Derelicted responsibility

Assimilation is the biggest danger facing the Armenian communities in the diaspora, like every diaspora. I am one of the many “assimilated” Armenians, which I fear make up the majority of the Armenian Diaspora. Unfortunately, when a small ethnic group is a minority in a foreign country, is dispersed, has no educational facilities teaching their native language, culture and customs or are very few and far between, and has little or no links with the homeland, assimiliation is almost always inevitable. That many parents and grandparents have not passed on their language, culture and customs to their children, grandchildren and beyond, is also part of the problem. Marrying a non-Armenian, and not passing on the language, culture and customs to the children, is another factor. Many Armenians, perhaps more than half, marry a non-Armenian. One can hardly forbid people marrying for love. Assimilation then was either due to pressure exerted by officialdom and also due to discrimination by the larger society. That is why, many immigrants assimilated, in order not to “stand out” for being “different” and “foreign”, and to be “accepted” by the larger society. The latter reason is still the case, for example in the United States to a lesser extent. Assimilation today, is mostly due to internal reasons. The advent of the internet, connectivity and online language courses, can remedy a bit the problem of assimilation and isolation.