Full Description
From genocide, forced displacement, and emigration, to the gradual establishment of sedentary and rooted global communities, how has the Armenian diaspora formed and maintained a sense of collective identity? This book explores the richness and magnitude of the Armenian experience through the 20th century to examine how Armenian diaspora elites and their institutions emerged in the post-genocide period and used "stateless power" to compose forms of social discipline. Historians, cultural theorists, literary critics, sociologists, political scientists, and anthropologists explore how national and transnational institutions were built in far-flung sites from Istanbul, Aleppo, Beirut and Jerusalem to Paris, Los Angeles, and the American mid-west. Exploring literary and cultural production as well as the role of religious institutions, the book probes the history and experience of the Armenian diaspora through the long 20th century, from the role of the fin-de-siècle émigré Armenian press to the experience of Syrian-Armenian asylum seekers in the 21st century. It shows that a diaspora's statelessness can not only be evidence of its power, but also how this "stateless power" acts as an alternative and complement to the nation-state.
Contents
In Lieu of an Introduction
Talar Chahinian, Sossie Kasbarian, Tsolin Nalbantian
I. "The Logic of the Sedentary": Complicating Notions of Home and Homelands
Chapter 1
In search of the sedentary: Rethinking homelands in Armenian diaspora, Boris Adjemian
Chapter 2
Armenian Displaced Persons: From Displacement to a Diaspora Community, Gegham Mughnetsyan
Chapter 3
Diaspora-Homeland relations Re-examined: The case of Syrian Armenian in the Netherlands, Nare Galstyan
II. "Diasporic Social Formation": Leadership Elites, Institutions, and Transnational Governmentality
Chapter 4
Forging Diasporic Identity in the Fin de Siècle Armenian Periodical Press in Europe, Hasmik Khalapyan
Chapter 5
Transnational Politics and Governmental Strategies in the Formative Years of the Post-Genocide Armenian Diaspora (1920s-1930s), Vahe Sahakyan
Chapter 6
Defiant Adherence: Cultural Critiques in Late Twentieth Century Armenian Diaspora Literature, Lilit Keshishyan
Chapter 7
Liturgical Subject of the Armenian Apostolic Church: Recent Waves of Migration, Christopher Sheklian
III. "The Social Text of Diaspora": Diasporic Becoming and Legibility in Diaspora's Semantic Domain
Chapter 8
Sounding Armenian: The Contours of the Diasporic Musical Imaginary, Sylvia Alajaji
Chapter 9
"Toward the Diaspora": The Performative Powers of Vahé Oshagan's Poetry, Karen Jallatyan
Chapter 10
The Armenians in Turkey: From autochthonous people to diaspora, Talin Suciyan
Chapter 11
Are Istanbul Armenians Diasporic? Unpacking the Famous Debate, Hrag Papazian
Afterword, Khachig Tölölyan
Epilogue, Sebouh Aslanian
