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PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
VALENTINA CALZOLARI AND SIMON PAYASLIAN TO
DISCUSS The Armenians IN Switzerland and New England
Dr. Valentina Calzolari and Dr. Simon Payaslian will participate in a
joint presentation entitled "The Armenians from the Caucasus and
Anatolia to Switzerland and New England in the 19th and 20th
Centuries" on Friday, June 13, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., at swissnex Boston,
420 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. The program is co-sponsored by
Université de Genève, Boston University, swissnex Boston, and the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).
It is requested that attendees register in advance (free of charge)
online. Link:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-armenians-from-the-caucasus-and-anatolia-to-switzerland-and-new-england-in-the-19th-and-20th-tickets-11845228397
Dr. Calzolari will speak on "Armenian Revolutionaries in Geneva and
Lausanne at the End of the Nineteenth and the Beginning of the
Twentieth Centuries." In 1913, the Armenian revolutionary Avetis
Aharonian proposed to take Switzerland as a model for the renewal of
the Armenian society, economy and customs, claiming the necessity of a
rupture with the past. But at the same time, in another context, he
praised the continuity of the Armenian identity and traditions. For
example, in his dissertation defended at the University of Lausanne
the same year he insisted on the sacred role of the fireplace as a
symbol of the Armenian family's identity, while in an Armenian work he
denounced the wastefulness of this practice. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the relationships between Swiss and Armenian were
intensive and many Armenians were exiled in Geneva. This talk will
approach the idealization of Switzerland as a social and economic
model and asks the general problem of new social and economic
imperatives requiring a break with ancient and traditional identity.
Dr. Payaslian's talk, "The Origins of the Armenian Community in New
England and the Construction of Armenian-American "Cultural
Congruence," will cover the origins and development of the Armenian
community in the United States, with a focus on the New England
region, from the 1880s to the 1920s. The early Armenian immigrants to
the New World sought preservation of their Armenian national identity
while seeking integration into American society. While many Armenians
emphasized the preservation of Armenianness and struggled against
foreignization, others stressed the imperatives of cultural
integration and rapid economic growth. Payaslian will cover the case
of the Armenia journal, published in Boston from 1904 to 1913, which
promoted the idea of "cultural congruence" between Armenian and
American values.
Dr. Valentina Calzolari Bouvier is Professor of Armenian Studies and
Chair of the Department of Mediterranean, Slavic and Oriental
Languages and Literatures at the University of Geneva, currently in
sabbatical as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. She is the
current President of the International Association of Armenian
Studies. Dr. Simon Payaslian is the Charles K. and Elizabeth
M. Kenosian Chair in Modern Armenian History and Literature at Boston
University. His most recent book is The Political Economy of Human
Rights in Armenia:
Authoritarianism and Democracy in a Former Soviet Republic (2011).
More information about the lecture contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or
[email protected] or swissnex Boston at 617-876-3076 or [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
National Association for Armenian
Studies and Research (NAASR)
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Tel.: 617-489-1610
E-mail: [email protected]
VALENTINA CALZOLARI AND SIMON PAYASLIAN TO
DISCUSS The Armenians IN Switzerland and New England
Dr. Valentina Calzolari and Dr. Simon Payaslian will participate in a
joint presentation entitled "The Armenians from the Caucasus and
Anatolia to Switzerland and New England in the 19th and 20th
Centuries" on Friday, June 13, 2014, at 7:00 p.m., at swissnex Boston,
420 Broadway, Cambridge, MA. The program is co-sponsored by
Université de Genève, Boston University, swissnex Boston, and the
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR).
It is requested that attendees register in advance (free of charge)
online. Link:
http://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-armenians-from-the-caucasus-and-anatolia-to-switzerland-and-new-england-in-the-19th-and-20th-tickets-11845228397
Dr. Calzolari will speak on "Armenian Revolutionaries in Geneva and
Lausanne at the End of the Nineteenth and the Beginning of the
Twentieth Centuries." In 1913, the Armenian revolutionary Avetis
Aharonian proposed to take Switzerland as a model for the renewal of
the Armenian society, economy and customs, claiming the necessity of a
rupture with the past. But at the same time, in another context, he
praised the continuity of the Armenian identity and traditions. For
example, in his dissertation defended at the University of Lausanne
the same year he insisted on the sacred role of the fireplace as a
symbol of the Armenian family's identity, while in an Armenian work he
denounced the wastefulness of this practice. At the beginning of the
twentieth century, the relationships between Swiss and Armenian were
intensive and many Armenians were exiled in Geneva. This talk will
approach the idealization of Switzerland as a social and economic
model and asks the general problem of new social and economic
imperatives requiring a break with ancient and traditional identity.
Dr. Payaslian's talk, "The Origins of the Armenian Community in New
England and the Construction of Armenian-American "Cultural
Congruence," will cover the origins and development of the Armenian
community in the United States, with a focus on the New England
region, from the 1880s to the 1920s. The early Armenian immigrants to
the New World sought preservation of their Armenian national identity
while seeking integration into American society. While many Armenians
emphasized the preservation of Armenianness and struggled against
foreignization, others stressed the imperatives of cultural
integration and rapid economic growth. Payaslian will cover the case
of the Armenia journal, published in Boston from 1904 to 1913, which
promoted the idea of "cultural congruence" between Armenian and
American values.
Dr. Valentina Calzolari Bouvier is Professor of Armenian Studies and
Chair of the Department of Mediterranean, Slavic and Oriental
Languages and Literatures at the University of Geneva, currently in
sabbatical as a visiting scholar at Harvard University. She is the
current President of the International Association of Armenian
Studies. Dr. Simon Payaslian is the Charles K. and Elizabeth
M. Kenosian Chair in Modern Armenian History and Literature at Boston
University. His most recent book is The Political Economy of Human
Rights in Armenia:
Authoritarianism and Democracy in a Former Soviet Republic (2011).
More information about the lecture contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or
[email protected] or swissnex Boston at 617-876-3076 or [email protected]
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress