“These stories live in us”: Srab Der Haroutounian on trauma, identity and Armenians in the UK

Srab Der Haroutounian, a Ph.D. candidate born and raised in the United Kingdom to Armenian parents, is examining the multigenerational impact of trauma through the lens of the Armenian Genocide within London’s Armenian community.

After living and working in Armenia from 2003 to 2014, Der Haroutounian returned to the UK. Eight years ago, he had what he describes as an epiphany and went back to school to study psychotherapy. Now, with one year left in his doctoral program, he is completing a dissertation focused on the emotional legacy inherited by third- and fourth-generation descendants of Armenian Genocide survivors.

“It’s been a fascinating, revealing and illuminating process over the last three years of my doctorate,” Der Haroutounian told the Weekly. “It’s not just theoretical. On a personal level, the journey has been eye-opening. It’s allowed me to see parts of myself, my family and my own trauma.”

His research, he said, became deeply personal. “Research is actually ‘me-search,’ being the descendant of Genocide survivors,” he explained. “My father is the son of an orphan, and my grandfather was a priest in Manchester. My intention wasn’t to focus on the Armenian story but to look at early developmental stress as a catalyst for ADHD and other mental health issues. Then the ethnic cleansing of Artsakh happened, and October 7 happened, and I internally and spiritually felt that my path had to continue the academic journey with the Armenian Genocide.”

His family roots trace back to Adana, Cilicia and Sassoun. One of the most striking stories in his family history centers on his grandfather, who was orphaned during the Genocide and separated from his younger sister during the death marches to Deir ez-Zor in 1915. He was eight years old; she was three.

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30 years later, the siblings were reunited. While playing nardi (backgammon) in a café, his grandfather overheard truck drivers discussing Bedouin tribes. Following that lead, he visited several tribes and ultimately identified his sister by a scar on her face and a tattoo marking when and where she had been found. By then, she had married another Armenian orphan who had been raised by a different Bedouin tribe.

The reunion was a profound victory for both siblings.

Der Haroutounian’s parents met in the UK. His mother is from Iran, and his father is from Syria. His research explores how second-, third- and fourth-generation Armenians are shaped by inherited stories, both consciously and unconsciously, within a society like the UK.

“A big part of my journey into this research is understanding how these generations are shaped by inherited thoughts and feelings,” he explained. “The Genocide is not recognized in the UK. I had never heard the word ‘Armenianness,’ but half of my participants have used that term. There are all of these themes coming up. There is more to the legacy of the Armenian Genocide, and especially with what recently happened in Artsakh, you see the connection between trauma and retraumatization.”

Born and raised in the UK, Der Haroutounian described growing up in a place where Armenian identity often felt invisible.

“Nobody knows who Armenians are here, and Armenianness isn’t recognized,” he said. “It’s intentionally being pushed down, especially in Manchester. There are approximately 300 Armenians in a city of 3.1 million. There was Sunday School, but no Armenian school.”

He said that the 2023 ethnic cleansing of Artsakh sharpened the urgency of his work. 

“Growing up as an Armenian here, I pressed my Armenian identity down. I didn’t share or talk about it and avoided it,” he admitted. “There is an internal split between our identity and the host culture. This is something that comes up in my research with Armenians in the UK. When the ethnic cleansing happened, I was flooded with survivor’s guilt, like I was in 2020 during the Artsakh War.”

Music became one of his outlets. In addition to his work as a therapist and researcher, Der Haroutounian is an alternative hip-hop and spoken-word artist.

“My music was an outlet for me,” he noted. “I’ve done a Genocide video and, in my spare time, I’m an alternative hip-hop spoken-word artist. I’ve made five music videos, and I didn’t know I had this talent until my mid-30s. I started posting during COVID and the Artsakh War. It was my way of contributing to my Armenian people.”

His dissertation distinguishes between intergenerational and transgenerational trauma. The latter, he explained, is not passed down genetically in any simple sense, but relationally, emotionally and culturally across a group setting and over multiple generations.

“One of my participants described seeing images on the BBC as a child — decapitated Armenians, Armenians being burned alive — and being shocked to the core,” he said. “Those same images have been passed down to us, along with the stories of the Genocide.”

Among the key themes emerging in his research are duty, invisibility and what he calls “the burden of Armenianness.”

“I think where we differ in the UK compared to other communities is that there is the same level of pressure in a small community that creates an internal split in the child between the host country and Armenianness,” he said. “I’ve observed the third and fourth generations dipping in and out of Armenianness.”

He recalled one participant of Greek and Armenian heritage who gradually shifted toward her Greek identity because the Armenian side had become too heavy to carry. Another story that stayed with him involved a boy with a British father and Armenian mother who was sent to boarding school and proudly identified as Armenian until racial abuse led him to bury that identity for nearly two decades.

“He said he would never talk about his Armenian identity for over 18 years, until the 1988 earthquake,” Der Haroutounian stated. “When we have a crisis, it brings us together. That was what the 2020 Artsakh War did. When faced with a threat, Armenians close off. We learned to survive persecution, we hibernated and then we come through when we feel it is safe.”

He contrasts the UK with countries such as the United States, where Armenian communities are larger and the Genocide is officially recognized.

Now in the data analysis stage of his dissertation, Der Haroutounian is coding interviews and identifying recurring themes. Alongside his doctoral work, he continues to practice as a therapist and is also a full-time father.

Ultimately, he said, his research is about both collective and personal recognition.

“It’s about understanding how trauma survives time,” he said, “and how identity survives silence.”

For more information about Srab Der Haroutounian and his work, visit his website.