. Christina Maranci, Tufts University. In January 2019 Prof. Dennis Papazian (University of Michigan, Dearborn) and Prof. James R. Russell (Harvard University) stepped down from the committee after many years of dedicated service.
For more information contact NAASR at hq@naasr.org.
NAASR has made a remarkable transformation with the diversity of its programming both geographically and with contemporary subject matter. It’s expansion into on university campus programMing has brought on a new demographic.
It has significantly expanded its grant and research funding of important work, while also mentoring a generation of scholars. The crown jewel will be the opening of its new world HQ in November with a public high profile weekend. This will enable an even greater expansion of capability into Armenia and the diaspora. It is truly an organization whose mission reaches all of our greater community.