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Event: Public Lecture
Date: Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:30pm
Venue: Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School
Address: 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA
Abstract: Identities are inseparably related to past experiences of
individuals and social groups: from families and clans to
nations. Reflecting the self-positioning of people in specific broader
socio-cultural contexts they are hierarchical, dynamic, and an
individual or social group may combine together components of
different identities. Nowadays philosophers studying this subject
stress the major distinction between identity at a time and identity
across time. This distinction is especially salient across other
humanities and social sciences. A very large amount of research is
carried out on the subject of contemporary identities but relatively
few explore their historical transformations. Armenian Studies are not
an exception. During the last two decades a substantial research
effort has been devoted to the study of modern Armenian identity and
only a handful of works discussing its historical trajectory were
published. The lecture will discuss the causes of that disparity and
the importance of a long-term perspective. It will address the origins
of Armenian identity and the sociopolitical, economic, linguistic,
demographic, and territorial aspects of its formation and
transformations. Special attention should be paid to the roles of
social elites in the construction of identities, yet the extreme
constructivist position must be rejected. Several consecutive periods
in the transformation of Armenian identity are identified and
analyzed: (1) from the Early Iron Age (ca 1000 BC) to the end of the
Post-Achaemenid Period (early 2nd century BC); (2) the Artashesian
Period (2nd - 1st centuries BC); (3) the Arshakuni and Marzpanate
transformation (ca 224 - 670 AD) -- period of formation of the main
traits of the Modern Armenian national identity; (4) the Bagratuni and
Seljuq period (9th - 12th centuries) -- dilution of Armenian identity;
(5) the Cilician Period (12th - 14th centuries) -- formation of the
Armenian Diasporan identity; (6) from the Great Lazarian-Arghutian
resettlement (1828-30) to the present -- resproach substantially
differs from the generally accepted periodic characterization of
Armenian history. It stresses two major aspects: the cyclical nature
and the apparent gradual consolidation of Armenian identities. Further
investigations may confirm or disprove these findings.
Gregory E. Areshian received his Ph.D. from the Saint-Petersburg
(formerly Leningrad) Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR. He directed the excavations of several
archaeological sites and participated in other archaeological field
projects in Armenia, Syria, Georgia, Egypt, and Central Asia. He is
the author of more than 130 publications mostly concerning Near
Eastern, Armenian, and Caucasian history and archaeology from Late
Prehistory to the Modern times, and also social theory. He authored
and edited four books. During the late 1970s and 1980s Dr. Areshian
served as a Professor of Archaeology and History at Yerevan State
University, the First Vice-President of the Department of Antiquities
of the Republic of Armenia, and as the Associate Director of the
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of
Armenia. In 1991 - 92 he served as the Deputy Prime Minister in the
first government of the independent Republic of Armenia. In 1993 he
was invited as a Visiting Professor to UCLA, and, after moving to the
USA, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, and the University of
Chicago. Currently he is the Director of the Armenian Research Program
of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Since 2007 he
co-directs the Dvin and Areni UCLA Joint Projects in Armenia and
continues participating to the Mozan-Urkesh Project in Syria. His
principal area of interest is the anthropological history of Armenian,
Iranian, and Mesopotamian civilizations from Prehistory to the Modern
times. Other areas of his current research include social complexity,
interdisciplinary study of imperialism, interactions between pastoral
nomads and sedentary civilizations in the Near East and Eurasia,
archaeology of Global Warming, and the interdisciplinary
(archaeological-linguistic-art historical) reconstruction of Ancient
Near Eastern, Indo-European, and Classical mythology.
Date: Friday, January 22, 2010 at 7:30pm
Venue: Merdinian Armenian Evangelical School
Address: 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA
Abstract: Identities are inseparably related to past experiences of
individuals and social groups: from families and clans to
nations. Reflecting the self-positioning of people in specific broader
socio-cultural contexts they are hierarchical, dynamic, and an
individual or social group may combine together components of
different identities. Nowadays philosophers studying this subject
stress the major distinction between identity at a time and identity
across time. This distinction is especially salient across other
humanities and social sciences. A very large amount of research is
carried out on the subject of contemporary identities but relatively
few explore their historical transformations. Armenian Studies are not
an exception. During the last two decades a substantial research
effort has been devoted to the study of modern Armenian identity and
only a handful of works discussing its historical trajectory were
published. The lecture will discuss the causes of that disparity and
the importance of a long-term perspective. It will address the origins
of Armenian identity and the sociopolitical, economic, linguistic,
demographic, and territorial aspects of its formation and
transformations. Special attention should be paid to the roles of
social elites in the construction of identities, yet the extreme
constructivist position must be rejected. Several consecutive periods
in the transformation of Armenian identity are identified and
analyzed: (1) from the Early Iron Age (ca 1000 BC) to the end of the
Post-Achaemenid Period (early 2nd century BC); (2) the Artashesian
Period (2nd - 1st centuries BC); (3) the Arshakuni and Marzpanate
transformation (ca 224 - 670 AD) -- period of formation of the main
traits of the Modern Armenian national identity; (4) the Bagratuni and
Seljuq period (9th - 12th centuries) -- dilution of Armenian identity;
(5) the Cilician Period (12th - 14th centuries) -- formation of the
Armenian Diasporan identity; (6) from the Great Lazarian-Arghutian
resettlement (1828-30) to the present -- resproach substantially
differs from the generally accepted periodic characterization of
Armenian history. It stresses two major aspects: the cyclical nature
and the apparent gradual consolidation of Armenian identities. Further
investigations may confirm or disprove these findings.
Gregory E. Areshian received his Ph.D. from the Saint-Petersburg
(formerly Leningrad) Institute of Archaeology of the Academy of
Sciences of the USSR. He directed the excavations of several
archaeological sites and participated in other archaeological field
projects in Armenia, Syria, Georgia, Egypt, and Central Asia. He is
the author of more than 130 publications mostly concerning Near
Eastern, Armenian, and Caucasian history and archaeology from Late
Prehistory to the Modern times, and also social theory. He authored
and edited four books. During the late 1970s and 1980s Dr. Areshian
served as a Professor of Archaeology and History at Yerevan State
University, the First Vice-President of the Department of Antiquities
of the Republic of Armenia, and as the Associate Director of the
Institute of Archaeology and Ethnology of the Academy of Sciences of
Armenia. In 1991 - 92 he served as the Deputy Prime Minister in the
first government of the independent Republic of Armenia. In 1993 he
was invited as a Visiting Professor to UCLA, and, after moving to the
USA, he taught at the University of Wisconsin, and the University of
Chicago. Currently he is the Director of the Armenian Research Program
of the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Since 2007 he
co-directs the Dvin and Areni UCLA Joint Projects in Armenia and
continues participating to the Mozan-Urkesh Project in Syria. His
principal area of interest is the anthropological history of Armenian,
Iranian, and Mesopotamian civilizations from Prehistory to the Modern
times. Other areas of his current research include social complexity,
interdisciplinary study of imperialism, interactions between pastoral
nomads and sedentary civilizations in the Near East and Eurasia,
archaeology of Global Warming, and the interdisciplinary
(archaeological-linguistic-art historical) reconstruction of Ancient
Near Eastern, Indo-European, and Classical mythology.