EVENT CANCELED: The Security, Political, and Economic Pillars of the US-Georgian Partnership: Conversation with Ambassador David Bakradze and Dr. Mamuka Tsereteli
Mon, December 3, 2018
Washington, DC
Since Georgia regained its independence in 1991, the U.S.–Georgian relationship has focused on a wide range of issues including democratization, economic reforms, security cooperation, as well as trade and investment opportunities. Today, Georgia continues to pursue a path of closer relations with the United States and its Euroatlantic aspiration remains at the forefront of the country’s foreign policy.
On December 3, the Georgian Association and Johns Hopkins SAIS Eurasia Club invite you to a discussion on the challenges facing Georgia’s security and economy and the steps the government is taking to deepen the bilateral relationship with the United States and to bring the country into the transatlantic community.
Discussants
H.E. David Bakradze, Ambassador of Georgia to the United States
Mamuka Tsereteli, President, America-Georgia Business Council
Moderator
Darejani Markozashvili, Board of Directors, Georgian Association in the USA
Light reception to follow. RSVP here.
Ambassador David Bakradze has a long and distinguished career in diplomatic service. Since 2002, he has served in a number of senior official posts in Georgian public service. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador to the U.S., Ambassador Bakradze served as the State Minister of Georgia for European and Euro-Atlantic Integration. In that role, he was responsible for the implementation of the Government of Georgia’s activities related to European and Euro-Atlantic integration. In particular, he was in charge of coordinating the Government’s work on implementing key instruments of integration, such as the EU-Georgia Association Agreement (AA), the Eastern Partnership with the EU, the Annual National Program (ANP) and the NATO-Georgia Commission (NGC). He also coordinated Strategic Communication and European Assistance Programs for the Government of Georgia. Ambassador Bakradze graduated from Tbilisi State University with a degree in International Economic Relations and
International Law.
Dr. Mamuka Tsereteli is a Senior Fellow with the Central Asia-Caucasus Institute at American Foreign Policy Council and the President of America-Georgia Business Council. His expertise includes international economic policy, economic and energy security, political and economic risk analysis and mitigation strategies, and business development in Black Sea-Caspian region.
Darejani Markozashvili is a member of the Board of Directors of Georgian Association in the United States of America. She works at the World Bank headquarters in Washington DC, in the Agriculture and Food Global Practice. Darejani received her M.A. degree in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University.
How to Read Armenian (Art)
Monday, December 3, 2018, 4:30pm to 6:00pm
CMES, Rm 102, 38 Kirkland St, Cambridge, MA 02138
Christina Maranci
Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Chair of Armenian art and architectural history, Tufts University
Christina Maranci is the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Chair of Armenian art and architectural history at Tufts University and is also Chair of the Department. She has held visiting positions in Armenian art at the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She is the author of three books and over sixty articles and essays on medieval Armenian art and architecture; including most recently The Art of Armenia: An Introduction with Oxford University Press. Her most recently published monograph on the seventh-century architecture of Armenia won the Sona Aronian Prize for best Armenian studies monograph from the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and also the Karen Gould Prize for Art History from the Medieval Academy of America. Maranci has engaged with the cultural heritage of Armenians for over a decade, working on historically Armenian churches and monasteries in what is now Eastern Turkey. Her campaign for the Cathedral of Mren, near Ani in present-day Eastern Turkey, resulted in its inclusion on the World Monuments Watch List for 2015-17.
Sponsor: The 2018-19 CMES Armenian Studies Lectures Series is part of the Armenian Studies Program supported by the Hrant Dink Memorial CMES Fund.
Event: https://cmes.fas.harvard.edu/event/how-read-armenian-art
The Social Costs of Reforms after the Rose Revolution in Georgia
Date: November 22, 2018, 5:00pm
Venue: Syndicate Room, Oxford University
Convener: Dr Konstantine Eristavi
Speakers: Dr Aleksi Gugushvili, Dr Lela Rekhviashvili, Dr Gavin Slade
Dr Lela Rekhviashvili will be presenting on ‘Urban mobility governance and political-economic transition in Georgia’
Lela Rekhviashvili is a post-doctoral researcher at Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Leipzig. Her research interests include political economy of transition, informal economic practices, social movements, everyday resistance, and urban mobility. Her academic publications discuss post-soviet shared taxies in a comparative perspective with ride-sharing and informal transport, impact of institutional change, particularly of marketization policies on informal economic practices, and the role of everyday resistance in production of public space.
Dr Gavin Slade will be discussing ‘The Politics of Prisons: Punishment, Insecurity and Governance in Georgia’
Gavin Slade is an associate professor in sociology at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan. He researches criminal justice issues in the former Soviet Union with a specific interest in policing, prisons and organized crime. His book Reorganizing Crime: Mafia and Anti-Mafia in Post-Soviet Georgia was published by Oxford University Press in 2013.
Dr Alexi Gugushvili’s title is ‘Exit and Voice: Understanding emigration intentions in Georgia’
Alexi Gugushvili is a Departmental Lecturer (as of November 2018) in Comparative and Quantitative Methods at the Department of Social Policy and Intervention and an Affiliated Fellow in Nuffield College, University of Oxford. His recent research interests include social stratification and mobility, health inequalities, public opinion, and the causes and consequences of international migration.
For additional information, please visit: https://www.rees.ox.ac.uk/event/the-social-costs-of-reforms-after-the-rose-revolution-in-georgia?fbclid=IwAR1RQ_8a89GX-v1J1Aac1OgbXnyHgYq1Q5wowaWc-zg6WSOjhH2_JVAwfbY
The First Independent Republics in the Caucasus, 1918-21: A Centennial Workshop
Date: Saturday 10 November, 2018 4:00pm
Venue: Ertegun House, 37A St Giles’, Oxford OX2 3LD
Conveners: Prof. Edmund Herzig and Prof. Robert Service
Speakers: Jo Laycock, Harun Yilmaz, Beka Kobakhidze, Sarah Slye
Four expert speakers will each discuss the tumultuous history of one of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and the North Caucasus between Russia’s February Revolution of 1917 and the Bolshevik takeover in 1921. Their presentations and Q&A will be followed by an open discussion to bring out points of comparison and explore the longer-term significance of this brief but momentous episode in Caucasian history.
Among the themes for discussion will be:
Caucasian nationalities and identities in the Tsarist Empire, the 1917 Revolution and the road to independence
Making nation states: building states and feeble democracies
Regional and intra-Caucasian entanglements
The Caucasus Republics, the Russian and Ottoman Empires, and Iran
The Caucasus Republics and the West
Remembrance of the First Republics: what are the narratives of the first republics in national historiography? What do contemporary politicians have to say about the first republics? How was the centennial marked in today’s republics?
For additional information, please visit: https://www.rees.ox.ac.uk/event/the-first-independent-republics-in-the-caucasus-1918-21-a-centennial-0
First Annual Armenian International Congress on Oriental Studies
The Department of Oriental Studies at the Yerevan State University (Armenia) invites you to the First Annual Armenian International Congress on Oriental Studies to be held on November 9-10, 2018 in Yerevan (Armenia) and dedicated to the 50th anniversary of the foundation of the Department.
The Department of Oriental Studies was founded in 1968, based on the strong traditions and achievements in the field of Middle Eastern studies in Armenia. It is one of the most influential educational organizations in Armenia and the region, which is entering into a new phase of its’ development.
The Armenian International Congress on Oriental Studies is an annual conference, which aims to provide a unique platform to discuss the most critical problems of contemporary studies in the broad field of Middle Eastern studies.
We invite proposals for papers and pre-arranged panels from graduate students, faculty, and independent scholars working on the Middle East from the ancient times to the present day, including but not limited to history, religious studies, geography, anthropology, political science, literary studies, linguistics, philosophy, art history, and media studies.
Theme. We also encourage submissions related to the theme of this year’s conference, the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War and the formation of the New Middle East. Questions of interest include, but are not limited to:
• The emergence of nation-states: consequences of the World War 1st or an independent development?
• Invisible consequences of war: demographic change, the formation of identity, cultural transformations, new border identity
• The role of ideologies in the Middle East after the war
• Culture & war: cultural transformations and their consequences
• The role of the scholars in the prevention of the conflicts and conflict resolutions: 100 years ago, and today
Application. Please send submissions electronically to orientconference@ysu.am, no later than Monday, September 10, 2018. Please include each presenter’s name, institution, and position, as well as a separate file including a 250-word abstract with a tentative title. For pre-arranged panels, please send a single email with an overall panel description plus individual paper abstracts. The best abstracts will summarize the paper’s topic, its relationship, and contribution to the existing scholarship and preliminary conclusions. Abstracts will be evaluated anonymously by the organizing committee; therefore, please do not include names or any identifying information in the abstract. Please feel free to email us for any inquiry at the above address. Accepted abstracts will be announced by September 25, 2018.
Best papers will be published in the special issue of the “The Problems of Oriental Studies”.
A limited number of funding is available for accommodation in Yerevan (based on needs).
For questions and accessibility concerns, please write to orientconference@ysu.am. Further information can also be found on our website, ysu.am
Armenia’s Velvet Revolution After 6 Months: Beyond the Headlines
Sunday, October 28, 2018 at 2:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Elliott School of International Affairs
George Washington University
City View Room, 7th Floor
1957 E St NW, Washington, D.C.
Moderated by Rachel Onanian Nadjarian, Strategic Communications and Management Consultant
PANELISTS
Dr. Ruzanna Grigoryan: Armenian Room Fellowship Program, Department of Philosophy, University of Pittsburgh,
Armen Kharazian: Attorney specializing in anti-corruption & government investigations, Law Offices of Armen Kharazian, PLLC),
Emil Sanamyan: Fellow at the USC Institute of Armenian Studies
Armenia’s Velvet Revolution, though the result of years of pent-up anger and frustration, unfolded in spring 2018 with dizzying speed. One moment it appeared that Serzh Sargsyan and the Republican Party would continue their grip on power and all that goes with power in an Armenia dominated by oligarchs; then, practically before anyone knew what had happened, the Armenian people asserted their will, and, incredibly, without violence, power passed from Sargsyan to the people’s choice, Nikol Pashinyan. At a time when many democracies are drifting towards authoritarianism, Armenia stood as a bright exception.
Almost six months later, inevitably, the realities of governing, of addressing the problems of the past and of the future, and building the new Armenia, have created challenges. In this panel discussion, we will attempt to move beyond the headlines to discuss some key fundamental issues including systemic and structural changes that must take place to strengthen Armenia’s democracy; changes to Armenia’s electoral code; the complexities of Armenia’s foreign relations; efforts to combat institutionalized corruption; addressing gender inequality; and more.
Free and open to the public. Free parking on street. Reception and refreshments immediately following the program and question-and-answer session.
SPONSORS
GW Armenian Students Association
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research – NAASR / Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian Lecture series on Contemporary Armenian Issues
Supported by THE ARLENE SARYAN ALEXANDER AND JUDITH SARYAN WASHINGTON, D.C. FORUM
Armenia’s Velvet Revolution after Six Months: Beyond Headlines
Thursday, October 25, 2018 at 7:10 PM – 8:30 PM
Columbia University
Mathematics 207
2990 Broadway
New York, NY 10027
Panel discussion featuring: Dr. Anna Ohanyan, Journalist Emil Sanamyan, filmmaker Eric Nazarian, and Dr. Khatchig Mouradian. Moderated by The New Yorker’s Raffi Khatchadourian.
Hosted by Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Research Institute on Turkey, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), Columbia University Armenian Center, Armenian Society of Columbia University.
Armenians in Turkey: Issues of Identification and Boundary Making
Wednesday, October 10, 2018 at 12 – 1PM PDT
University of Southern California
SOS B40
A lunchtime lecture by Hrag Papazian, PhD Candidate
Department of Anthropology, University of Oxford
Performance: William Saroyan: The Unpublished Plays in Performance
Saturday, October 6, 2018 at 7 PM – 9 PM PDT
Little Theater, Humanities Hall
University of California, Irvine
A world premiere Vista Players production created and directed by Aram Kouyoumdjian – Elly Award Winner – and performed by the original L.A. cast Jade Hykush │ Will Maizel │ Bailey Sorrel │ Robert Walters
Free admission. Limited seating.
Hosted by UCI Armenian Studies Program
Armenian Studies Chairs and Directors Reception
September 29, 2018, 6.00-8.00pm PDT
Humanities Gateway 1030, Irvine, CA 92697, USA
Please join a public reception welcoming Armenian Studies Chairs and Directors from across the United States. These leaders are on campus at UCI as part of a workshop, which is closed to the public, but the public is welcome to an evening reception, featuring wine and appetizers. This event is co-organized by the Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History and the Society for Armenian Studies.
RSVP: http://bit.ly/ArmenianDirectorsReception
Hosted by UCI Armenian Studies Program and School of Humanities at UC Irvine
Lecture: Anthropology Colloquium: Just a Flesh Wound: Practices of Violence and Lived Experience in the Bronze Age South Caucasus
Date: 20 September 2018
Time: 4:00 pm
Location: Davenport Hall 109A, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Dr. Maureen E. Marshall, Associate Director, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center
Workshop: The Caucasus and Central Asia in Conversation: The Importance of Stories and Archives from the Soviet and Post-Soviet Periphery
The Second Annual Ralph T. Fisher Workshop at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
June 15-16, 2018
Co-Conveners: Eva Rogaar (UIUC) and Ben Bamberger (UIUC)
fisherworkshop “at” gmail. com
The Caucasus and Central Asia have often been understood through the lens of the Russian center, in terms of the categories that emerged from Moscow and St. Petersburg, and through the centralized archives and libraries that many scholars have used to study these regions. This workshop explores what can be gained—conceptually and methodologically—by centering the archives and stories from these regions. How can we transcend a history of the Caucasus and Central Asia that has defined these regions primarily in terms of their relationship with the Russian center? How do we create such histories without overemphasizing the centrality of the nation as a category of analysis? How can we write transnational and local histories that go beyond both the nation and the binary of center and periphery?
Key to these questions is the role of sources and methodology. What constitutes a peripheral archive and how does an insistence on such archives and stories upend or complicate our understandings of the Caucasus and Central Asia as regions? What peripheral stories can be found in central archives and spaces? What are the challenges involved in finding and using such stories?
For this second annual Fisher Workshop, we welcome contributions from scholars that address these larger questions within their own research to engage in discussion and work-shopping of pre-circulated papers over 2 days. Contributions are not limited thematically, but should relate to the Soviet or post-Soviet Caucasus and Central Asia. Please send a 300-500 word abstract on your paper topic and a short CV by March 1st, 2018 to fisherworkshop “at” gmail. com.
All applicants who are also interested in the University of Illinois’ Summer Research Lab (http://www.reeec.illinois.edu/srl/) are strongly encouraged to also apply to the SRL, as SRL participants are eligible to apply for travel, housing, and stipend funding, which can be used to attend the workshop and support research in the world famous Slavic, East European and Eurasian collections (https://www.library.illinois.edu/ias/spx/) at the University Library. We will also have limited funds available to defray the costs for other participants. Please note in your application if you would like to apply for travel and/or housing funding.
Conference: Centennial of the First Georgian Republic: Past, Present and Future of Georgia
Georgian Association in the USA
In collaboration with
Levan Mikeladze Foundation
And
Center for Strategic & International Studies
Invite You to a Special Anniversary Conference:
Centennial of the First Georgian Republic: Past, Present and Future of Georgia
May 9, 2018
9:30 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Center for Strategic & International Studies
1616 Rhode Island Ave NW, Washington, DC 20036
RSVP Information
Video of conference: https://www.csis.org/events/centennial-first-georgian-republic
Conference Program
09:30 –10:00 Registration
10:00 – 10:30 Welcoming Remarks:
Elisabeth Kvitashvili, President, Georgian Association in the USA
Redjeb Jordania, Son of the First President of the Georgian Republic Noe Jordania
Tina Mikeladze, President, Levan Mikeladze Foundation
Ambassador David Bakradze, Ambassador of Georgia to the United States
10:30 – 10:40 Address by Bridget Brink, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State (invited)
10:40 – 12:00 Panel 1 – First Republic: Connecting History to Modernity
Speakers: Stephen Jones, Professor, Mount Holyoke College
Beka Kobakhidze, Visiting Fellow at the Center for Russian and East European Studies, University of Oxford/Associated Professor at GIPA
Grigol Gegelia, Doctoral Candidate, European University Institute (EUI), Florence, Italy
Discussant: Laura Jewett, Regional Director for Eurasia Programs, NDI
Moderator: Jeffrey Mankoff, Deputy Director, Russia & Eurasia Program, CSIS
12:05 – 13:00 Lunch
Remarks and Introduction by Ambassador Tedo Japaridze, Foreign Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister of Georgia
Keynote Speaker: Hon. Richard Armitage, Former Deputy Secretary of State/Co-Chairman, Supervisory Board, Levan Mikeladze Foundation
13:00 – 14:30 Panel 2 – Georgia’s Evolution, 1991-2018: Internal and External Dynamics
Speakers: Ambassador Archil Gegeshidze, Executive Director, Levan Mikeladze Foundation
Svante Cornell, Director, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
Luke Coffey, Director, Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy, Heritage Foundation
Nino Japaridze, Vice President, Edison Research
Miriam Lanskoy, Senior Director for Russia and Eurasia, NED
Moderator: Olga Oliker, Director, Russia & Eurasia Program, CSIS
14:30 – 14:45 Coffee Break
14:45 – 16:15 Panel 3 – Economic Security of Georgia: Domestic, Regional, Global Perspective
Speakers: Mercedes Vera-Martin, Mission Chief for Georgia, IMF
Anthony Kim, Editor, Economic Freedom Index, Heritage Foundation
Jonathan Elkind, Former Assistant Secretary of Energy
S Frederick Starr, Chairman, Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
Kenneth Angell, Overseas Private Investment Corporation
Anita Baracsi, JSC Bank of Georgia
Moderator: Mamuka Tsereteli, AGBC/CACI/Georgian Association
16:15 – 16:30 Coffee Break
16:30 – 18:00 Panel 4 – Western Strategies Towards Georgia: 1991-2018
Speakers: Ambassador Kent Brown, Former US Ambassador to Georgia
Ambassador William Courtney, Former US Ambassador to Georgia
Ambassador Kenneth Yalowitz, Former US Ambassador to Georgia
Ambassador Richard Miles, Former US Ambassador to Georgia
Ambassador John Tefft, Former US Ambassador to Georgia
Ambassador Alexandra Hall Hall, Former UK Ambassador to Georgia
Moderator: Hon. S. Enders Wimbush, Senior Partner, Stratevarious Inc.
6:00 Closing Remarks and Adjournment
6:05 – 8:00 Reception
Supporting Organizations
America-Georgia Business Council
American Friends of Georgia
Central Asia-Caucasus Institute
American Research Institute of the South Caucasus
Wines Provided by
Georgian Wine House
Ninth Annual International Graduate Student Workshop:
April 2018: Armenian Childhood(s): Histories and Theories of Childhood and Youth in Armenian Studies
April 20-21, 2018
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
455 Weiser Hall
500 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1042
In recent years, the study of childhood and youth has gained increasing attention that has resulted in innovative interdisciplinary scholarship. The field of Childhood Studies of the last decade has concentrated on modern childhood(s) and youth, and has questioned the meanings that adults and governmental bodies attribute to children. For example universal characteristics, such as “innocence,” “incompetence,” and “vulnerability,” defining children and youth have been examined and challenged by scholars from a variety of fields, who insist that “childhood”, like ethnicity, gender, and class, is a constructed social category. Pushing methodological boundaries to explore political, historical, cultural, economic, and social formations, structures and contexts across time and place, scholars have begun to consider children and youth as agents in their political and social environment rather than passive members of society.
This workshop will initiate an inter-disciplinary conversation about Armenian childhood, children, and youth. The goal is to consider new perspectives, methodologies, and cross-disciplinary frameworks that will put Armenian Studies in conversation with Childhood Studies. We aim to bring together theoretical and methodological approaches along with empirical studies across disciplines that use childhood as a category of analysis and/or concentrate on children’s agencies and experiences in Armenian history, politics, society, economy, and culture. We see both childhood and youth as fluid categories and concepts that are subject to flexible interpretations and definitions.
https://www.ii.umich.edu/asp/news-events/all-events/workshops/call-for-papers—april-2018–armenian-childhood-s—histories-a.html
REEES Policy Research Roundtable
Online
Friday, April 27th, 2018 10:00-11:00am
The Slavic Reference Service at the University of Illinois will be hosting an upcoming REEES Policy Research Roundtable. Policy researchers are a unique user community within the larger network of scholars in Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies. Their scholarly contributions, directly or indirectly, shape regional and national government policies. Understanding this community of scholars is the goal of this roundtable series.
Each segment will feature a group of policy researchers and their current projects. This series is also aimed at graduate students who are interested in conducting policy research.
Panelists for the roundtable include:
• Laura Adams – Institute of International Education
• Cynthia Buckley – University of Illinois
• Paul Stronski – Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
This event is open to all interested government employees, faculty, graduate students, and independent scholars. The workshop will be hosted online via Blackboard Ultra. See below for registration information and more details about our panelists. Register here.
https://tinyurl.com/y88pkutb
ASP Lecture: “Modern Armenian Historiography: Suggestions for Periodization”
Ara Sanjian, Associate Professor of History, Director of Armenian Research Center
Wednesday, February 14, 2018
4:00-5:30 PM
Room 555 Weiser Hall, University of Michigan, USA
Dr. Sanjian will analyze the development of Armenian historiography, i.e. the study of the methods of Armenian historians from the Middle Ages to the present, together with the changing interpretations of key events in the Armenian past recorded in the works of their predecessors. He will suggest a tentative periodization, emphasizing the medieval period (5th-18th cc. C.E.) and the successive periods of the influence of Father Mikayel Chamchian in the late early modern era (late 18th-mid-19th cc.), historism (late 19th c.-1920), and Soviet Marxism (1920-1991), culminating in the present era of post-Soviet independence (from 1991).
Dr. Ara Sanjian is an Associate Professor of History and the Director of the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan, Dearborn. He received his master’s degree in history from Yerevan State University (1991) and his PhD from the University of London (1996). From 1996 to 2005 he taught at Haigazian University in Beirut and was the Henry S. Khanzadian Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno in 2003. His research interests focus on the post-World War I history of Armenia, Turkey and the Arab states of Western Asia.
16th Annual Student Colloquia in Armenian Studies
Feb 1, 2018, 3:30–7:00pm, Undergrad
Feb 2, 2018, 9:30am–6:00pm, Graduate
University of California, Los Angeles
Royce Hall 314
The Annual Colloquia in Armenian Studies are a forum for graduate and undergraduate students from various disciplines whose research bears on Armenian Studies to present scholarly papers in the humanities and social sciences, within disciplines as wide-ranging as Anthropology, Archaeology, Art history, Comparative Literature, Gender Studies, History, and Political Science.
For more information, visit: http://nelc.ucla.edu/agsc
Words in Action: Language and Education in the Armenian Diaspora
A Conversation About the Urgency of Language Education
Thursday, January 11, 2018
7.30-9.30pm
Downtown Central Library
222 E. Harvard St., Glendale, CA 91205
A conversation with
Razmik Panossian (Gulbenkian) and Salpi Ghazarian (USC);
Ani Garmiryan (Gulbenkian), Hagop Gulludjian (UCLA), Shushan Karapetian (UCLA)
A collaboration among
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation
Armenian Communities Department, the UCLA Narekatsi Chair
The National Heritage Language Resource Center, UCLA
The USC Institute of Armenian Studies
Co-sponsored by the
Downtown Glendale Central Library, Arts & Culture
Hot and cold drinks will be served.
“Confessionalization and Reform: The Mkhit‘arist Enterprise from Constantinople to Venice, Trieste, and Vienna”
A Conference in memory of Father Sahak Djemjemian and on the Occasion of the 300th Anniversary of the Establishment of the Congregation in Venice
16 and 17 December 2017
UCLA Faculty Center, California Room
Over the last few decades, historians have come to refer to the period from the Protestant Reformation in Europe to the late seventeenth century as the era of “confessionalization.” Confessionalization has come to be understood as a global process marking the birth of early modern religious revival and reform movements that affected societies, states, and cultures across Eurasia, including in the Ottoman and Safavid empires. This conference seeks to place the birth of the Mkhit‘arist congregation of erudite Catholic-Armenian missionaries and monks within the larger wave of confessionalization that was sweeping the shores of the Eastern Mediterranean in the late seventeenth century. Bringing together an international cast of scholars, the conference commemorates the 300th anniversary of the establishment of Abbot Mkhit‘ar’s reformist order on the island of San Lazzaro in the Venetian lagoon. Scholars will explore and analyze the pivotal role played by this Order in the remaking of early modern Armenian confessional and national identity through their interventions in print culture, Armenology, Armenian lexicography, grammar, and literary translation.
Organized by the Richard Hovannisian Chair of Modern Armenian History at UCLA. With the co-sponsorship of the Narekats‘i Chair of Armenian Studies (UCLA), the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the USC Armenian Studies Institute, and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES).
Full schedule is available at https://tinyurl.com/yd5dormv
Seminar: “Peacebuilding and Civic Literacy in Central Asia and South Caucasus”
The 10th CAP Fellows Seminar
Thursday, December 14, 2017
4:00 – 8:00 pm
Room 505
1957 E st NW
Washington, DC 20052
4:00 – 5:30 PM, Session 1: New Perspectives on Grassroots Peacebuilding
Diana Mamatova (former Project Coordinator, the United Nations in Kyrgyzstan)
Grassroots Peacebuilding: Cross-Border Cooperation in the Ferghana Valley
Jafar Usmanov (former Lead Researcher at ACT Development Group, Tajikistan)
Youth as Agents of Peace at the Tajik-Kyrgyz Border
Jeyhun Valiev (Independent Researcher, Azerbaijan)
Assessing the Impact of NGO Peacebuilding Programs in the South Caucasus: the Case of Nagorno-Karabakh
Break: 5:30 – 5:45 PM
5:45 – 6:45 PM, Session 2: Empowerment through Civic Literacy in Kazakhstan
Karlygash Kabatova (Astana Paper-Lab Research Group, Kazakhstan)
Overcoming a Taboo: Normalizing Sexuality Education in Kazakhstan
Anna Gussarova (The Central Asia Institute for Strategic Studies)
Countering Extremism versus Freedom of Online Expression: the Case of Kazakhstan
Reception: 6:45 – 8:00 PM
To register click here
The Central Asia Program (CAP) promotes academic and policy research on contemporary Central Asia, and serves as an interface for the policy, academic, diplomatic, and business communities.
“Impossible Harms”: A Conversation with Prof. Henry Theriault, President, International Association of Genocide Scholars
Thursday, November 30, 2017, at 7:00 p.m.
301 Pupin Hall, 538 West 120th Street (at Broadway)
Columbia University in the City of New York
Join a conversation with Henry Theriault, recently elected as President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS), on human rights violations around the world, racism, xenophobia, the state of genocide studies today, genocide prevention, reparations, denial, and more.
Dr. Henry Theriault is the President of the International Association of Genocide Scholars and Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, Worcester State University.
The program is co-sponsored by the Armenian Center, the Institute for the Study of Human Rights, NAASR/Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the Research Institute on Turkey. Contact Prof. Khatchig Mouradian at km3253 “at” columbia. edu for more information.
49th Annual ASEEES Convention
9-12 November 2017
Chicago Marriott Downtown Magnificent Mile, USA
Convention Theme: Transgressions
The 100th anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution inspires the 2017 theme, and invites us to rethink the ways in which cultural, economic, political, social, and international orders are undermined, overthrown, and recast. The storming of the Winter Palace, in both popular history and cultural representation, exemplifies how revolutionaries violated physical and political boundaries and imposed a new organization of power. Yet the revolution also invited new cultural iconoclasm and smashed existing social relations right down to individual families. It justified the overthrow of the economic order and the elimination (physically and/or politically) of collective actors and individuals.
The anniversary of this fundamental transgression, the deliberate violation of the status quo, invites us to consider how social, linguistic, artistic and other orders in various domains are deliberately and explicitly defied—and how they are constructed in the first place. How are social norms challenged and re-constructed? For example, we see anti-clericalism and pro-LBGTQ movements in conservative and religious countries in the region, such as Poland or Lithuania. How do these actors negotiate strong advocacy in the face of hostile popular sensibilities? The migrant crisis illustrates how strong norms can clash. Representatives of Western European countries have condemned what they see as parochial and xenophobic attitudes in Eastern Europe, but the acceptance of Muslim immigrants can also constitute a violation of local norms of religious and ethnic homogeneity. Here, too, we might ask, who defines linguistic transgressions? How do the “acceptable” linguistic registers in which ethnic and religious categories are discussed emerge? How have artistic and cultural iconoclasts such as Zbigniew Libera or Petr Pavlesky transgressed, who defines these “transgressions,” and what are the cultural and political implications?
Transgressions are not limited to artists or social movements. National, elected, “mainstream,” officials also flout and defy public institutional norms. In international politics, Vladimir Putin has repeatedly violated international borders, held sacrosanct by international organizations. Within the realm of domestic politics, we have the specter of EU members led by anti-EU leaders, who openly abuse and disregard the norms of rule of law and media independence. Such actors publicly (and successfully) defy the pro-democracy consensus that appeared to structure politics for the first two decades after 1989 in the “democratic frontrunners” such as Hungary or Poland.
The theme also invites us to consider transgressions more broadly and comparatively. What are the actors and forces that generate existing boundaries and expectations, and how are these questioned and recast? How do the models of political, cultural, and social change, which tend to emphasize gradualism, allow us to explore deliberate and radical change? How do we compare transgressions: for example, how useful is it to compare 1917 with 1989/ 1991? Is transgression “contagious”—does it diffuse across domains? Finally, how are transgressions absorbed and digested, and how do they become the mainstream, the “new normal?”
For schedule and more information, see http://aseees.org/convention
Panel: “The Possible Worlds of Digital Humanities”
November 4th, 2017 at 1:45 PM.
University of Central Florida campus in Classroom Building 1
A Digital Storytelling session at the HASTAC Digital Humanities conference will feature “Digital Storytelling as Public History/Archaeology: a View from the Vayots Dzor Fortress Landscapes Project, Armenia” by ARISC member Tiffany Earley-Spadoni and the Vayots Dzor team. https://history.cah.ucf.edu/2017/10/24/hastacds/
The Fifth Eurasian Archaeology Conference: “Gods on the Grasslands, Myths in the Mountains”
October 26-28, 2017
Cornell University, USA
This conference seeks to examine how religion operates as a materially inscribed social force that played a prominent role in shaping Eurasia’s past. Registration for the 2017 Eurasian Archaeology Conference is now open. The online registration form is available at http://eac.arts.cornell.edu/?page_id=421 and preliminary program at http://eac.arts.cornell.edu/?page_id=176. We kindly request that all presenters and attendees confirm their participation by registering before Sunday September 10th. Registration is required in order to be included in the final program. If you are having visa difficulties or are now unable to attend please contact the organizers via email as soon as possible.
Innovate Armenia
September 23, 2017, 10am-6pm
USC Campus
A full day of thought-provoking, fast-paced talks. An open-air stage where the music never stops. A dozen intriguing innovators sharing insights that run the gamut from coding to robotics and maker spaces. Interactive experiences in chess-strategy and wine-making. A unique installation of vintage Anatolian postcards interlaced with mind-bending contemporary imagery. For more information click here.
Exhibit: “Undeliverable: Postcards and Photos of Lives Interrupted”
August 28 through December 18, 2017
USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library
Peer into lost worlds represented by vintage Armenian postcards in 3D dioramas, juxtaposed with full-scale murals of contemporary images
THE USC INSTITUTE OF ARMENIAN STUDIES presents a one-of-a-kind installation of extremely rare postcards from Anatolia, displayed alongside scenes from many of the same locations captured a century later.
“Undeliverable: Postcards and Photos of Lives Interrupted,” which runs August 28 through December 18 in USC’s Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, revolves around 160 original printed sepia tones, some of which have never been exhibited before, hand-picked from the world’s largest collection of Ottoman postcards. Illustrating the everyday lives of Armenians in cities, towns and villages, these pictorial souvenirs would be banal had their subjects not been exterminated by near-total genocide. For more information, visit https://armenian.usc.edu/
Conference: “The End of Transition: Shifting Focus a Quarter Century After the Soviet Collapse” Part II
May 23 and 24, 2017
Cafesjian Center for the Arts, Yerevan, Armenia
Watch live
Join the USC Provost, USC Vice President, Ambassador Jack Matlock, Professor Ronald Suny and the USC Institute of Armenian Studies in Yerevan, Armenia for the second part of the international conference entitled “The End of Transition: Shifting Focus a Quarter Century After the Soviet Collapse.”
Registration for the Yerevan leg of the conference, to be held on May 23 and 24 at the Cafesjian Center for the Arts, is available at usc.edu/esvp (code: EOT). The conference working language is English. The full two days will be live streamed online in English and in Armenian at armenian.usc.edu.
The first part was held at USC on April 9 and 10, and featured scholars and specialists from across the globe as they discussed Armenia’s trajectory since it established independence in 1991. Read the full report. Watch the videos.
Conference: “Armenia-Turkey: Paving the Way for Dialogue and Reconciliation”
May 18-19, 9am-6pm (UTC+4)
Yerevan State University
(Academic Council Meeting room, Central Building, 5th floor)
Watch Live
Dr. UGUR ÜMIT ÜNGÖR of University of Utrecht and Dr. VICKEN CHETERIAN of University of Geneva, as well as nearly 40 participants from Armenia, Turkey, Europe, and US will participate in the conference organized by CRRC Armenia.
The conference, which aims to facilitate academic and policy dialogue, will cover a wide range of topics including economics, tourism, international relations, and social interrelations. Full agenda available here.
Spaces of Remembering the Armenian Genocide
April 28, 2017
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Organized by the Holocaust, Genocide, Memory Studies Initiative and the Future of Trauma and Memory Studies reading group.
This event aims to foster interdisciplinary and transnational discussions on remembering the Armenian Genocide across time, space, and place. It will address how memories of this genocide travel across media and form (film, literature, art, and photography) and how they are referenced across intersectional lines to also bring to the fore other histories of collective violence.
Conference program and information about the speakers are on the HGMS blog:
http://hgmsblog.weebly.com/
Co-Sponsored by: LAS Conference Support Program; School of Literatures, Cultures, Linguistics Small Colloquia; CAS; National Association for Armenian Studies and Research; Beckman Institute; Department of Comparative Literature; German Department; Department of English; Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center; Department of History; Graduate College; European Union Center.
Conference: “End of Transition: Shifting Focus a Quarter Century After the Soviet Collapse” Part I
April 9 – 10, 2017
University of Southern California
Twenty-five years after the Soviet collapse, citizens of Armenia, as well as observers and scholars are asking “Now what?” In an effort to better understand the past quarter century, and to look for ways forward, the USC Institute of Armenian Studies is presenting a two-city conference entitled, “End of Transition: Shifting Focus a Quarter Century After the Soviet Collapse.”
To be held at USC, on Sunday, April 9 and Monday, April 10, the conference brings together notable names in media, government, academia and the arts to explore regionalisms of Armenia, demographic changes, transitions in social and economic policy, the development of formal and informal political and social institutions, bottom-up social change and civil society formation. Speakers will look at the transition from the Soviet sphere to other foreign and regional alliances, and the evolution of Armenia’s bilateral relations with its immediate neighbors and other major powers. The conference will continue in Yerevan, Armenia on May 23-24.
Armenian Studies Program
Eighth Annual International Graduate Student Workshop: “Gender and Sexuality in Armenian Studies.”
Friday-Saturday, Apr 21-22, 2017 – 10AM-6PM
Organizers: Jeremy Johnson, PhD candidate in Interdepartmental Program in Anthropology and History, and Kathryn Babayan, Armenian Studies Program Director. Room 1644 School of Social Work Building,University of Michigan.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies Program
Film Screening: “After this Day” (Directed by Nigol Bezjian; 2015).
Friday, Mar 17, 2017 – 4:30-6PM
1644 International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave,University of Michigan.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies Program
Workshop: “Rescue or Internment? Orphans of the Armenian Genocide.”
Friday, Mar 17, 2017 – 2-4PM
Organizer: Melanie Tanielian, Assistant Professor of History, U-M. 1644 International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave, University of Michigan.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies Program
Dr. Berj H. Haidostian Annual Distinguished Lecture: “From Orphan to Citizen: The Debate over Education at the City of Orphans. Alexandropol/Leninakan, 1919-1929”
Thursday, Mar 16, 2017 – 7-9PM
Nora Nercessian, PhD, faculty and administration of Harvard University (1981–2005), and Advisor to the Board, The Children of Armenia Fund (COAF). East Conference Room, Rackham Graduate School, 915 E. Washington St.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies Program
Film Screening: “Havresc: Stand On Courage” (Directed by David Ritter; 2016).
Wednesday, Feb 22, 2017 – 6:30-8PM
1636 International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies Program
Workshop: “Photography at the Nexus of Armenian Studies and Visual Culture.”
Saturday, Feb 11, 2017 – 10AM-6PM
Organizers: Kathryn Babayan, Armenian Studies Program Director, Yaşar Tolga Cora and David Low, Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellows, UM. 1644 International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave.
More Information is available here.
Armenian Studies ProgramCelebrity Diplomacy: Redefining Armenia’s Role in the Diaspora
Sunday, January 29, 2017 – 1pm
Artists and political scientists discussing examples of functional and dysfunctional governance in Armenia and around the world with Justice for Armenia petitioners: Vahe Berberian, Atom Egoyan, Arsinee Khanjian, Eric Nazarian, and political scientists.
More information is available here.
Watch video of the program in English or in Armenian.
Journey to Ararat: Expedition of a Baltic Explorer in a Russo-Turkish Borderland
Pietro Shakarian (PhD student, History Department)
Friday, January 27, 2017 – 12:00pm to 1:00pm
Enarson Classroom Building 100, Ohio State University
In the past year, Russo-Turkish relations shifted from open antagonism to a tenuous détente. The main bones of contention were Syria and the Kurds, but Russia also called into question the 1921 Treaty of Moscow, which established Turkey’s borders with the former Soviet republics of the Caucasus (Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan). This presentation will explore a fascinating historical episode concerning one section of this often-disputed former Russo-Turkish frontier.
Baltic German explorer Friedrich Parrot, the father of Russian and Estonian mountaineering, traveled from the University of Dorpat (today Tartu, Estonia) to Russian Armenia and the Russo-Turkish border in 1829. His aim was to climb Mount Ararat, a symbol of Armenian national and spiritual identity, said to be the resting place of Noah’s Ark. Ararat was considered to be unconquerable by both the European scientific establishment and conservative Armenian clergy. However, Parrot defied such skepticism. Accompanied by Armenian writer Khachatur Abovian, two Russian soldiers, and two Armenian villagers, he eventually reached the summit of the mountain.
In addition to Armenia and Ararat, Parrot traveled through Ukraine, Kalmykia, Ingushetia, North Ossetia, and Georgia as well as the German colonies of Transcaucasia. Consequently, his memoir of the expedition, Journey to Ararat, serves as a vivid historical portrait of the multiethnic landscape of the Russian Empire in the early 19th century. The book was recently republished with a critical introduction by Pietro A. Shakarian, a PhD student in History at OSU. The new edition also includes restored illustrations from the Cleveland Public Library’s John G. White Special Collection, rare historical documents from Estonia and Armenia, and new maps. This talk will highlight both Parrot’s journey and the present-day politics over Ararat and the historical Russo-Turkish frontier.
Armenian Studies Program
Lecture: “Immigrants into ‘Ethnic’— Americans: Negotiating Race, Language, Religion and Belongings”
Wednesday, Jan 18, 2017 – 4-5:30PM
Vahe Sahakyan, Lecturer in the Department of Near Eastern Studies, U-M.
1636 International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave.
More Information is available here.
(Homogenising) Hybrid Intentionality and the Dialectics of Elite Attitudes to Islam: Towards a Re-Sacralisation of the Political Space in Azerbaijan
CAP fellow Murad Ismayilov
Monday, January 9, 2017, 4:30-6:00pm
Voesar Conference Room
1957 E St NW, Suite 412
Washington, DC 20052
Azerbaijan’s independence came after seven decades of militant atheism of the Soviet modernization project and emerged into staunch secularism of Western modernity, two factors that, on a par with the country’s precarious neighbourhood, promised a sustained indigenous effort towards a desacralization of the country’s political space and the associated exclusion of religion from politics, a modern blueprint that the Azerbaijani state and its society have stood united to diligently follow over the cause of the country’s independent existence. Yet the specific dynamics facing the country in the third decade of independence and the changing contours of its international engagements have gradually been working to loosen up the latter formula and lay the groundwork for a quintessentially Azerbaijani pathway of statehood to follow, one combining the nation’s historical embeddedness in an Islamic milieu with its century-old practical experience of modern policy making.
Murad Ismayilov is a doctoral researcher at Politics, Psychology, Sociology and International Studies (PPSIS) at the University of Cambridge. He holds an MSt in International Relations from the University of Cambridge and an M.A. in International Relations from Baku State University (Azerbaijan). He has been awarded fellowships and research and visiting scholar grants from Open Society Institute Europe Foundation, Aleksanteri Institute, Norwegian Institute of International Affairs (NUPI), Michigan State University’s Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (CERES), and NATO Studies Centre (Bucharest, Romania). His research interests include political and social theory, the politics of modernity, postcolonial theory, sociology and political economy of post-Soviet transformation, social movements, sociology and political economy of power, sociology of class, sociology of intellectuals, sociology and security of the Middle East, sociology and political economy of religion, as well as Islamic theology and Islamic political thought.
Please RSVP: go.gwu.edu/murad
The Central Asia Program (CAP) promotes academic and policy research on contemporary Central Asia, and serves as an interface for the policy, academic, diplomatic, and business communities. This talk is co-sponsored by the Central Asia Program, The Institute for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES), Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University
Armenian Studies Program
Lecture. “Men of the New Order: Armenian Provincial Notables in the Age of Ottoman Reforms,” Yaşar Tolga Cora, Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow
Date: Wednesday, Dec 14, 2016, 4-5:30PM
Venue: U-M. 1636 International Institute/SSWB, 1080 S. University.
More information is available here.
Lecture: “Georgien zwischen Eigenstaatlichkeit und russischer Okkupation”
November 29, 2016 at 6.00pm
Embassy of Georgia to the Federal Republic of Germany
Rauchstrasse 11, 10787 Berlin, Germany
Buchvorstellung von
Phillip Ammon
Moderation: Ekkehard Maaß
Wie kam es zu einer Entfremdung zwischen Russland und Georgien, zweier Länder desselben chalkedonensisch-orthodoxen Glaubensbekenntnisses, deren kulturelle Verbindungen bis ins Frühmittelalter zurückreichen? Georgische Einflüsse lassen sich bereits am glagolitischen Alphabet der Slawenapostel (9. Jh.) und der altrussischen Nestorchronik (12. Jh.) ablesen. Ebenso alt ist die russische Sehnsucht nach dem georgischen Paradiesgarten, dem Vyrïj-sad, dem Wohnsitz der Seelen der Verstorbenen, wohin die Vögel alljährlich zum Überwintern ziehen, welcher erstmals in der Belehrung Vladimir Monomachs (vermutlich 1117) Erwähnung findet. “Indeed, we began to believe that most Russians hope that if they live good and virtuos lives, they will not go to heaven, but to Georgia, when they die”, schreibt John Steinbeck 1948 in seinem Russian Journal von seiner Russlandreise mit Robert Capa.
Bei seiner Kirchenreform schwebt dem russischen Patriarchen Nikon (1605-81) die georgische Kirchenverfassung mit ihrem Ehrenvorrang der geistlichen Macht als sakrale Utopie vor. Nach der petrinischen „Enthauptung“ der Kirche übernimmt im 19. Jh. die russische Literatur die Rolle des geistigen Gegengewichts zur weltlichen Macht und säkularisiert das Sehnsuchtsbild des großen Patriarchen zum arkadischen Traum. Pathetisch gesprochen, ließe sich die russische Hinwendung zu Georgien ähnlich der deutschen Liebe zu Italien als „Sehnsucht der Mitternacht nach dem Licht“ bezeichnen.
Nach dem Fall Konstantinopels ersuchten georgische Könige erstmals 1483 das „weiße Russland des großen Nordens“ um Schutz, welchem nach der geschichtstheologischen Überhöhung des Pleskauer Mönchs Philotheos zum „Dritten Rom“ (um 1500) die Rolle zufällt, das Böse der Welt in Schach zu halten und die Schutzherrschaft über die orthodoxe Christenheit wahrzunehmen. Als Alexander II. von Kachetien 1586 angesichts der türkischen Bedrohung den Sohn Ivans des Schrecklichen Fëdor um Schutz für sich und sein Volk bittet, kann dieser die Zusage seines militärischen Beistands zwar nicht einhalten, doch führen er und seine Nachfolger fortan den Titel „Herrscher des iberischen Landes und der georgischen Könige“. Für die Georgier beginnt „die Sonne im Norden aufzugehen“, wie es der Dichter Mamuk´a Barat´ašvili (18. Jh.) formuliert. Gänzlich entgeht den Georgiern die Säkularisierung Russlands seit Peter dem Großen. An die Stelle der „Heiligen Rus´“ tritt die „Große Rus´“, welche sich nicht mehr von eschatologischem Sendungsbewusstsein und religiöser Affinität, sondern von strategischen Interessen und der Staatsräson leiten lässt. Das Missverständnis bedingt eine Entfremdung und eine Tragödie, die bis heute währt.
ASCN Final Conference: Bringing the Strands Together: New Prospects for the Social Sciences?
November 18-19, 2016
Courtyard Marriot, 4 Freedom SquareTbilisi, Georgia
This final ASCN conference invites our project partners to come together and to discuss – for the last time in the context of the ASCN programme – the results of their research projects and to present the future direction of their research.
Furthermore, the conference poses a two-fold question: what have we achieved
a) in developing social sciences in the region and
b) in addressing critical and relevant questions about society and politics in the region?
For more information, please see http://ascn.ch/en/Events/Final-Conference-November-2016.html
Armenian Studies Program
Lecture. “ ‘It Seems to Belong to Dreamland Rather than Reality’: HFB Lynch and the Making of ‘Armenia,’ ” David Low, Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow
Date: Wednesday, Nov 16, 2016, 4-5:30PM
Venue: U.M., 1636 International Institute/SSWB, 1080 S. University
More information is available here.
Ensemble Basiani from the Republic of Georgia
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana
The crowning jewel of the country of Georgia’s rich musical tradition is men’s three-part singing, and the premier practitioners of this art are the members of Ensemble Basiani. Under the auspices of the Tbilisi Holy Trinity Cathedral Choir, these singers—many of whom were raised in families of traditional musicians—perform songs of work, celebration, worship, and more, with extraordinary vocal technique, striking harmonies, and powerful tone. This Georgian singing style that has infused and informed community life for over 1,000 years, yet sounds amazingly modern, has been proclaimed by UNESCO as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
For tickets and more information, see https://krannertcenter. com/events/ensemble-basiani
International conference “”European Values and Identity: Multiple Dimensions of Europeanization”
On October 25-26, 2016 Center for Social Sciences, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Georgia Proeuropa and Georgian Community of France hosted an international conference at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Conference date: October 25-26, 2016
Conference venue: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Room #115
Conference language(s): Georgian, English, and French (simultaneous translation will be provided)
The processes of Europeanization and EU integration, as mechanisms for spreading EU norms and values, are of the utmost importance in contemporary Georgia, especially after the signing of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement on June 27, 2014. The Association Agreement forms the basis for the country’s political development, access to the common European market and establihment of European values and standards, thus, it is essential to gain a proper understanding of the political, economic and cultural dimensions of Europeanization and to deepen academic discourse regarding the process.
The conference was multidisciplinary, and covered the following fields: social and political sciences, economics, law, humanities, and education sciences.
For additional information about the conference, please visit: http://css.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=9&info_id=1205
Armenian Studies Program
Film Screening. “Thank you, Dad” (Directed by Hrach Keshishyan; 2014).
Date: Wednesday, Oct 12, 2016, 6-8PM
Venue: Video Viewing Room, 1500 North Quad, 105 S. State.
More information available here.
Second Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics
Center for Languages of the Central Asian Region (CeLCAR) will be hosting the Second Conference on Central Asian Languages and Linguistics (ConCALL-2) at Indiana University from October 7-9, 2016.
ConCALL-2 was established in Spring 2014 as a scholarly research and professional development conference for linguists and language educators specializing in the languages of the Central Asian region, including both the Altaic and Eastern Indo-European languages spoken in the region, a diverse range of languages such as Azerbaijani, Dari, Kazakh, Mongolian, Pashto, Persian, Tajiki, Tibetan, Turkish, Tuvan, Uyghur, Uzbek, and more! (Click here to see map)
The main goal of ConCALL is to bring together experts across the fields to focus on research into how these specific languages are represented formally, as well as acquired by second/foreign language learners and also to present research driven teaching methods.
This year’s theme is “Continuing the Journey: Strengthening the Central Asian Language Community”. Submissions could be on phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, language acquisition (L1 and L2), as well as language pedagogy as concerns a Central Asian language.
Lecture: Post-Soviet Women in Transition: Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan in Comparison
October 7, 2016 @ 4:00 pm – 6:00 pm
The George Washington Univeristy
Central Asian Program
Voesar Conference Room
1957 E St NW, Suite 412
Washington, DC 20052
Please RSVP: go.gwu.edu/heyat
There are many common paradoxes and anomalies regarding the position of women in the formerly Soviet Muslim republics of Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. These arise from the Soviet legacy of gender equality on the one hand, and patriarchal traditions on the other. The resurgence of Islam as an identity marker in the new independent era is another. However, there are also significant differences. Whereas radical Islam has established a foothold in southern Kyrgyzstan, the governments of both Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have taken robust actions to stamp it out. There are also marked differences between Azerbaijan and the other two republics.
Farideh Heyat is an anthropologist based in London, born in Iran. She is the author of numerous articles on women in Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan and the book, Azeri Women in Transition. Her current book, Land of Forty Tribes is based on her observations and experience of working and traveling in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, and her research on the history of Central Asia.
Armenian Studies Program
Conference. “Nationalism, Genocide, and Revolution: A Conference Inspired by Professor Ronald Grigor Suny.”
Date: Friday-Saturday, Oct 7-8, 2016, 3-6:30PM, 9AM-5:30PM
Venue: 1014 Tisch Hall, 435 S. State.
More information available here:
Armenian Studies Program Lecture: ‘Grasping the Constellations’: On the (Im)possibility of Writing Armenian History, Hakem Al-Rustom, Alex Manoogian Professor of Modern Armenian History
Date: Tuesday, Sept 13, 2016, 6-7:30PM
Venue: U-M. Multipurpose Room, U-M Museum of Art, 525 S. State.
More information available here.
Film Screening: The Other Side of Home
Thursday, Sept. 1, 2016, 7:30pm
USC School of Cinematic Arts
Los Angeles, California
In 2015, a Turkish woman named Maya discovers that her great grandmother was a survivor of the Armenian Genocide. As Maya wrestles with this new reality, she comes to embody the conflict that remains unresolved between the two peoples. She has two conflicting identities: one that suffers and the other that denies the suffering and its causes. The Other Side of Home is a documentary that follows Maya to Armenia to take part in the 100th commemoration of the Genocide and to explore her new-found roots.
The USC Institute of Armenian Studies is co-hosting the screening with the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the USC Shoah Foundation. The 40-minute film will be followed by a conversation with the film’s director and USC Institute of Armenian Studies Fellow, Filmmaker Eric Nazarian.
For more information about the screening including parking and directions, click here.
ARPA Institute Presentation by Talar Chahinian, Ph.D.
The Making of a Grand Narrative of the Armenian Diaspora
Date: Thursday, August 4, 2016 @ 7:30PM
Venue: In the Aram and Anahis D. Boolghoorjian Hall of the Merdinian School:
13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Talar Chahinian holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from UCLA and lectures in the
Department of Comparative World Literature at California State University, Long Beach. Her research and teaching interests include Modern Armenian Literature, Transnational Studies, Politics and Aesthetics, Translation, and Digital Humanities. She contributes regularly to the online journal, Critics’ Forum, and is the Assistant Editor of the Armenian Review.
For information please contact Dr. Hagop Panossian at info “at”ARPAInstitute.org
Julie George on “Methodological Approaches to Estimating Voter Fraud”
Prof. Julie George presents a workshop as part of the CRRC 4th Methodological Conference (http://crrc.ge/en/article/crrcs-methodological-conference-on-research-for-development-in-the-south-caucasus-discussing-methodological-innovations/254):
“Methodological Approaches to Estimating Voter Fraud”
Date: June 25, 2016, 12:00-13:30
Venue: Rooms Hotel Tbilisi, 14 Kostava St., Tbilisi, Georgia
One observation about hybrid, or competitive authoritarian, regimes is that while elections occur, they do so in conditions where the result does not necessarily reflect the will of the people. The nature, mechanism, and regional saturation of electoral fraud can inform scholars about the nature of constituency and accountability in a polity.
This workshop considers how electoral fraud occurs during elections and examines the statistical processes commonly used to detect that fraud. Using Georgian national electoral outcomes in multiple elections, with examples taken from both national, regional, and municipal level vote tallies, this workshop will show participants the causal logic behind the mathematical algorithms, as well as how to interpret the statistical output. Finally, the workshop will end with a discussion about the limitations of the statistical methods, given other factors that affect voter freedom in post-communist settings.
Julie A. George is an associate professor of Political Science at Queens College and the Graduate Center at the City University of New York. Her work addresses state building, democratization, and ethnic politics in postcommunist states. She is the author of The Politics of Ethnic Separatism in Russia and Georgia (Palgrave Macmillan 2010). Her work has also been published in academic journals such as Electoral Politics, Current History, Europe-Asia Studies and Post-Soviet Affairs, among others.”
The workshop (and the CRRC 4th Methodlogical Confernece) are free and open to the public, and will be held in English.
REEEC Fisher Forum 2016: Population, Health and Social Change in Eurasia
June 17-18, 2016
General Lounge (Room 210), Illini Union
(1401 W. Green St., Urbana, IL 61801)
Organized by : Cynthia Buckley and Paul McNamara
Co-Sponsored by : Fisher Forum Endowment, Illinois International Programming, Center for Global Studies, Global Health Initiative, Russian and East European Institute at Indiana University
Free and Open to the Public
Health and population trends raise important social, political and economic issues across Eurasia. Demographic developments in this region also inform critical relationships between health and social support, inequality, and human rights across the social science disciplines. Moreover, the Eurasian case informs and challenges several core theoretical approaches in the field of epidemiology and public health. Throughout an intensive two days of sessions, we will focus on how broader theories related to health and population change contextualize the patterns and processes observed in Eurasia. We will examine how the empirical evidence from Eurasia informs and expands existing theories in the areas of population and health.
For a full list of questions to be pursued, participants, and more, please visit: http://www.reeec.illinois.edu/events/conferences/2016FisherForum.html
Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/1159941734058694/
Ambassador of Switzerland to Georgia to Deliver Public Lecture within European Days in Georgia
On June 2, at 13:00, within the European days in Georgia, Ambassador of Switzerland to Georgia, Lukas Beglinger will pay a visit to Ilia State University to deliver a public lecture.
Topic: Switzerland’s System of Direct Democracy
Language: English
Date and Time: June 2, 13:00
Location: Book House “Ligamus”, Ilia State University, Ilia Chavchavadze Avenue #32
All welcome to attend the event.
Summer Program – Challenges of Studying Homo Sovieticus, 11 – 22 July 2016, AUA
The Armenian Higher Education Initiative (AHEI), in partnership with the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the American University of Armenia, is pleased to announce its 2016 Summer Program. This year’s topic will be “Challenges of Studying Homo Sovieticus,” and it will involve an intensive look into archival research methods through the lenses of a variety of fields. The program will take place from July 11 to July 22, 2016 at the American University of Armenia, and it is open to graduate and post-graduate students of social sciences (students of ethnography/cultural anthropology, cultural studies, sociology and history are particularly encouraged to apply).
The program will run from 10:00-15:00, Monday to Friday, during the course of the two weeks. The deadline for applications is June 5, 2016 and selected applicants will be notified by June 15, 2016.
More information is available here.
Georgian prime minister – an Illinois alumnus – to visit Urbana campus
Giorgi Kvirikashvili, the prime minister of the country of Georgia and a 1998 master’s degree graduate in finance from the University of Illinois, will speak on campus April 27. He will make remarks and take questions at 4:45 p.m. in the Deloitte Auditorium of the Business Instructional Facility, 515 E. Gregory Drive, Champaign. The event is open to the public.
For additional information, please visit: https://insideillinois.info/blog/view/6371/353325
A Lecture on the 101st Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide
When: April 27, 2016 5:00 PM – 7:00 PM
Where: Swift Hall, Third Floor Lecture Room
Center for Middle Eastern Studies
Gerard J. Libaridian of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, will present “The Armenian Genocide according to Court Chroniclers, Scholars, and Politicians”
More information is available here.
ASP Seventh Annual International Graduate Student Workshop
Translating Armenians, Armenians Translated: Rethinking Methodologies for Armenian Studies
Friday, April 22, 2016
10:00 AM-6:00 PM
Room 1644 School of Social Work Building
more information is available here.
Thomas Hopkins’ Public Lectures at Ilia State University
On April 4 and 5, the Institute for Social and Cultural Research of Ilia State University hosts two lectures lead by the English historian of Political Thought Thomas Hopkins. Titles of the lectures are:
“Political Theory and Its Histories”
Date and time: April 4, 15:00
Venue: Book House “Ligamus” (32 Ilia Chavchavadze Ave.)
“Democracy and Industry in Post-Revolutionary France”
Date and time: April 5, 16:00
Venue: A 101 (32 Ilia Chavchavadze Ave.)
Attendance is free and open.
For additional information, please visit: https://iliauni.edu.ge/en/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/thomas-hopkins-public-lectures-at-ilia-state-university1.page
ASN 2016 Annual World Convention Program
150+ Panles on the Balkans, Central Europe, Russia, Ukraine/Belarus, The Caucasus, Eurasia, Turkey/Greece, Migration, and Nationalism Studies
The Convention, co-sponsored by the Harriman Institute, will be held at Columbia University, New York, on April 14-16, 2016. The preliminary program of the ASN 2016 World Convention can be downloaded at http://nationalities.org/uploads/documents/ASN16_Program.4mar.pdf.
Registration fees are $100 for ASN members, $130 for nonmembers, $60 for students (and free for students enrolled in New York area universities who present a valid university ID).The registration form can be downloaded here.
As always, the Convention boasts the most international lineup of panelists amongst North American-based conventions. More than half of the 400+ scholars will deliver papers (and more than half of those delivering papers are currently based outside of the United States in nearly 50 different countries). More than 750 panelists and participants are expected at the Convention. The program will feature in excess of 150 panels, including the screening of a dozen new documentaries that will be announced in early April.
The Convention offers an exceptionally strong lineup of panels on all regions of the former Communist world and Eurasia: Russia, the Caucasus, Central Asia/Turkey-Greece, the Balkans, Ukraine/Belarus and Central Europe (including the Baltics and Moldova). The Balkans section is the largest, with 27 panels, followed by Russia and the Caucasus—25, Nationalism Studies—21, Central Europe—19, Central Asia/China/Turkey/Greece—a combined 18, Ukraine—15, and an expanding Migration section—14 panels (half of them cross-listed with regional sections).
For more information, please, visit www.nationalities.org.
CRRC Training
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) – Armenia invites you to training on “Introduction to Statistical Analysis by R Software”
to be delivered by Dr. Habet Madoyan (AUA)
Date: March 3, 4, 2016
Time: 14:00-18:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library
building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
Deadline for applications: February 22, 2016, 10:00 AM
For more information, please, visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
Lecture: Armenian Genocide and Rewriting Middle Eastern History
Date: January-29-2016 12:00 PM till January-29-2016 01:00 PM
Location: PSPA conference room, 207A, Jesup Hall, American University of Beirut
Contact Person: Dr. Danyel Reiche – FAS / PSPA , dr09@aub.edu.lb
Department of Political Studies and Public Administration
CORDIALLY INVITES YOU TO A BROWN BAG LECTURE: Armenian Genocide and Rewriting Middle Eastern History By Dr. Vicken Cheterian
More information is available here.
Public Talk of David Kramer and Kathryn Stoner at Ilia State University
On January 18, 2016, at 15:00 Ilia State University hosts a public talk of David Kramer, McCain Institute and Kathryn Stoner, Stanford University, on:
“Putin’s Russia: Ongoing Events and Challenges to Regional Security”
The meeting will be held at 32 Chavachavadze Ave, Tbilisi, Ilia State University, room B202
Language: English (with simultaneous translation)
Attendance: free for all interested
The lecture is organized within the frameworks of Leadership Academy for Development (LAD), organized by Center for Democracy, Development and Rule of Law (CDDRL) at Stanford University, and Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC).
For additional information, please visit: https://iliauni.edu.ge/ge/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/devid-kramerisa-da-ketrin-stoneris-sadjaro-leqcia-ilias-saxelmwifo-universitetshi.page
Public talk on The Social Afterlives of a Revolution
Free University Research Seminar series organized by the School of Governance and Social Sciences presents the 1st talk of the Spring 2016 semester.
Date: January 12, 2016
Venue: Free University, Tbilisi Room 218
In this presentation, Martin Demant Frederiksen will outline the overall frame of a forthcoming monograph he is currently co-writing with Katrine Gotfredsen in which they chronicle aspects of everyday life Georgia in the decade following the Rose Revolution. Based on a series of 10 portraits (of a person, a group, a place, a phenomena or an event) the book examines the role of the political visions underlying the revolution as these entered into and affected upon daily life, and how they in some instances gained a life of their own. Recent theoretical developments within anthropology and related disciplines have argued for the use of “afterlives” as an analytical notion through which to understand processes of socio-political change. In the book the authors deploy the notion of social afterlives to probe the role of the Rose Revolution in Georgia during the decade since its occurrence. The book thus explores the effects of the revolution, from its initial creation of hope among the local population to increasing sentiments of aggravation and disillusionment towards politics that are strikingly similar to the sentiments originally paving way for the revolution.
—-
Martin Demant Frederiksen is assistant professor at the Department of Cross-Cultural and Regional Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark. He holds a PhD in anthropology and has conducted ethnographic fieldworks in Georgia since 2004 and in Bulgaria since 2015. His work mainly focuses on subcultures (such as youth criminals and declared nihilists), urban reconstructions, temporality and socio-political change. He is author of Young Men, Time and Boredom in the Republic of Georgia (2013) and co-editor of Ethnographies of Grey Zones in Eastern Europe: Borders, Relations and Invisibilities (2015).
For additional information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1547075432283887/
CRRC: Training
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC)-Armenia invites you to training on “Questionnaire design and online data collection”
to be delivered by
Dr. Armenak Antinyan and Naira Vardanyan (CRRC-Armenia) (Yerevan State University)
Date & Time: 17 December, 2015, 15:30-18:00
18 December, 2015, 15:30-18:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
Deadline for applications: December 14, 2015, 10:00.
Public Talk on “The Endangered Species Act of 1973: Combining Law and Science for Species Conservation”
By Samuel Finch, University of Idaho
Date: December 15, 2015
Venue: 32 Chavchavadze Ace., Ilia State University Cafe “Ligamus”
The talk will be a brief introduction into the U.S. Endangered Species Act with a focus on how scientific research is applied to law. Specifically, topic will explain how scientific research alone does not determine whether a species is endangered, and how policy and politics affect species conservation, often in contradiction with scientific conclusions.
In 2015 Samuel Finch graduated from the University of Idaho with a law degree and a masters degree in environmental science. Samuel Finch has worked as a legal intern for the Nez Perce Tribe in Idaho State, as a legal intern for small non-profit environmental law firm, and as a researcher assistant in conservation law. His environmental science research focused on using remote sensing techniques to estimate plant biophysical properties in agricultural settings, as well as critiques of the scientific justifications used in industrial agriculture research. Prior to his masters research he worked for the U.S. Department of Energy as an intern, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a field technician, and the Idaho Air National Guard as a biological technician.
For additional information, please visit: http://iliauni.edu.ge/ge/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/samuel-finchis-sadjaro-leqcia-gadashenebis-piras-myofi-saxeobebis-1973-wlis-dadgenileba-mecnierebisa-da-samartlis-kombinacia-saxeobebis-shesanarchuneblad.page
Public Talk of Dr. John Hill
Institute of Social and Cultural Studies at Ilia State University organizes a public talk of Dr. John Hill on
“Trauma, Transfer and Transformation”
Date: 28 November, 2015, at 12:00
Venue: Book Store “Ligamus”, 33 Chavchavadze Ave., Tbilisi, Georgia
The lecture is organized within the frameworks of public talk series on “Psychoanalysis in Academic Sphere”
John Hill received his degrees in philosophy at the University of Dublin and the Catholic University of America. He trained at the C. G. Jung Institute Zürich, has practiced as a Jungian analyst since 1973, and is a training analyst at the International School of Analytical Psychology (ISAP Zürich).
For additional information, please visit: http://iliauni.edu.ge/ge/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/filosofos-djon-hilis-sadjaro-leqcia-travma-transferi-da-transformacia.page
2016 Georgian Chant Tours
Cathedrals of Tao Culture Tour – West Georgia and Turkey
June 17-28, 2016
Tusheti National Park Culture Tour – East Georgia
July 1-12, 2016
CRRC Training
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) – invites you to training on
“Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods with SPSS: Hypothesis Testing”
to be delivered by
Dr. Vahe Movsisyan (Central bank of Armenia)
Date & Time: November 27, 2015, Monday, 17:00-21:00
November 28, 2015, Monday, 10:00-15:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
ARPA Institute Presentation On “Modern Poetry and Style Visàvis Armenian Poetry”
by Silva Zanoyan Merjanian
Date: Thursday, November 19, 2015 at 7:30pm
Location: Merdinian School, The Aram and Anahis D. Boolghoorjian Hall 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
Armenia: Masterpieces from an Enduring Culture
Time: 23 October 2015 — 28 February 2016
Venue: ST Lee Gallery, Weston Library, England
Opening times:
Monday to Friday 10am-5pm
Saturday 10am-5pm
Sunday 11am-5pm
For more information, please visit here.
Interactions religieuses dans l’Arménie ancienne (VIIIe e s. av. J.-C.-V de s. ap. J-.C.)
LabEx RESMED – Institut Universitaire de France
Colloque international. Paris, 26 – 27 October 2015
Collège de France, Salle Lévi-Strauss, 52, rue du Cardinal Lemoine
For more information, please visit here.
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) Training:
“Questionnaire Design and On-Line Data Collection”
by Dr. Armenak Antinyan and Naira Vardanyan (CRRC-Armenia)
Date and time: 29 October, 2015, 15:30-18:00
30 October, 2015, 15:30-18:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
Deadline for applications: October 27, 2015, 10:00.
For more information, please, visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
“Armeno-Persian Relations and the Persarmenian Community Throughout the Ages”
Saturday, November 14th, 2015. 11:00 AM – 5 PM.
Featured speakers:
Dr. Marco Brambilla: “The Architecture of the Houses of the Armenians in New Julfa.” (University of Rome)
Prof. Touraj Daryee “Reflections on the History and Society Arshakuni Armenia and Arsacid Iran.” (UC Irvine)
Ms. Kristine Martirosyan-Olshansky: “Prehistoric Connections between the Inhabitants of the Armenian Highlands and the Iranian Plateau.” (UCLA).
Prof. Bert Vaux “The Armenian Dialect of Salmast.” (University of Cambridge)
To be held on UCLA campus in Royce Hall, Room 314.
Free Admission. Paid parking available in Structure 4 or 5. $12.
RSVP required for luncheon: <RSVP “at” ioa.ucla.edu>
This Conference is dedicated to the memory of Archbishop Gorun Babian (1941-2015), Prelate of New Julfa (1978-2002).
Public lecture on “Introduction to Migration Studies”
The ENIGMMA Autumn Migration Studies Week is organised by the EU-funded ENIGMMA (“Enhancing the Georgia’s Migration Management) project implemented by ICMPD.
Within the ENIGMA week, a public lecture and discussion on the topic “Introduction to Migration Studies” will be organized.
Date: October 19, 2015, at 14:00
Venue: at 1 Chavchavadze ave., TSU I Block, room #107.
For additional information, please visit: https://tsu.ge/data/file_db/PR/Migration_St.pdf
International Conference: “Modern Information Technologies in Economic Globalization”
vane Javakhishvili Tbilisi state University, Department of Information Technologies of Faculty of Economics and Business invites professors and teachers of the higher institutions, IT specialists and students to take part in the International Scientific Conference. The conference is dedicated to the 50th Anniversary of the foundation of the Department of Information Technologies in Economics and Business.
Dates: October 23-24, 2015
Venue: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, #2 University street, Building 10, room 206
For additional information, please visit: http://itegconference.tsu.ge/En.php#
International Conference: 20th Century Mass Graves
The conference is organized by VW Foundation, Ruhr University Bochum and DVV International.
Date: October 15-17, 2015
Venue: Europe House,Freedom Square, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
For additional information, please visit: https://www.facebook.com/events/1038843512806103/
Public Lecture of Dr. Donna Farina, New Jersey City University
Ilia State University, Georgia organizes a public talk of Professor Donna Farina from NJCU, who will speak about “The Language of Land Grabs; Denotation and Connotation”
Date: October 13, 2015, at 17:00
Venue: 33 Chavchavadze Ave., Ilia State University, room A101.
For additional information, please visit: http://iliauni.edu.ge/ge/siaxleebi-8/gonisdziebebi-346/amerikeli-profesoris-dona-farinas-sadjaro-leqcia-the-language-of-land-grabs-denotation-and-connotation.page
ARPA Institute Presentation
Date: October 15, Thursday at 7:30pm
Topic: “In Search of a Global Armenian Strategy: Armenia, Diaspora, and the Armenian Potential””
Speaker: Dr. Dr. Vicken Hovsepian
The event will be held in the Aram and Anahis D. Boolghoorjian Hall Merdinian School, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks.
CRRC Presentation:
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC)-Armenia invites you to a training on
“Introduction to Statistical Analysis by R Software” to be delivered by Dr. Habet Madoyan (AUA)
Date and time: 1 October, 2015, 17:00-21:00
2 October, 2015, 14:00-18:00
Location: 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
Deadline for applications: September 28, 2015, 10:00.
For more information, please, visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
A Conversation with the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili
His Excellency the President of Georgia Giorgi Margvelashvili will have a conversation with the Honorable Jane Harman, Director, President, and CEO of the Wilson Center and answer questions.
Date: October 1, 2015, 11:00 am- 12:00 am
Register for the event: http://pages.wilsoncenter.org/20151001-PresidentofGeorgia_DirectorsForumEvent.html
ASP Lecture: Local Patriotisms and Diasporic Translocality: Compatriotic Societies in Modern Armenian Diaspora
Speaker: Vahe Sahakyan, 2015-16 Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow, U-M.
Date: 12/02/2015; 4:00PM to 5:30PM
Location: 1636 International Institute/SSWB
1080 South University Avenue
More information is available here:
ASP Lecture: Movements of people, money and cultures: Migration and its effects on the post-Soviet transition processes in the South Caucasus
Speaker: Alina Poghosyan, 2015-16 Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow, U-M
Date: 11/18/2015; 4:00PM to 5:30PM
Location: 1636 International Institute/SSWB
1080 South University Avenue
More information is available here:
ASP Lecture: Exercising, Competing, and Having Fun: Sports in Late Ottoman Bolis
Speaker: Murat Yidliz, 2015-16 Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow, U-M
Date: 10/21/2015; 4:00PM to 5:30PM
Location: 1636 International Institute/SSWB
1080 South University Avenue
More information available here:
Armenian Studies Program Meet and Greet: Meet the ASP faculty and Manoogian Fellows to learn about our courses & events
Date: 09/30/2015; 4:00PM to 5:30PM
Location: 1636 International Institute/SSWB
1080 South University Avenue
More information is available here:
International Institute Inaugural Fall Open House
Date: 09/24/2015; 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Location: International Institute, 1080 S. University Ave., Ann Arbor
More information is available here:
Azad and Margaret Hogikyan Library Collection Opening and Lecture: A World in a Collection of Books
Speaker: Gerard Libaridian, Alex Manoogian Chair in Modern Armenian History (2001-12) and former Director of ASP
Date: 09/18/2015; 4:00PM to 6:00PM
Location: Gallery, Room 100, Hatcher Graduate Library, 913 S. University
More information is available here:
ASP Lecture: Bearing Witness Through Art
Speaker: Aline Ohanesian, writer, author of a novel Orhan’s Inheritance
Date: 09/14/2015; 6:00PM to 7:30PM
Location: Multipurpose room, U-M Museum of Art
525 South State Street
More information is available here:
ARPA Institute Presentation
Date: July 30, 2015, Thursday at 7:30pm
Topic: “Healthcare in Armenia: Identifying needs, measuring success, and defining the role of the diaspora”
Speaker: Dr. Shant Shekherdimian.
The event will be held in the Aram and Anahis D. Boolghoorjian Hall Merdinian School, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks.
Public Lecture on “EU in the Neighbourhood”
In the scope of the public lectures on “Georgia’s European Choice” Center for Social Sciences organizes Professor Neil MacFarlane’s public lecture on
“EU in the Neighbourhood”.
Discussion panel:
Tedo Japaridze, Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Parliament of Georgia
H.E. Natalie Sabanadze, Georgia’s Ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and the EU
Date: 16 July 2015, at 17:00
Venue: Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, II Building, Auditorium 135
For additional information, please visit: http://css.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=8&info_id=1115
Public Lecture on: “Beyond the Riga Summit – Perspectives and Challenges for EU-Georgia Association”
Center for Social Sciences in the scope of the public lectures on “Georgia’s European Choice” organizes a public lecture of Mr. Janos Herman, Ambassador of the European Union in Georgia on:
“Beyond the Riga Summit – Perspectives and Challenges for EU-Georgia Association”
Date: 25th of May 2015, 16:30
Venue: Hotel “Rooms Tbilisi”, 14 M. Kostava Steet
The meeting will proceed in English
RSVP till 20.05.2015 to a.gergedava[at]css.ge; +995 32 2 29 00 95
For additional information, please visit: http://css.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=8&info_id=1089
Conference: The Comparative Analysis of the 20th Century Genocides
The Armenian Genocide Museum-Institute (AGMI) will host the twelfth conference of the International Association of Genocide Scholars (IAGS) with the theme “The Comparative Analysis of the 20th Century Genocides”
Date: July 8-12, 2015
For further information, please visit
Presentation: “Early settlement of the Southern Caucasus: recent discoveries of the German-Azerbaijani investigations in the Mil Plain (Southern Azerbaijan)”
Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA and Archaeological Institute of America
Present:
Dr. Andrea Ricci
German Archaeological Institute – Eurasia Dept.
2015 AIA-DAI Fellow at the Cotsen Institute (UCLA)
The talk will address the latest results of the interdisciplinary project “Kura in Motion”, which has been investigating early sedentism along the Kura Valley since 2010. Focus will be on the landscape of survival of the Mil Plain of Southern Azerbaijan, where a series of late Neolithic (6th Mill. BCE) sites have been investigated with intensive survey and excavation.
Lenart Auditorium, Fowler Building UCLA
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 at 7 pm
For more information, please call 310-206-8934< tel:310-206-8934; or visit www.ioa.ucla.edu<http://www.ioa.ucla.edu/>;
Hourly parking is available in lot #4 (off Sunset Blvd and Westwood Blvd)
The lecture is free to the public, no reservations are necessary.
A Slide Presentation by Artist Jackie Kazarian
Thursday, April 30, 4:30 pm
Pick 218 (5828 S. University Ave.)
University of Chicago
http://www.project1915.org/
CRRC: Training
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) – Armenia invites you to training on
“Introduction to Statistical Analysis by R Software” to be delivered by Dr. Habet Madoyan (AUA)
Date April 20, 21, 2015, 16:00–19:00
Time 16:00–19:00
Location CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language Armenian
For more information, please visit
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) Presentation
Influence of the Government Policy and International Aid on Identity of Syrian Armenians in the Republic of Armenia (2011-2015)
to be delivered by Daria Vorobyeva (CRRC-Armenia International Fellow)
Date: April 16, 2015
Time: 14:30-16:00
Location:: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: English
For more information, please visit CRRC Website
Sixth Annual ASP International Graduate Student Workshop.“Challenging Entrenched Categories: Re-Exploring Approaches to Armenian Literature”
Friday- Saturday, April 17-18
This workshop invites conversations surrounding Armenian literary sources by asking participants to consider, challenge, and offer theoretical and methodological alternatives to frameworks presently utilized in studying Armenian literature from the classical to the contemporary period. For more information, please visit:
Third International Graduate Students’ Conference on Genocide Studies: The State of Research 100 Years after the Armenian Genocide
Dates: April 9-11, 2015
Location: Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Clark University, Worcester, Massachusetts
More information is available here
Panel: The Aftermath of the Armenian Genocide: Armenian Communities in Turkey, Syria, and Lebanon after 1915
Organized by University of Chicago, ARISC Institutional Member
Date & Time: Monday, April 6, 2015; 4:00 PM
Location: Swift Hall, Third Floor Lecture Room
For more information please visit
“Roving Revolutionaries and Connected Revolutions: Armenians and the Russian, Ottoman, and Iranian Revolutions”
Dr. Houri Berberian, Cal State University, Long Beach
Wednesday, March 25, 4:00 PM
1022 South Thayer, 202 S. Thayer St., Ann Arbor, Michigan
The talk will explore the interconnectivity of the Russian (1905), Ottoman (1908), and Iranian (1905-1911) revolutions in several ways that interweave the global and the local. The study advocates a novel approach to the three revolutions that draws on a “connected histories” approach, which illuminates the way in which the revolutions are connected and transformed through their connections. It does this through an archivally grounded analysis of the circulation of revolutionaries, ideas, and literature, largely in the form of printed periodicals and pamphlets. The protagonists of the study are the roving Armenian revolutionaries and activists who traversed the borders of the three states preparing, collaborating in, and spreading revolution within and across fluid state boundaries and across progressive, constitutional movements. Because of their participation in all three revolutions, their border-crossings within the region and beyond, their adoption and interpretation of and adaptation to such influential and global ideologies as socialism and constitutionalism, Armenian revolutionaries become ideal subjects for the retelling of the complex story of connected revolutions – a story of revolutionary linkages and of local and regional actors with global ties to big ideas and ideologies.
Houri Berberian is Professor of History at California State University, Long Beach. Her recent articles include “Connected Revolutions: Armenians and the Russian, Ottoman, and Iranian Revolutions in the Early Twentieth Century” (2012), and “History, Memory, and Iranian-Armenian Memoirs of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution” (2008).
This talk is presented by the Multidisciplinary Workshop for Armenian Studies.
“Remembering Armenia: A Journey through Historical Fiction & Memoir”
Date: Tuesday, March 24, 2015 at 6:00PM
Location: Thomas J. Dodd Research Center, 405 Babbidge Rd, Storrs, CT.
For more information, please visit
ARPA Institute Presentation
“The Genocide in the Long-Term Perspective of Armenian History (3500 BCE – Present and Future)”, by Dr. Gregory E. Areshian. The event will be held in the Aram and Anahis D. Boolghoorjian Hall, the Merdinian School,13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, April 23, Thursday at 7:30, 2015. For more information, please visit ARPA Institute web-page:
CRRC: Workshop
JumpStart Georgia in cooperation with CRRC-Armenia invites you to a workshop on
“What data exists and how to get and use it?” to be delivered by Arpine Porsughyan
Date: March 24, 2015
Time: 14:30-17:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
Registration
If interested in the workshop, please, confirm your attendance via event “at”crrc.am or call (010) 574898, 574868 before March 23, 2015 at 15:00, mentioning your name and organizational affiliation.
For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
Presentation on “Factors Affecting Media Trust in Armenia”
Speaker: Adrineh Der-Boghossian (CRRC-Armenia Junior Fellow)
Date: March 19, 2015
Time: 15.00-16:30
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian Str, Library bld., 6rd Floor, Room 602
Language: English
For more info, please visit: www.crrc.am
Armenian Circle, Tea and Movie Mixer: “Tghamartik,” March 12, 2015
Armenian Circle presents: Tea and Movie mixer
TGHAMART’IK’
(The Men)
A Film by Edmund Keosayan
(Armenfilm Studios, Armenia 1973)
In Armenian
Running Time: 69 Minutes
Genre: Comedy, Romance
Thursday, March 12, 4:30 pm
More info on CEERES
Workshop. “Teaching about Genocide: Approaches and Challenges”
Host Department: Armenian Studies Program (ASP)
Date: 03/14/2015
Time: 10:00 AM – 6:00 PM
Location: West Conference Room, Rackham Graduate School, 915 E. Washington
For more information please visit: Armenian Studies Program
Rania Anderson’s Public Talk at Ilia State University
Within the framework of Women’s History Month Ilia State University is hosting US Ambassador, HE Richard Norland and Rania Anderson, famous US author and translator who will be speaking about “Networking in 21st Century”
Date: March 19, 2015, at 15:00
Venue: 3/5 Cholokashvili St., Ilia State University, room #G106
For additional information about Rania Anderson, please visit: http://iliauni.edu.ge/uploads/other/2/2664.pdf
Presentation of the Project “Promoting Student-Centered Learning in Higher Education”
A presentation of the project “Promoting Student-Centered Learning in Higher Education”, being implemented by the Levan Mikeladze Foundation with the support of Open Society Georgia Foundation, will be held at the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU) at 3pm on March 13.
TSU Professor and Project Manager, Giorgi Gogsadze, TSU Professor Iago Kachkachishvili and TSU Associate Professor Nana Macharashvili will be the keynote speakers during the presentation.
Date: March 13, 2015, at 15:00
Venue: 1, I. Chavchavadze Ave., TSU Building I, room 107
For additional information, please visit: https://tsu.ge/en/government/administration/departments/pr/announcement/gVpcJuKf_1jmZsRY/?p=1
Public talk on “Georgian Economic Integration in EU”
By Amiran Kavadze, Former Ambassador in the UK, Switzerland and Sweden, Professor at the International Black Sea University (IBSU)
Date: March 10, 2015, 17:00
Venue: 1 Chavchavadze Ave., Tbilisi, Georgia , room 107a, Ist Block (TSU)
Organized by EU-Georgia Business Council (EUGBC) by cooperation with the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
For additional information, please visit: http://eugbc.net/?p=15771
Training: Sampling and weighting
Date & Time: March 23, 25, 26, 2015, 14:30–17:30
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website
Dr. Berj H. Haidostian Annual Distinguished Lecture. “The State of Armenian Genocide Studies: Problems and Challenges”
Speaker: Taner Akcam, Kaloosdian/Mugar Professor of History, Clark University
Host Department: Armenian Studies Program (ASP)
Date: 03/13/2015
Time: 7:00 PM – 8:30 PM
For more information, please visit:
International Scientific Conference: Migration of Armenians in the 20th Century and the Modern Challenges of Globalization
Migration Competence Center of Faculty of Sociology of Yerevan State
University announces a call for participation in international
scientific conference “Migration of Armenians in the 20th Century and
the Modern Challenges of Globalization” dedicated to 100th anniversary
of The Armenian Genocide held on 6 April 2015 at Yerevan State
University.
Please send the title and short description of presentation untill 20
March 2015 to the following mail address: mcc@ysu.am
For more information please contact:
1str. Alex Manookian, Yerevan 0025
Yerevan State University, Faculty of Sociology
Migration Competence Center, room # 302
+374 60 710 076
+ 374 93 333 226
Two Georgian Chant Culture Tours to Caucasus: Georgia and Armenia
In celebration of its tenth season,Georgian Chant has offers two separate tours in:
Colchis & Svaneti: Discover Georgia Tour, July 1-11, 2015
Armenia and Georgia: Highlands Culture Tour, July 17-Aug. 2, 2015
For additional information, pease visit: https://ceeres.uchicago.edu/content/two-georgian-chant-culture-tours-caucasus-georgia-and-armenia-july-1-11-2015-and-july-17-aug
Roundtable on the Post-Soviet Conflicts with Eric Rubin
Wednesday, February 18 | 10:30 a.m.
Chicago Harris, room 289A
University of Chicago
Please join the Chicago Harris Committee on International Affairs and Public Policy for a “Roundtable on the Post-Soviet Conflicts” with US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Eric Rubin. http://ceeres.uchicago.edu/content/ciapp-roundtable-post-soviet-conflicts-us-deputy-assistant-secretary-state-eric-rubin-feb-18
RSVP HERE >
http://harris.uchicago.edu/content/roundtable-post-soviet-conflicts-eric-rubin
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC)-Armenia: Presentation
WiP: The Refugee Card: Refugees and IDPs in the South Caucasus as key factors of conflict resolution
Presenter: Péter Pál Kránitz, Pázmány Péter Catholic University
Date: Tuesday, February 17, 2015
Time: 14:30-16:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: English
If interested in the presentation, please, confirm your attendance via event “at” crrc.am before February 16, 2015 at 16:00, mentioning your name and organizational affiliation.
For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
Symposium: Georgia at the Crossroads
April 23-24, 2015
Baylor University
Since independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, the Republic of Georgia has undergone enormous social, political, economic, and cultural upheaval. In spite of setbacks in the early 1990s, Georgia has emerged as a potential viable partner with both the European Union and NATO.
Baylor University welcomes you to this two-day interdisciplinary Symposium and invites papers on topics relevant to Georgia’s position today as a society in a period of political and cultural transition as it confronts the challenges presented by its unique geo-political position.
Topics … Contemporary Literature, Memory, Stalin’s Legacy, Minorities, Russian-Georgian Relations, Cultural Preservation, Political Culture, Elections, Church-State Relations, Civil Society, Rose Revolution, Business Development, Entreprenuership, Bidzina Ivanishvili, Religion and Society, Saakashvili, Monument Restoration, Georgia and the European Union, Georgia and NATO, Heritage Preservation, Abkhazia, Territorial Integrity, South Ossetia, Religious Liberty, Minority Culture, the Georgian Orthodox Church and the State…
Inner Eurasia Then and Now: Legacies of Thought, Space, and Empire
Conference: March 27, 2015, New York University
The Organization for the Advancement of Studies of Inner Eurasian Societies (OASIES) at Columbia University, New York University, and Princeton University is pleased to announce its 8th Annual Graduate Student Conference.
The conference considers Eurasia past and present, spanning from the Black Sea to Mongolia, from Siberia to South Asia. Stressing multi-disciplinarity, submissions are welcome from a variety of departments, programs, and centers, including but not limited to: Anthropology, Archeology, Art History, Comparative Literature, Fine Arts, History, Political Science, Religion, Sociology, Caucasian Studies, Central Asian Studies, Inner Asian Studies, Middle Eastern Studies, Mongolian Studies, Slavic Languages and Literature, South Asian Studies, and Tibetan Studies.
For more information on OASIES and past conferences, please visit www.oasies.org.
2015 Midwest Slavic Conference
March 13-15, 2015
Ohio State University
This year, the conference will feature a keynote address by Dr. Karen Dawisha (Miami University) at 5:30pm on Friday, March 13th. Dr. Dawisha will speak about the rise in politics of current Russian president Vladimir Putin and his kleptocratic regime based on work conducted for her recently published book, Putin’s Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia?.
Workshop: Transnational Contacts in the Socialist World
March 27, 2015
Center for the Humanities, Tufts University
In 1961, Nikita Khrushchev hailed the development of a “world socialist system,” which he defined as “a social, economic, and political community of free, sovereign nations [. . .] united by common interests and goals, by the close ties of international socialist solidarity.” This day-long workshop will bring together an interdisciplinary group of early-career scholars to examine the socialist system from a global and transnational perspective. Among the questions to be discussed: how did transnational cultural, interpersonal, and economic contacts between socialist countries contribute to the construction of the “world socialist system”? How did this system impact the everyday lives of ordinary citizens? How did national histories and cultures shape transnational relations in the socialist world? How does the theory and methodology of transnational history apply to the study of socialist countries?
Workshop “Comparing the Black Sea and Caspian”
IHU, Thessaloniki 25-26 February, 2015
The round-table “Comparing the Black Sea and Caspian: Interdisciplinary Perspectives” hosted by the International Hellenic University, Thessaloniki, Greece will take place between Wednesday 25 February and Thursday 26 February 2015.
Papers will be on topics ranging from geopolitics to religion and culture.
For more information, contact Eurasian Dialogue (info “at” eurasiandialogue.org).
Symposium: “Belonging, Politics and Knowledge in Central Asia and the Caucasus”
Friday, January 30, 2015 – 9:00am – 4:00pm
CGIS South Building, 1730 Cambridge Street
Harvard University
The Program on Central Asia and the Caucasus is hosting a symposium on January 30, 2015 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in the Belfer Case Study Room (CGIS South S020). The symposium will consist of three sessions. It is free and open to the public. Registration is not required, but is appreciated for planning purposes.
The first two sessions will focus on erasure, identity, inclusion/exclusion, belonging and citizenship. Participants will explore how categorizations—whether ethnic, national, gender, religious, economic, or other—have been created, managed, and enacted by state and non-state actors. Citizenship and identity categories are continuously contested and experienced in everyday lives. How do local, national, and international dynamics influence the negotiation of these categories and exclusionary practices? How and why are different peoples absent from national narratives in Central Asia and the Caucasus?
The third session will build on these panels by exploring fieldwork challenges connected to state and social sensitivities about categorizations, exclusions, and gaps between national narratives and lived experience. Ever-evolving politics in the region pose serious challenges to local scholars, as well as to foreign researchers trying to build professional relationships and conduct scholarly research in the region. This session is a forum for researchers to discuss methods, analyze some of the sensitivities that curb scholarly inquiry and fieldwork agendas in the region, and explore the path forward.
Sponsored by the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
Full program available at http://daviscenter.fas.harvard.edu/events/belonging-politics-and-knowledge-central-asia-and-caucasus
CESC Lecture Series: Turkay Gasimova
4:30pm, Friday, January 9, 2015
The University of Chicago
Stuart 105
5835 S Greenwood Ave.
Chicago, IL. 60637
Turkay Gasimova (Baku University) will speak on “Humanitarian and military missions sent by the US government to the Middle East and Caucasus during the first two years after World War I” at the Central Eurasian Studies Committee Lecture Series.
Reception to follow
A Central Eurasian Studies Committee (CESC) Lecture Series event, centralasia.uchicago.edu. Co-sponsored by CEERES, CIS, the CIS Norman-Wait Harris Fund, and CMES. Free and open to the public. Anyone requiring assistance in order to attend should write to centraleurasia “at” uchicago.edu
International conference on “Teaching English with Innovative Methods”
On December 27, at 10:00-16:00 Ilia State University, Tbilisi hosts an annual international conference “Teaching English with Innovative Methods”.
The conference is organized jointly by Ilia State University and Center For English Teaching Excellence (CETE), a Georgia branch of international organization TESOL.
Date: 27 December, 2014, at 10:00-16:00
Venue: Ilia State University, G106.
RSVP to: cete08″at”gmail.com
For additional information, please visit: http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=346&info_id=12472
Exhibition “Lost Heroes of Tbilisi. Soviet Period Mosaics”
Date: 18 December, 2014
Venue: The Trade Union Palace of Culture of Georgia, Vaja-Pshavela ave. #43, II fl. so called “Tsereteli Hall”
Just for one day, at the Trade Union Palace of Culture of Georgia, different working material will be shown, including private archives of authors, documents, sketches, catalogues and photos. The exhibition will include private archive material from Demur Bashaleishvili, Giorgi Chakhava, Saurmag Ghambashidze, Iden Tabidze, Radish Tordia, Kukuri Tsereteli, and photo material by GeoAIR, Zura Dumbadze, Nika Kapanadze, Alexi Kedelashvili and Nino Siradze.
The same day we will be launching the publication, which includes research findings and photo documentation of monumental-decorative mosaics from various ‘public’ spaces of Tbilisi.
The intensive changes within public space, that have been taking place during the past 20 years, gave rise to our interest in the monumental-decorative mosaics. Unsystematic transformation of our urban environment, amateur interventions in forming the image of the city and façade ‘beautifications’ have led to the destruction of mosaics in the public spaces of Tbilisi. It became the reason for documenting them, creating database and the online map, which can be found on the
“Lost Heroes of Tbilisi. Soviet Period Mosaics” is part of SPACES project, funded by the European Union through the Eastern Partnership Culture Programme.
Open Discussion on The “Russkiy Mir” Concept – Russian Soft Power in the Post-soviet space, Georgia and the EU
Europe House Georgia in cooperation with the International Center for Geopolitical Studies (ICGS) is pleased to invite you to an open discussion
Date: 17 December 2014 at 18.00
Venue: Europe House (1, Freedom Square)
What is the “Russkiy Mir” concept? How does it connect with Eurasianism? Does “Russkiy Mir” have a cultural/economic substance or is it a purely political idea underlying an attempt to revive the Russian Empire or the Soviet Union in a different form? How successful is Russia’s soft power in the post-Soviet space? What soft power instruments is Russia using in Georgia? How successful is Russian soft power in the EU and the West? Or does Russia’s foreign policy merely rest on its hard power?
Speakers:
David Satter, Russia scholar and former Moscow correspondent, author of three books on Russia and the Soviet Union. He is affiliated with the Hudson Institute, Johns Hopkins University and the Foreign Policy Research Institute (Philadelphia).
“The Implications of the ‘Russian Idea'”
Andrei Illarionov, Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity (Washington D.C.) and President of the Institute of Economic Analysis, an independent economic think tank (Moscow)
“The Russian World and Anti-Russian War”
Kornely Kakachia, Professor of Political Science at Tbilisi State University and Director of the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP)
“Can Russia Win Ideological Battle in Georgia?”
Moderator:
Tengiz Pkhaladze, Advisor to the President of Georgia – Foreign Relations Secretary
David Satter, a former Moscow correspondent of the Financial Times of London, is the author of three books on Russia and the director of a documentary film. He has followed Russian events for almost four decades. In May, 2013, he became an adviser to Radio Liberty and in September, 2013, he was accredited as a Radio Liberty correspondent in Moscow. Three months later, he was expelled from Russia becoming the first U.S. correspondent to be expelled since the Cold War.
Dr. Andrei Illarionov is a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute’s Center for Global Liberty and Prosperity in Washington, US, and Founder and President of the Institute of Economic Analysis, an independent economic think tank in Moscow, Russia. In 1992-1994 he served as Chief Economic Advisor to Viktor Chernomyrdin, the then Prime Minister Russia. From April 2000 until December 2005, he was an Economic Adviser to Vladimir Putin, the President of the Russian Federation. In December 2005 he resigned from this position protesting the policies of the Russian government. Dr. Illarionov has written three books and over 300 articles on Russian economic and social policies. He is a regular commentator on current events in Russia.
Dr. Kornely Kakachia is Professor of Political Science at Tbilisi State University and Director of the Georgian Institute of Politics (GIP). Dr. Kakachia has held visiting appointments at the John. F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, SAIS Johns Hopkins University and the Harriman Institute at Columbia University in New York. He is the co-editor of “Georgian Foreign Policy: The Quest for Sustainable Security”.
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The event is part of the “Georgia between Russia and the European Union” series of expert panel discussions. The initiative is funded by The Black Sea Trust, A Project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
International Conference – Georgian in the Contested World
Center for Social Sciences organizes the international conference “Georgia in the Contested World” with the financial support of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation. The conference will be held at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, Tbilisi, Georgia.
Date: 9-10 December, 2014, at 9:30-18:00
Venue: 1 Chavchavadze Ave, Tbilisi State University I Block, room #107
Working Language: English and Georgian [with simultaneous translation]
Conference aims to bring together established and emerging international, as well as local practitioners and scholars willing to share their research findings about changes and transformations taking place in contemporary Georgia.
The conference mainly focuses on: the position and status of Georgia in the contested world, its political, social, cultural and technological development in the light of globalization; its interstate relations and security, transformation in respect to identities and the future aspirations; impact of the international change on Georgia’s political agenda, values, economy and identity.
Two days conference is dedicated to the presentation of the state-of-the-art academic and applied research findings about Georgia. The conference will be divided in several panels: Euro-Atlantic Integration, Foreign Policy and Security, Transformations and Reforms, Education and Development, Identities and Values, Gender Equality, and Economic Development. Each panel will be followed by a discussion session.
For conference programme and additional information, please visit: http://css.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=8&info_id=948
ARPA Institute: A Reflection on the Armenian experience in the Diaspora, from the Twentieth century to the Present
ARPA Institute Presentation on “A Reflection on the Armenian experience in the Diaspora, from the Twentieth century to the Present”, By Mark Chenian.
Date: November 20, Thursday at 7:30 pm
Place: Merdinian school, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA.
For more information please visit ARPA Institute
Training: “Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods with SPSS”
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) – announces two-day training:
“Application of Multivariate Statistical Methods with SPSS”
Trainer: Dr. Vahe Movsisyan, Central Bank of Armenia
Date & Time: November 20, 2014, Thursday, 16:00-20:30 and November 22, 2014, Saturday, 10:00-14:30
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602 Language: Armenian For more information, please visit the CRRC-Armenia website.
Deadline for applications: November 17, 2014, 10:00.
Album Presentation – “Sergei Parajanov on photographs and stories by Youri Mechitov”
Newsroom Caffe is pleased to invite you at the presentation of the Biographical Album “Sergei Parajanov on photographs and stories by Youri Mechitov”
Date: November 24, 2014, at 7:00 pm
Venue: Newsroom Caffe, Lado Asatiani 13, 0105 Tbilisi, Georgia
The Album was issued in three languages: English, French and Russian and is enriched with photos.
Also, photo exhibition “Marcello Mastroianni visiting Parajanov” will be held in frames of the presentation.
ARTISTERIUM 2014
7th Tbilisi Annual International Contemporary Art Exhibition and
Art Events.
Date: November 7-17, 2014
Venue: 5/66 Balanchivadze str., Tbilisi 0171, Georgia
ARTISTERIUM is a Tbilisi annual International Contemporary Art Exhibition and Art Event organized by the Georgia-based non-governmental art organization Artisterium Association. The event is composed of international exhibitions, individual art projects, educational and cultural programs.
ARTISTERIUM hosts the artists, artist groups, curators and art critics from the South Caucasus, Turkey, Europe, USA and Asia.
ARTISTERIUM is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Monument Protection of Georgia, British Council, Goethe Institute, French Institute and the embassies and institutions working in Georgia.
For additioinal information, please visit: http://artisterium.org/Artisterium2014/
International Conference: “On the Edge: Time and Space”
14-15 November, 2014
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University
Institute of Art History and Theory
Friday, 14 November
9.00 _10.00 Registration of Participants
10.15 Opening Remarks Zaza Skhirtladze
Welcome:
Rector of Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University,Academician Vladimer Papava
Dean of the Faculty of Humanities, Professor Darejan Tvaltvadze
10.30 Session I. Chair Zaza Skhirtladze
Glenn Peers University of Texas at Austin
“Translating Edges in Art of the Medieval Middle East”
Erik Thunø Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
“Medieval Art in the South Caucasus: On the Edge?”
Nino Silagadze Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University
“Stele from the Monastic Complex of ‘Lamazi Gora’: New Perspective on an Old Discovery”
12.30 _ 13.30 Break
13.30 Session II. Chair Erik Thunø
Rina Avner Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem
“’Adopt and Adapt’: Islamic Succession in the Kathisma Church Near Jerusalem”
Ekaterine Zimmermann Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich
“The Versatile Way of St. Nicholas from the Byzantine Empire to the Middle Ages: A Wonderworker who Influenced Georgia in the 12th and 13th Century”
Katharina Palmberger Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich
“Translations of Jerusalem in Georgia”
Saturday, 15 November
10.30 _12.30 Session III. Chair Ketevan Mikeladze
Rachel Ward independent scholar
“A Tray in the Georgian National Museum: Mongol Iconography in Iran”
Zaza Skhirtladze, Marietta Chikhladze Tbilisi Iv. Javakhishvili State University
“Western European Artistic Style in the Christian Orthodox Environment: Icons and Frescoes Executed by Christeforo Castelli in Odishi and Guria (Western Georgia)”
Ana Shanshiashvili Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University
“The 19th-20th century Tbilisian Silveware: Foreign Influencies and Local Artistic Tradition in the Age of Transition”
12.30 _ 13.30 Break
13.30 Session IV. Chair Glenn Peers
Samson Lejava George Chubinbashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation
“Village – Town: Artistic Vision of Niko Pirosmanashvili”
Tamar Belashvili George Chubinbashvili National Research Centre for Georgian Art History and Heritage Preservation
“The Generation of 60-s in Georgia: New Esthetic Approaches or the Beginning of the End”
Mzia Chikhradze Tbilisi Ivane Javakhishvili State University
“On the Verge of Figurative and Abstract Art: Backgrounds of American Abstract Expressionism”
The Conference will be held at
Tbilisi State University
Building VIII, Forth floor, Conference Hall
13 Chavchavadze Avenue
The project was implemented through a grant (CF/19/2-150/14) issued by Shota Rustaveli National Scientific Foundation, and by the support of the Faculty of Humanities, Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
Inside Georgia Today
Discussion on the latest developments in Georgia and the neighboring region with Ambassador Tedo Japaridze, former Georgian Foreign Minister and Ambassador to the United States, and now the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee of the Georgian parliament. Wilson Center Global Fellow Ambassador Kenneth Yalowitz will pose questions on Georgia’s internal political and economic situation, developments with Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and Georgia’s foreign relations.
Date: November 13, 2014 // 10:30am — 12:00pm
Venue: 6th Floor, Woodrow Wilson Center
For additional information, please visit: http://www.wilsoncenter.org/event/inside-georgia-today
Seminar on Tolerance towards Tyranny: Ironic Blindness, Voluntary Slavery
Delivered by Frank Ochberg, one of the founding fathers of modern psychotraumatology, an educator and the editor of the first text on the treatment of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the first psychiatrist who defined the Stockholm syndrome, and Coline Covington, Chair of the British Psychoanalytic Council and a former Editor of the Journal of Analytical Psychology.
Date: November 3, 2014, 17:00-19:00
Venue: Ilia State University, Auditorium G106
Frank Ochberg and Coline Covington will discuss two resonant cases of the last year: two brothers holding three women in captivity for ten years in US, and an analogous case happened in Great Britain. Frank Ochberg works on the American case, while the British one is worked on by Coline Covington. The presenters will also discuss the societal processes connected with trauma.
The event is hosted by the Institute of Addictology at Ilia State University.
Ceramic Art Exhibition
Exhibition of Georgian popular ceramics artist Gigisha Pachkoria
Date: October 24, 2014, 18:00-22:00
Venue: 13 Rustaveli Avenue, Tbilisi Marriott Hotel
Exhibition will be open October 24-30, 2014
Online Database – Stalin’s Lists from Georgia
Heinrich Boell Foundation Georgia branch and National Parliamentary Library of Georgia organize a presentation dedicated to the online database on “Stalin’s lists from Georgia”.
Date: October 8, 2014, at 6:00 pm
Venue: 7 Gudiashvili Street, Tbilisi, National Parliamentary Library of Georgia
RSVP to tamuna.shvangiradze”at”ge.boell.org
Series of Lectures on “Foreign Policy of Contemporary Russia”
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and the Caucasian House hosts a five-day series of public lectures about the foreign policy of Russia. The lectures will be led by Professor Giorgi Kunadze.
Date: October 6-10, 2014, at 16:00
Venue: 1 Chavchavadze Ave, Tbilisi, Georgia. TSU I block, hall #107
Attendance is free for all interested (RSVP required to mariam.gachechiladze”at”caucasianhouse.ge)
Working language: English and Russian.
For additional information, please visit: http://tsu.edu.ge/ge/government/administration/departments/pr/news/RA9s4idmrJay3YYFA/?p=1
Or contact: mariam.gachechiladze”at”caucasianhouse.ge
International Conference on “Iran and the Caucasus: History, Culture, Contemporary Relation”
The conference is co-organized by Ilia State University G. Tsereteli Institute of Eastern Studies and French Institute of Anatolian Studies, and is dedicated to the research of state-of-the-art topics around the relationships between the Caucasian region and Iran. The conference topics include language, literature and cultural ties, historical and contemporary affairs. Special focus will be made on the works of Iranian citizens in the Caucasian countries.
Date: October 1, 2014, 10:00-18:00; October 2, 2014, 10:00-13:00
Venue: Ilia State University, Building G, Hall #106
Language of the conference is English
Attendance is free.
Georgia: Why it Matters? Lecture by the Georgian Ambassador to the US
Ambassador Archil Gegeshidze
Thursday, October 2, 2014: 3:30-5:30PM
Mershon Center for International Security Studies
Dr. Archil Gegeshidze was appointed Ambassador of Georgia to the United States in March 2013. Prior to that, he was a senior fellow at Georgia’s renowned think tank – The Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS). Dr. Gegeshidze’s professional expertise lay in the fields of regional security and co-operation in the South Caucasus and Euro-Atlantic integration. He is the author of numerous publications on Georgia’s foreign and security policy and transformation of regional conflicts. Dr. Gegeshidze also lectured on globalization and development and provided training in policy analysis for young professionals and future leaders.
Register for the event at http://mershoncenter.osu.edu/archil-gegeshidze
Joseph Jordania’s Public Talk at Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia
Ilia State University is hosting the Professor of Melbourne University, Joseph Jordania to deliver a lecture on: “Music and Speech in the Context of the Human Evolution”
Date: October 1, 2014, at 18:00
Venue: Ilia State University, Auditorium #A101
Joseph Jordania is an Honorary Research Fellow at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and one of the founders of the International Research Centre for Traditional Polyphony. He is the winner of the Fumio Koizumi Prize in Ethnomusicology, and works on the folk polyphony and the music genesis, as well as its role in the human evolution.
For additional information, please visit: http://www.iliauni.edu.ge/index.php?lang_id=GEO&sec_id=346&info_id=11998
Discussion on European Security
Europe House Georgia in cooperation with the International Center for Geopolitical Studies (ICGS) organizes an open discussion on European Security.
Date: September 25 , 2014 at 18.00
Venue: Europe House, 1, Freedom Square, Tbilisi, Georgia
Speakers:
Stephan de Spiegeleire, senior analyst at the Hague Centre for Strategic Studies (HCSS) /The Hague/
Timofey Bordachev, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies (CCEIS) at the Higher School of Economics /Moscow/
Tornike Turmanidze, associate professor of International Relations at Tbilisi State University, former deputy secretary of the National Security Council of Georgia /Tbilisi/
Moderator:
Tornike Sharashenidze, professor at the Georgian Institute for Public Administration (GIPA) /Georgia/
For additional information, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/718290404912667/
13th Annual Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies
University of California, Los Angeles, Friday, February 8, 2015
We enthusiastically invite graduate students and recent post-docs
(Ph.D., within the last two years) in fields associated with Armenian
Studies (broadly defined) to present their recent research. Work in
progress is encouraged. We invite research papers on all aspects of
Armenian studies, including, but not limited to: literature, history,
gender studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, art history, and
much more. We welcome comparative themes and interdisciplinary
approaches. Panel submissions are also welcome.
Applicants must e-mail presentation abstracts of no more than 250
words and their curriculum vitae by September 30, 2014. Abstracts
should provide a brief description of the work, clearly outlining the
theoretical perspectives and methodology to be applied in the paper.
Please attach the required documents in the form of a Word document.
Please note that a 20-minute time limit for presentations will be
strictly enforced (roughly 8-10 pages double-spaced). Invited
participants will be required to submit a draft version of their full
presentation by December 21, 2014.
A reception will be held on the Wednesday evening prior to the event
to welcome the colloquium speakers. Students will have an opportunity
to meet with faculty and students on campus, tour Armenian Studies
resources, and visit Armenian Studies classes. The colloquium will
conclude with a reception.
Priority of acceptance will be given to those who have not presented
at the colloquium before. Limited travel grants will be available to
assist those who would otherwise be unable to attend. Travel grant
applications will be sent to all invited participants.
To submit abstracts or for more information please contact the UCLA
Armenian Graduate Students Association Colloquium Committee at:
colloquium.agsa”at”gsa.asucla.ucla.edu.
Francis Fukuyama at Free University of Tbilisi, Georgia.
Free University organizes a public discussion and hosts Francis Fukuyama.
Date: September 3, 2014 at 16:00
Address: Dighomi University Campus, Conference hall of Agricultural University of Georgia
For additional information, please visit:
https://www.facebook.com/events/1448213778777602/
International Leadership Forum-The Future of Democratization: Lessons of Building a Modern State in 21st Century-Georgia
Stanford University’s Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law (CDDRL) in partnership with the Economic Policy Research Center (EPRC) of Georgia is holding an International Leadership Forum entitled “The Future of Democratization: Lessons of Building a Modern State in 21st Century-Georgia”.
Date: September 1-3, 2014
Venue: Courtyard Marriott Hotel, Tbilisi, Georgia
The workshop will convene regional leaders drawn from Stanford University’s CDDRL Fellowship Alumni network from different countries, together with Stanford faculty, Georgian policy-makers, academia and members of the business community to exchange lessons on modern state-building.
For additional information, please visit: http://www.osgf.ge/index.php?lang_id=ENG&sec_id=15&info_id=3857
The 5th Kazbegi Trail Marathon will take place on September 6th 2014!
Full Marathon (42km), Half Marathon (21km) & Fun Run (8km)
Dramatic scenery, crystal-clear air and the indescribable grandeur of the Great Caucasus Mountains, alpine slopes, ancient towers and enchanting churches will accompany you throughout your race.
Become a part of the Trail Marathon in Kazbegi. This marathon is a great chance to participate in one of the most exciting races and experience the unspoiled beauty of Georgia.
For additional information, please visit http://www.kazbegi-marathon.com/
Presentation of the publication “South Caucasus at a Crossroad: Thorny Realities and Great Expectations”
Date: July 15, 2014, at 19:00
Venue: Goethe Institute. 16, Zandukeli Str., Tbilisi
The event is hosted by The South Caucasus Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation.
Publication will be presented by:
- Ms. Salome Asatiani, Editor of the publication
- Mr. Kornely Kakachia, Political Scientist, Tbilisi State University
- Ms. Nani Macharashvili,Political Scientist, Tbilisi State University
- Mr. David Sichinava, Sociologist, Caucasus Research Resource Center
The First World War and the Armenians (History and actual problems)
Date: October 1-2, 2014
Place: Yerevan, Armenia
Organized by National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Armenia and Yerevan State University
For more information, please visit here
CRRC: presentation of research results on “Gender diversity in Armenian financial companies”
to be delivered by Dr. Narine Melikyan
Date: June 6, 2014
Time: 14:30-16:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian Street, Yerevan State University Library Building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
For more information, please visit: http://crrc.am/news-events/420-Presentation-on–“Gender-diversity-in-Armenian-companies”?lang=en
ArtGene 2014, Georgia
Festival “ArtGene 2014” will take its start in regions of Georgia. 29th of June -East Georgia, 12th of July -West Georgia. The final part (20th of July -27th of July ) of the Festival will be traditionally held in Tbilisi, in the G. Chitaia Museum of Georgian architecture and ethnography, in which the masters of instrumental music, choreography, poetry and art craft will participate from all over Georgia. This year the festival will be attended by the minority groups, visitors from other regions of Caucasus.
For additional information, please visit: www.artgeni.ge
Public Lecture at Tbilisi State University
On 16th June Gerard J Libaridian, Professor of Michigan University, USA, will have a workshop on “South Caucasus Regional Development- Challenges and Risks after 20 Years of Independence.”
Date: 16th June, 2014, at 13:00
Venue: 1 Chavchavadze Avenue, TSU I Building, Auditorium #107
Current Practices in Armenian Studies: the creation and visibility of new knowledge
Saturday, May 31, 2014
Lenart Auditorium, Fowler Building, UCLA
An international conference presented by the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA, and the UCLA Research Program in Armenian Archaeology & Ethnography.
9:00 am GREGORY ARESHIAN, Welcome & Opening Remarks.
9:30 am Session A: S. PETER COWE, Chair
GREGORY ARESHIAN, Interdisciplinarity and ethnic studies: paradoxical conflict of research paradigms.
PAVEL AVETISYAN and RUBEN BADALYAN, From early farming societies to first polities: new data, approaches, and concepts.
HRACH MARTIROSYAN, The current state of studies and new perspectives in comparative-historical Armenian linguistics.
YERVAND GREKYAN, The current state of Urartology: achievements, problems, and perspectives.
12:00 pm Session B: LEVON ABRAHAMIAN, Chair
MICHAEL ROAF, Biainili-Urartu, Media and Persia.
JEAN-PIERRÉ MAHE, Methods and research tracks into Armenian. medieval history (IVth-XVth centuries CE).
S. PETER COWE, Research on Armenian literature: achievements, trends, and desiderata.
1:30 pm Lunch
2:30 pm Session C: THOMAS SINCLAIR, Chair
CHRISTINA MARANCI, Medieval Armenian architecture: the state of the field.
THOMAS SINCLAIR, Armenian material heritage in eastern Turkey: monuments, settlements, cities in the context of history and geography.
LEVON ABRAHAMIAN, Constructing Armenian identity: Early Medieval times to nowadays.
4:30 pm Session D: JEAN-PIERRE MAHÉ, Chair
STEPHAN ASTOURIAN, Assessing Armenian Genocide and the road ahead.
GEORGE BOURNOUTIAN, Armenian & Azeri historical claims to Nagorno-Karabagh: challenging current practices and seeking new approaches to difficult issues.
HRANUSH KHARATYAN, The people of Dersim as continuous dissidents and their ethno-religious diversity.
HARUTYUN MARUTYAN, Memory and identity in the Armenian Diaspora of the US: a view from Yerevan.
THEO VAN LINT, Discussant
7:30 pm – Dinner provided by Zaruhy Sara Chitjian, Fowler Terrace
Live music by Greg Hosharian
For more information regarding the UCLA Research Program in Armenian Archaeology and Ethnography, please visit ioa.ucla.edu/arp
Public Lecture at Ilia State University, Tbilisi
Ilia State University S. Tsereteli Institute of Philosophy invites you to a public lecture “On What Cannot Be Said”, on May 15, 5 p.m. A 101 hall. Professor of Logic and Computer Sciences of University of Amsterdam School of Science, Dr. Marten Marx will present at the meeting.
Dr. Marx will discuss the idea of unlimited language and claims about problematic expression of some concepts in formal language. He will bring specific examples to recognize whether problems of expression are due to our lack of knowledge or to language limitations.
The lecture will be held in English.
Attendance is free.
Exhibition of Rare Editions and Restored Books Kept at TSU Library Fund
An exhibition of rare editions and restored books was opened at the Library of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University. The rarest editions are exhibited, including an incunabulum printed in Lübeck in 1484; the book printed in Amsterdam in 1526 – conversations of a famous Dutch humanist, Erasmus of Rotterdam; the first Georgian printed book – Georgian Alphabet with Prayers printed in Rome in 1629; the first book printed in Georgia – a Gospel printed in 1709 in the printing house of King Vakhtang VI; The Knight in the Panthers Skin printed in 1712 in the printing house of King Vakhtang VI; the first Georgian magazine Tsiskari published in 1852; secular and ecclesiastical books printed in the printing houses of Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Sachkhere; a Gospel printed in Bakar Batonishvili’s printing house in Moscow in 1739, etc.
Director of the TSU Library Zurab Gaiparashvili said that “TSU has one of the oldest and richest libraries in the Caucasus both in terms of number of books and their diversity. The exhibition presents only a small part of the treasure kept in depositories. Therefore, a new department of rare editions (book museum) was created at the library in order to study and periodically exhibit unique editions kept in the fund.”
By exhibiting rare editions and restored books the TSU Library joined the events planned in frames of Library Week. The exhibition will last for a month.
DE-FACTO ENTITIES IN the POST-SOVIET SPACE: Dynamics and Prospects
Date: 4-5 September 2014
The Caucasus Institute (CI), supported by ASCN, is pleased to announce an international conference on “De-facto Entities In the Post-Soviet Space: Dynamics and Prospects” that will take place at Lake Sevan, Armenia from 4-5 September 2014.
For more information, please visit: http://www.ascn.ch/en/Events/Conference-Armenia-2014.html
FULL SPEED WESTWARD
The road movie about Georgia’s search for its future, which is currently running in Georgian cinemas will be screened on Wednesday, May 7th at 8 p.m. at the Rustaveli Cinemas in the English version!
The film by German filmmaker Stefan Tolz has been nominated for the Impact Award 2014 and was awarded the Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival TV Awards last month.
The film follows the events in Georgia from 2011-2013 out of the perspective of an old Volga 21 and it gets very close to Bidzina and Misha – it is a thrilling documentary, even for those of us, who know this country. Gogi Gvakharia, the main Georgian film critic, called it “the best Georgian film of 2013”.
You may check out the trailer on their nicely crafted website about Georgia’s future:
www.fullspeedwestward.com
Conference on United States Foreign Policy in Eastern Europe
Institute of American Studies at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University and Georgian Association for American Studies organize the 15th International Annual Conference on American Studies “United States Foreign Policy in Eastern Europe.”
However, proposals in all fields of American Studies: politics, history, education, philosophy, social and women issue, arts, literature, economics, law, journalism, medicine, etc. are welcome. Especially welcome are papers on United States Foreign Policy in Eastern Europe and those on Georgian-American relationship.
The aim of the conference is to
• discuss United States Foreign Policy in Eastern Europe;
• promote the study of Georgian-American relationship;
• provide scholarly and educational activity in the field;
• popularize relevant knowledge in the Georgian society;
• assist young professionals interested in American Studies;
• tighten links with American Studies programs in various universities.
Dates: 15-17 May, 2014
Opening Ceremony: 15 May 2014, 11:00 a.m.
Address: I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, I building, 1 Chavchavadze Ave., Tbilisi, Georgia
Working languages: Georgian and English
For additional information, please visit: www.tsu.edu.ge
Space, Society, Politics
The 2nd international conference ” Space, Society, Politics “ organized by the faculty of Social and Political Sciences of Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi state University will held on June 25-27, 2014 in Tbilisi.
The main theme of the conference, “ The Sea in an Interdisciplinary Context”, aims to promote the role of world ocean and coastline space on the background of planetary integration of states, peoples and cultures.
Besides, the conference is dedicated to 90th anniversary of the Economical Geography Department establishment by prominent scientist Giorgi Gekhtman on the basis of faculty of Social and Political Sciences at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
The sessions available at the conference are:
- Globalization and Regional Researches
- Economics; Port systems, Transport and Regional Development
- Human Geography, International Relations and Political Sciences
- Sociology, Semiotics, Journalism and Mass Communications, Psychology
The working languages of the conference are Georgian, English and Russian.
The conference registration fee: EURO 100
For PhD students: EURO 50
The conference site: www.ssp.tsu.ge
Do What You Can’t – Art on the Periphery
‘Periphery’ perceived from Georgian perspective as a mere geographical concept focuses on being outside the center. A center – which as a promised land – seems to offer opportunities and possibilities not existing on the periphery/ies. Therefore such perspectives on the periphery resemble Chekhov’s three sisters longing for Moscow as to live up to their dreams.
‘Periphery’ within the geographical center might address the discrepancy between the established and the Other, hence emphasizing differences within given opportunities and possibilities.
Together with Bernhard Garnicnig and Albert Allgaier – founders and curators of the Bregenz Biennale [http://bregenzbiennale.com/] – Tbilisi based artist and curator Katharina Stadler will discuss both challenges and prospects of working on the periphery as to compare experiences in the attempt to ‘DO WHAT YOU CAN’T’.
This evening’s discussion is commissioned and financed by the Austrian Embassy in Baku as part of the ‘Drei Länder eine Sprache | Three Countries One Language’ Weeks in Tbilisi.
The discussion is going to be in English.
Wednesday, 30.4.2014 19:00
GALLERY NECTAR
16 Agmashenebeli ave, Tbilisi 0102 Georgia
M: +995 598511505
E: nectarigallery@gmail.com
W: http://www.gallerynectar.ge/
ARPA Institute Presentation on The Armenian Historical Experience: The Impasse and the Discourse
Date: May 8, Thursday, at 7:30 pm
By Prof. Seta Dadoyan
Place: Merdinian school, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA
For more information please contact: info@ARPAInstitute.org
ARPA Institute Presentation on Armenia’s New Archaeological Discoveries
Date: May 1, Thursday, at 7:30 pm
By Dr. Hakob Simonyan, Chief Archeologist of the Ministry of Culture of Armenia
Language: Armenian
Place: Merdinian school, 13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA
For more information please contact: info@ARPAInstitute.org
International Conference on Topical Issues of Ancient Culture and Its Heritage
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, The Faculty of Humanities; The Institute of Classical, Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies; Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Institute of Ancient Studies organize a joint international conference on Topical Issues of Ancient Culture and Its Heritage that will be held in Tbilisi, Georgia on September 23-27, 2014.
For additional information, please visit TSU website: www.tsu.edu.ge CRRC: Training on “Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS”
Caucasus Research Resource Center (CRRC) – Armenia invites you to training “Quantitative Data Analysis with SPSS” to be delivered by Dr. Vahe Movsisyan (Central Bank of Armenia)
Date & Time: April 25, 2014, 17:00 – 20:00
April 26, 2014, 10:00 – 13:00 and 13:30 – 16:30
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian st., YSU Library building, 6th floor, room 602
Language: Armenian
For more information, please visit CRRC web-site
Discover Georgia Tours
Date: June 17-29
In our ninth season, join us for an exploration of Georgia’s oldest monasteries, founded in the sixth century by Christian ascetics from Syria.
Be among the first westerners to rediscover the frescoes and acoustics of these ancient houses of worship set amidst rolling vineyards, towering peaks, and the desert vistas of the Caspian basin.
Explore the gold treasures of ancient Colchis, the ornate Byzantine-era iconography, and other treasures in Tbilisi’s world-class museums.
Taste the exquisite Saperavi and Mtsvane home-made wines, grape varietals found only in the cradle of wine civilization.
The Monastery Tour was originally founded by friends Luarsab Togonidze and John A. Graham, the current incarnation of this unique tour is led by John with other professional guides. Our aim, in brief, is to share with you the sounds and wonders of medieval Georgia, while presenting the world-famous hospitality and charm of modern Georgia.
Seeking: World travelers, medievalists, musicians, self-educators, spiritual pilgrims, and adventurers of all varieties for an immersion experience at the crossroads of Europe and Asia: welcome to Caucasus Georgia!
All the details including the tour Application, tour fee, flight information, suggestions on what to bring, and contact details available at www.georgianchant.org
Borders in the Archaeology of Pre-Classical Anatolia and the South Caucasus (BA-IA)
11 April 2014, 09:30 AM
2nd Floor Lecture Hall
New York University
With The American Turkish Society, ISAW will be presenting a lecture and workshop on April 10-11, organized by Lorenzo d’Alfonso and Karen Rubinson. The workshop, taking place on April 11th, will explore the concept of borders within the landscape of pre-classical Anatolia and the South Caucasus, areas with highly varied physical geographies and both past and recent political borders that have biased interpretation of archaeological information. Recent text-based studies on the historical geography of the region encourage the reconsideration of the correspondence between the written and archaeological records. Data from this area has been studied by a variety of scholars, some of whom look at it from “outside” and some from “inside,” to different effects. This workshop will bring some of these perspectives together.
Seating is limited, please email isaw “at” nyu.edu to register.
The workshop will be preceded by a lecture on Thursday, April 10th at 6:00pm with Drs. Mehmet Isikli and Marcella Frangipane presenting on their excavations at Arslantepe/Malatya and Ayanis. Visit https://isaw.nyu.edu/events/excavations-at-arslantepe-malatay-and-ayanis for program and registration information.
For more information, please see http://isaw.nyu.edu/events/borders-in-the-archaeology-of-pre-classical-anatolia-and-the-south-caucasus-ba-ia
Tufts Caucasus Forum
On April 10th and 11th, Tufts University will be hosting a forum focusing on modern issues affecting the Caucasus region. Located at the crossroads of the Mediterranean, Central Asia, Russia and the Middle East, the Caucasus plays a critical role in both global trade and regional security. It is also one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world, home to over fifty tribal groups and ethnicities with rich and complex histories. Our goal is to provide a comprehensive analysis of the Caucasus’ geopolitical significance, its cultural diversity and its security challenges. We hope to initiate dialogue on the Caucasus region among the Tufts and the greater Boston community, which will promote awareness, understanding and guide more effective policy. For more information, see http://tuftscaucasusforum.weebly.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/601591989926547/?ref_dashboard_filter=upcoming
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CaucasusForum14
Conflict Transformation through Culture: Peace-Building and the Arts
06 Apr – 10 Apr, 2014
Abstract: 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of World War I and the beginning of a nearly half a century of industrialized conflict. This program will continue Salzburg Global’s series on “The Transformative Power of the Arts”, supported through our long-standing partnership with the Edward T. Cone Foundation. It will explore the role that cultural institutions and the arts have played – and can play – in pre- and post-war situations, in reconciliation and forgiveness, in post-conflict society rebuilding, and in conflict prevention. The main goal of the program will be to engage international institutions and innovators working in the areas of peace-building and conflict prevention, including cultural institutions, policy makers, NGO leaders, scholars, artists and the media, to understand and map the unique and often underestimated role that ‘soft power’ can play in peace-building and post-conflict societies. The program is designed to lay the foundations for a five-year series focused on specific conflict/post-conflict regions.
Immediately before this session, a fee-based Arts and Leadership residential weekend workshop will be held in Salzburg, April 4 to 6, 2014.
For more information, please see http://www.salzburgglobal.org/calendar/2010-2019/2014/session-532.html
This session is supported by the Edward T. Cone Foundation and the Robert Bosch Foundation.
From Armenia to New York: Five Short Films
An Evening With Young Armenian Filmmakers at Columbia University
Please join us for screenings and discussion of five short films by up-and-coming Armenian filmmakers (Ophelia Harutyunyan, Jesse Soursourian, Viktorya Aleksanyan, Eric Shahinian, Anahid Yahjian), followed by a Q&A with the directors moderated by Raffi Asdourian (A&E, Sundance Channel).
This event is free and open to the public. Food and refreshments provided.
When: Friday, March 28 at 7:00pm
Where: Columbia University, Schermerhorn 501
PUBLIC LECTURE: The Armenian-Tatar War: Ethnic Conflict in an Imperial Setting, by Dr. Stephan Astourian
Date: March 27, 6:30 pm 8:30 pm
Organizer: Armenian Digital Library
Venue: Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall
Phone: +374 10 32-40-40
Address: 40 Marshal Baghramyan Ave, Yerevan, Armenia
For more information please visit: http://newsroom.aua.am/event/public-lecture-the-armenian-tatar-war-ethnic-conflict-in-an-imperial-setting-by-dr-stephan-astourian/
ART EXHIBITION: PIXELS, by Levon Fljyan
Start: March 1, 2014 10:00 am
End: May 1, 2014 5:00 pm
Organizer: Institutional Advancement Department
Venue: Akian Art Gallery, Paramaz Avedisian Building, American University of Armenia
Address: Baghramyan Ave., 40, Yerevan 0019, Armenia, Yerevan, Armenia
ARMENIAN ECONOMIC ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE:
The Armenian Economic Association 2014 annual meetings will be jointly hosted by Yerevan State University (YSU), the Russian Armenian University (RAU), and the American University of Armenia (AUA) on June 20-22, followed by a workshop June 23, 2014.
Scholars, researchers, and graduate students are invited to present their research in all areas of economics. Papers may address growth and development issues in Armenia and the South-Caucasus, regional trade patterns, trends in labor markets and migration, the aftermath of the global financial crisis, or any other topic representing current advances in economics and finance. Both theoretical and empirical works are welcome. The
language of the conference is Armenian and English.
For more information, please visit: http://www.aea.am/conferences.html
REGIONAL WORKSHOP: “Sustainable management of water resources and conservation of mountain lake ecosystems of Asian countries”
Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia, AASSA and National Academy of Sciences of Republic of Armenia announces the Regional Workshop on “Sustainable management of water resources and conservation of mountain lake ecosystems of Asian countries”.
The Workshop will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on the 25th-29th of June, 2014. The deadline for submission of abstracts is March 27, 2014. Abstracts, registration forms and short CV should be addressed to Mrs. Marine Nalbandyan, Workshop coordinator in Armenia, AASSA Regional Workshop Secretariat.
Institute of Geological Sciences, IGS of the NAS of RA
Address: 24A, Marshal Baghramian Avenue,
Yerevan 0019, Republic of Armenia
Tel.: (+374 10) 524426, (095) 456580,
Fax: (+374 10) 522344
E-mail: aassa.conference14 “at” gmail . com
Lecture:
2014 Midwest Slavic Conference
March 28th-30th, 2014
The Ohio State University
The 2014 Midwest Slavic Conference will be held March 28th-30th, 2014 at The Ohio State University. The tentative panel schedule can be found here. All panels will be held in Mendenhall Lab.
On Friday, March 28th, Dr. Eric McGlinchey (George Mason University) will give the keynote address, which is titled “A Theft So Nice, They Did it Twice: Fleecing Local Populations and Foreign Investors in Central Asia.” The keynote address will begin at 5:30pm in Page Hall, room 10. Immediately afterwards from 6:45pm-8:15pm, the reception will take place on the first floor of Page Hall.
On Saturday, March 29th, as part of the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Slavic Department, Dr Todd Armstrong (Grinnell College) will give a talk titled “Russian Mad Men: Valery Todorovsky’s Teleserial Ottepel’ as a Window on Russian Culture.” The talk will take place from 12:15pm-1:45pm in Mendenhall Lab, room 100. Senator Sherrod Brown and Representative Michael Stinziano will speak briefly at the beginning of the luncheon.
For more information on the conference, please visit the Slavic Center website. If you still have not registered, please do so here.
“The Decline and Fall of the Safavid Dynasty: Comparisons and Lessons “
Prof. Rudi Matthee of the University of Delaware
Wednesday, March 12, 2014 at 5:30 pm
Faculty House of Columbia University
Summary: In the last quarter century or so, decline has become a contested, even controversial notion with regard to Middle Eastern states. We still legitimately talk about Venetian decline, Dutch decline, British decline and, now, American decline, yet decline applied to the Islamic Middle East has become a loaded, even a taboo term. Mughal scholars have long argued that the dissolution of the center in the 18th century coincided with the rise of the periphery. And in the Ottoman case scholars tend to address it by way of denial, to the point where the very task of refuting ‘decline’ has become a preoccupation in itself.
My talk takes its cue from this current intellectual climate to argue that, in the case of the Safavids, the notion of decline preceding their abrupt fall in 1722 is impossible to deny, circumvent or ignore; we have to confront it head-on, laying out characteristics and causes. I further argue that we might gain a better perspective on those by comparing conditions in the Safavid realm with those in two adjacent states of similar cultural and sociopolitical disposition—the Ottomans and the Mughals. In an effort to bring some organization and clarity to the issue, I propose to look at the evolution of four distinct, yet interrelated aspects of these states and societies—environmental-economic conditions, the state of the military, political structures and processes, and ideological-religious features.
I finally consider the historiographical “lessons” to be drawn from the fall of the Safavids. This includes reflections on the mechanisms Iran’s rulers of the past employed to manage and preserve their multiethnic empire, how the Safavids gave up on those mechanisms, and what today’s rulers might learn from this example. I will end with some thoughts on the effects of the century of turmoil and relative isolation that followed the demise of the Safavid dynasty on Iran’s history and the evolving self-image of Iranians.
Bio: Rudi Matthee studied Persian and Arabic language and literature at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands. In 1976-77 he lived in Iran as an exchange student, and in 1981-83 he spent two years studying in Egypt. In 1991 he received his Ph.D. in Islamic Studies from the University of California, Los Angles. Since 1993 he has been teaching at the University of Delaware, where he is Distinguished Professor of Middle Eastern History.
He is the former president (2002-05 and 2008-11) of the Association for the Study of Persianate Societies (Anjoman-e Javame`-ye Farsi-Zaban). He served as book review editor for the journal Iranian Studies, 1996-2006, is coeditor of the journal Der Islam, and the consulting editor for Safavid history for the Encyclopaedia Iranica. In 2002-03 he was a fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Princeton. In 2011 he served as the Roshan Professor of Persian Studies at the University of Maryland.
Matthee has published some fifty articles on Safavid and Qajar Iran as well as Egypt. He authored The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730 (Cambridge University Press, 1999), recipient of prize for best non-Persian language book on Iranian history, 1999, awarded by the Iranian Ministry of Culture; honorable mention for British-Kuwaiti Friendship prize for best book on the Middle East published in Great Britain, 1999; as well as The Pursuit of Pleasure: Drugs and Stimulants in Iranian History, 1500-1900 (Princeton University Press, 2005), recipient of the MESA (Middle East Studies Association) Albert Hourani Book Prize, and of the International Society of Iranian Studies Saidi Sirjani Prize; Iqtisad va siyasat-i khariji-yi `asr-i Safavi, trans. and ed. Hasan Zandiyeh (Tehran, 2008); Persia in Crisis: Safavid Decline and the Fall of Isfahan (London: I.B. Tauris, 2012), recipient of the British-Kuwaiti Friendship Prize and the Jayezeh-ye jahani-ye ketab, prize for best book on Iranian history awarded by the Iranian Ministry of Culture (to be published in Iran in 2014 as Iran dar zavval: Inhitat-e Safaviyan va soqut-e Isfahan; Tehran: Namak); and, with Willem Floor and Patrick Clawson, The Monetary History of Iran, 1500-1925 (London, I.B. Tauris, 2013). He coedited Iran and Beyond: Essays in Honor of Nikki R. Keddie (with Beth Baron, Mazda, 2000); Iran and the Surrounding World: Interactions in Culture and Cultural Politics (with Nikki Keddie, University of Washington Press, 2002); and Portugal, the Persian Gulf and Safavid Persia (with Jorge Flores, Leuven: Peeters, 2011).
This is the sixth meeting of the 26th consecutive year of Columbia University Seminar on Iranian Studies for the academic year 2013-2014. Please notify the rapporteur, Justin McNamee at jlm2262 “at” columbia. edu if you will attend the lecture.
ARPA INSTITUTE PRESENTATION: Encouraging Developments in the IT and High Tech Sectors in Armenia”
Date: March 10, Monday at 7:30 pm
By Vahagn Poghosyan, CTO of Instigate, in Merdinian.
For more information please read: file:///C:/Users/ARISC/Downloads/ARPASeminar31014-Vahagn.pdf
PRESENTATION: Research on Setting the Minimum Optimal Wage Level in Armenia:Adjustments in the Social Policy
Ruzanna Gabrielyan and Vanuhi Mnatsakanyan (CRRC-Armenia Senior Fellows)
Date: March 5, 2014
Time: 14.30:16.00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian Str., Library bld., 6rd Floor, Room 602
Language: Armenian
Registration:
If interested in the presentation, please, confirm your attendance via crrcnews@crrc.am or call at (010) 57 48 98, 57 48 68
For more information visit the CRRC-Armenia website .
JOINT PANEL DISCUSSION: Cultural Identity and Armenia-Diaspora
Next ARPA Institute-UCLA Joint Panel Discussion, March 1, Saturday at 7:30 pm, on “Cultural Identity and Armenia-Diaspora Relations”, in Merdinian. The panelists will be Graduate students and the panel discussion will be moderated by Prof. Peter Cowe.
For more information, please read: file:///C:/Users/ARISC/Downloads/ARPASeminar3114-Cowe%20(1).pdf
BOOK PRESENTATION: Georgian Foreign Policy: The Quest for Sustainable Security, a multi-author volume with insights and analysis on the challenges and prospects of Georgian foreign policy
Konrad Adenauer Foundation and Georgian Institute of Politics are proud to present the new book Georgian Foreign Policy: The Quest for Sustainable Security, a multi-author volume with insights and analysis on the challenges and prospects of Georgian foreign policy.
There will be an official book launch on February 24 at 16:00 at the First Building at Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University, located at 1 Chavchavadze Ave.
Contributing authors include Ghia Nodia (Ilia University), Stephen Jones (Mt. Holyoke College), Kornely Kakachia (Tbilisi State University), Zaur Shiriyev (Caucasus International), Mamuka Tsereteli (Johns Hopkins University), Dr. Neil MacFarlane (Oxford University), and many others. The book will be offered for free to all interested in obtaining a copy (first come, first serve).
The Hon. Tedo Japaridze, Chairman of the Parliament Foreign Relations Committee, will offer his remarks.
TRUST, INSTITUTIONS AND ECONOMIC GROWTH IN SOUTH CAUCASUS
Date: February 19
Time: 14.30:16.00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian Str, Library bld., 6rd Floor, Room 602
Language: Armenian
Registration: If interested in the presentation, please, confirm your attendance via crrcnews@crrc.am or call at (010) 57 48 98, 57 48 68 before February 18, at 17:00, mentioning your name and organizational affiliation.
For more information, please visit: http://www.crrc.am/news-events/404-Presentation-on–%E2%80%9CTrust,-Institutions-and-Economic-Growth-in-South-Caucasus%E2%80%9D?lang=en
THE FIRST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON TATI STUDIES
Department of Iranian Studies, Yerevan State University, in cooperation with Modus Vivendi Center is organizing the 1st International Conference on Tati Studies (supported by Hyksos Foundation).
The Conference will be held in Yerevan, Armenia on the 16th-17th of May, 2014.
The deadline for submission of abstracts is April 21, 2014.
As an ancient Iranian people with the unique national identity, language and culture, the Caucasian Persians or Tats are now mainly settled in the northern regions of Azerbaijan Republic (Historical Shirvan), as well as in the Autonomous Republic of Dagestan, Russian Federation.
This first convention to study Caucasian Persians or Tats has an aim to showcase to a wider academic public the so far unveiled nature of this Iranian/Indo-European nation and to cover such topics as History, Language, Religious beliefs, Culture and Anthropology.
Abstracts not exceeding 500 words must contain:
· Name(s)
· Affiliation
· E-mail address/fax nr/phone nr
· Title of the paper
· A short abstract (max. 500 words) with a clearly stated thesis
Please email abstracts in Word document format to: tati.studies@yahoo.com
For more information please visit: http://armacad.blogspot.com/2014/02/confcfp-1st-international-conference-on.html
CONFERENCE CFP- ‘CHALLENGES OF MODERNITY: PHILOSOPHICAL AND PHSYCHOLOGICAL ISSUES’
Department of philosophy and psychology at Yerevan State University cordially invites you to participate in international conference on “Challenges of Modernity: Philosophical and Psychological Issues” which is dedicated to the 50 th anniversary of the establishment of the department. The conference will be held from October 10-12, 2014, in Yerevan, Armenia.
Place: Yereva, Armenia
Date: October 10-12, 2014
For more information please visit: http://armacad.blogspot.com/2014/02/challenges-of-modernity-philosophical.html
THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF ARMENIA IS PLEASED TO ANNOUNCE THE AUA SUMMER 2014 PROGRAM.
Applications are now being accepted through the extended deadline of February 15.
Course dates: June 9 to 27, 2014
Comprised of three weeks at Armenia’s very own university offering a global education, AUA Summer 2014 is an opportunity to get acquainted with the legacy and culture of the Armenian people in an American-accredited institution, while at the same time getting in touch with modern-day Armenia.
Course offerings: Armenian Heritage and Culture, Armenian Music, Armenian Art and Architecture
Lectures and presentations on Armenian Heritage and Culture, Armenian Music, and Armenian Art and Architecture will be interspersed with excursions to concerts or theater, historical sites in Armenia, as well as visits to museums and galleries.
– See more at: http://summer2014.aua.am/#sthash.M1a8av56.dpuf
CRRC METHODOLOGICAL CONFERENCE ON MEASURING SOCIAL INEQUALITY IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS AND ITS NEIGHBORHOOD
Place: Tbilisi,
Georgia
Date: June 25, 2014
Language: English
For more information, please, visit CRRC-Armenia website http://crrc.am
WOMEN, LEADERSHIP AND SOCIETY
Yerevan State University Center for Gender and Leadership Studies is pleased to announce a call for paper for its second annual Conference “Women, Leadership, and Society”. The conference will take place on June 10th, 2014 at Yerevan State University (A. Manoogian str.1, Balian conference hall).
For more information, please visit: http://armacad.blogspot.com/2014/02/confcfp-women-leadership-and-society.html
PRESENTATION: THE ORIGINS OF THE ARMENIAN CIVILIZATION
ARPA Institute Presentation by Prof. Gregory Areshian of UCLA will be held on FRIDAY, January 31, at 7:30 pm in Merdinian (13330 Riverside Dr., Sherman Oaks, CA).
For more information, please visit: http://arpainstitute.org/Seminar.html
SEMINAR: ARMENIAN POLICE REFORM IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE
Nona Shahnazarian (Center for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg, Russia) and Matthew Light (University of Toronto, Canada)
Date: January 29, 2014
Time: 14:30-16:00
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 1 Alex Manoogian Str., YSU Library bld., 6rd Fl. room 602
Yerevan, Armenia
Language: English
For more information, please visit CRRC-Armenia website http://crrc.am
Seminar: Quebec Separatism in Canada: Evolution, Management, and Possible Implications for Georgia
Georgian Political Science Association (GPSA) and the Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS) are pleased to invite you to a seminar
Quebec Separatism in Canada: Evolution, Management, and Possible Implications for Georgia
By Matthew Light
In the mid-twentieth century, French-Canadian nationalism in Quebec province, Canada, led to the rise of a separatist movement, which for several decades threatened to tear Canada apart. Yet, in recent years, the separatist threat to Canadian unity has receded considerably. The presentation examines the origins of Quebec separatism, and asks how Canada has managed it. I argue that the Canadian government has contained the separatist movement through a combination of strategic concessions, both symbolic and substantive, to the Francophone population of Quebec; as well as through successful cooptation of a significant portion of Quebec’s political elite. However, these strategies have also imposed substantial costs on Canada. The presentation also asks whether some of Canada’s strategies for dealing with its separatist problem may be applicable in Georgia
DATE: 16:00 18 December 2013
VENUE: 3a Chitadze str. Tbilisi
Matthew Light holds degrees in law and political science from Yale University. Since 2008, he has been assistant professor of criminology and European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies at the University of Toronto, Canada. Light has written and published on migration, law enforcement, and corruption in post-Soviet Russia and Georgia.
Book Presentation: Georgia: A Political History Since Independence
On 10 December, 2013 Center for Social Sciences organizes a presentation of Georgian Edition of Professor Stephen F. Jones’ new book:
“Georgia: A Political History Since Independence”
Professor Stephen F. Jones is a prominent scholar and an expert on post-communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He is a Professor of Russian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Professor Jones also is an Honorary Doctorate of Tbilisi State University, and a member of CSS International Advisory Board.
Date: 10 December, 2013, Time: 17:00-18:30
Venue: 1 Chavchavadze Ave., TSU I building, Room #115
Book Overview:
Georgia emerged from the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 with the promise of swift economic and democratic reform. But that promise remains unfulfilled. Economic collapse, secessionist challenges, civil war and the failure to escape the legacy of Soviet rule – culminating in the 2008 war with Russia – characterize a two-decade struggle to establish democratic institutions and consolidate statehood. Here, Stephen Jones critically analyses Georgia’s recent political and economic development, illustrating what its ‘transition’ has meant, not just for the state, but for its citizens as well. An authoritative and commanding exploration of Georgia since independence, this is essential for those interested in the post-Soviet world.
Release date of original Eglish Edition: December 24, 2012, Publisher: I. B. Tauris (ISBN-10: 1845113381; ISBN-13: 978-1845113384) ©2012 – Stephen Jones
Release date of Georgian Edition: December 2013, Publisher: Center for Social Sciences (ISBN 978-9941-0-5972-8; ISSN – 1512-4576) ©2013 – Center for Social Sciences
The Georgian translation of the book has been prepared by the CENTER FOR SOCIAL SCIENCES (CSS). Published with the financial support of the Open Society Georgia Foundation. The views, opinions and statements expressed by the authors and those providing comments are theirs only and do not necessarily reflect the position of the Foundation. Therefore, the Open Society Georgia Foundation is not responsible for the content of the information material. The book was published in cooperation with NEKERI Press.
GPSA Seminar: Armenia and the Customs Union: Implications for Georgia
Georgian Political Science Association (GPSA, Georgia) and the Regional Studies Center (RSC, Armenia) are pleased to invite you to a seminar
Armenia and the Customs Union: Implications for Georgia
Richard Giragosian, Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC) and David Shahnazaryan, Founder & Chairman of the Center for Legal and Political Studies “Concord” will discuss the decision by the Armenian president to sacrifice the planned initialing of the Association Agreement and associated DCFTA with the European Union and to pledge to join the Russian-led Customs Union instead. Presenters will focus will on how and why this decision was made, with an analysis of the implications for Armenia, the impact on the bilateral Armenian-Georgian relationship, and on a broader regional level, the repercussions for Georgia specifically.
Venue: 107, Javakhishvili Auditorium, Tbilisi State University
Time and Date: 16:00-18:00, 19 November 2013
Richard Giragosian is the Founding Director of the Regional Studies Center (RSC), an independent think tank in Yerevan, Armenia (www.regional-studies.org) and serves as both a Visiting Professor and Senior Expert at Yerevan State University’s Centre for European Studies (CES). From 2002-2006, Giragosian was a guest lecturer for the U.S. Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School at Fort Bragg, NC, and for nine years, served as a Professional Staff Member of the Joint Economic Committee (JEC) of the U.S. Congress.
David Shahnazaryan, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Founder & Chairman of the Center for Legal and Political Studies “Concord”, is a former two-term deputy in the Armenian parliament (1991-1995 and 1995-1999) and was a founding member of the Board of the “Armenian National Movement” Party. He has also held several senior-level posts in the Armenian government, serving as the Ambassador of the President of Armenia on Special Missions and Special Representative of the President of Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict Negotiations from 1992-1995, and as the Armenian Minister of National Security from 1994-1995.
This event is free and open to the public. The presentation will be held in English and Russian
Join the Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/events/605534456150247/?ref=3&ref_newsfeed_story_type=regular
CERES Conference: Iran and the South Caucasus
October 30, 2013
9:00am – 5:00pm
Copley Hall, Georgetown University
Speakers include: Patrick Clawson, Svante Cornell, Ken Katzman, Charles King, Alexander Rondeli, Eric Rubin, Sevak Sarukhanyan, Brenda Shaffer, Leonard Spector and Angela Stent
Panel 1: Iran and the South Caucasus: Energy, Trade and Ties
Panel 2: Iran Sanctions and the South Caucasus
Roundtable: United States-Iran-South Caucasus Triangle
ceres.georgetown.edu
https://ceres-conference-fall2013.eventbrite.com/
Studying Social Process around National, Cultural and Religious Boundaries: Anthropological Research in Georgia
Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University Institute of Ethnology invites you to take a part in the Workshop “Studying Social Process around National, Cultural and Religious Boundaries: Anthropological Research in Georgia”
Workshop will start on Monday, October 28 at 15:00
Venue: 1 I.Chavchavadze Ave., TSU I Building, Room 07
Program:
15.00- 15.10 Welcome by Ketevan Khutsishvili and John Schoeberlein
15.10- 15.25 Giorgi Cheishvili: The homeland beyond the border: cross-border relations between Batumi and its hinterland in Turkey
15.25- 15.45 Giorgi Meurmishvili Crossing the borders (case of Avars in Georgia)
15.45- 16.05 Nino Siprashvili Religious situation in Pankisi gorge
16.05-16.25 Tamar Khutsishvili Cross-border relations (an experience of the Red Bridge)
16.25-16.45 Zviad Mirtskhulava, Irakli Sharvadze Communicational channels in Tskhinvali region border zone
17.05-17.25 Anna Ramazashvili, Irakli Sharvadze Interethnic relations on Georgian-Armenian border (the example of Tavush province)
17.25-18.00 Discussion
The event is open to public
The Hurrian City of Urkesh Past and Present: Regional Connections and Urban Contacts
Marilyn Kelly-Buccellati, Cotsen Institute of Archaeology, UCLA
Georgian National Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia
July 10, 2013, at 2PM
ABSTRACT
In 2007 we published in the Georgian National Academy of Science Bulletin our assessment of the relevance of our excavations of the city of Urkesh to the question of the Hurrian homeland. In this article we posited a Hurrian connection with its hinterland in the Tur-Abdin mountains and beyond, possibly dating as early as the fifth millennium. Since then our excavations added more data that provide strong support for our initial hypotheses. They have also added new evidence and new lines of investigation for the regional impact of the Early Transcaucasian culture on the Outer Fertile Crescent and the northern arc of Syro-Mesopotamia.
After reviewing these new data, my paper will present an assessment of Early Transcaucasian migration mechanisms, choice of landscape and resource opportunities and especially the varied experience of the encounter with dissimilar socioeconomic environments. I will take up the differentiated and uneven regional relationships that this culture experienced, especially with urban environments, asking questions regarding the urban social order within which different groups existed, both successfully and unsuccessfully. Then I will review questions of the chronology and the impact of the Early Transcaucasian culture in Mozan/Urkesh.
As a conclusion I will present our project for the establishment of an Eco-Archaeological Park in the area of Tell Mozan. The Park encompasses the entire inner hinterland of the ancient city of Urkesh and comprises 54 sq km including 22 villages. The aim of the Park is to preserve the ancient landscape, and continue our decades long commitment to the preservation of the site and the area. The Park aims to provite a sustainable economic base for an area that is unfortunately gradually becoming depopulated , and this before the present tragic civil war in Syria. The idea of the Park with its implementation to date within the contemporary context will be presented along with the steps we have successfully taken to inform the local stakeholders and the international community of this endeavor. We view the Park as a threshold to an interregional network of similar archaeological parks that would emphasize the chronologically deep and culturally profound connections across the entire Outer Fertile Crescent, starting from the fifth millennium through the Early Christian period.
Stalin Puzzle
to be delivered by Thomas de Waal (Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment)
July 9, 2013 at 14:30
CRRC-Armenia, 52 Abovyan Street, 3rd Floor, Room 305, Yerevan, Armenia
Language:English
General Overview: Even after his death in 1953 and the end of the Soviet era, Joseph Stalin is still widely discussed in different context, but more often in political terms. To decode the phenomenon of this individual in the countries of South Caucasus and in Russia, Carnegie endowment in 2012 commissioned a bunch of question Caucasus research Resource Centers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and Levada Center in Russia to check the public opinion towards Stalin. The presentation will provide the figures and respective interpretation to the “Stalin Puzzle” and invite to a discussion in and around the controversy of both the era and his personality.
You can find the “The Stalin Puzzle: Deciphering Post-Soviet Public Opinion” online at http://carnegieendowment.org/files/stalin_puzzle.pdf
Short Bio: Tom De Waal is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, specializing primarily in the South Caucasus region comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and their breakaway territories as well as the wider Black Sea region.
He is author of the authoritative book on the Karabakh conflict, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, which has been translated into Armenian, Azeri, and Russian, with a new, revised edition of the book released in early July 2013, as a special 10th anniversary edition. His latest book is The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010).
De Waal has worked extensively as a journalist and writer in the Caucasus and Black Sea region and in Russia. He has twice worked as an analyst and reporter for the BBC World Service in London, from 1991 to 1993 and from 1998 to 1999, and continues to make documentaries for BBC Radio.
From 1993 to 1997, he worked in Moscow for the Moscow Times, the Times of London, and the Economist, specializing in Russian politics and the situation in Chechnya. He is the co-author (with Carlotta Gall) of the book Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1997), for which the authors were awarded the James Cameron Prize for Distinguished Reporting.
Registration: If interested in the discussion, please, confirm your attendance via crrcnews “at” crrc. am or call at 58 13 30, 58 14 50 before July 9, at 12:00, mentioning your name and organizational affiliation.
Developing an inclusive social policy: Education for IDPs, rural schools, and women in Azerbaijan’s south
CRRC-Azerbaijan Work in Progress (WiP) series
Date: Friday, June 28, 2013
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Khazar University, 122 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Room #13 (1st floor), Baku. Map: http://goo.gl/OxY09
Overview: CRRC-Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to a public lecture “Developing an inclusive social policy: Education for IDPs, rural schools, and women in Azerbaijan’s south” by Vitaly Radsky, an International Fellow at the Center for Innovations in Education in Baku.
Mr. Radsky will present data from the State Students Admission Commission (TQDK) university entrance exam to compare university admittance for three vulnerable groups: students from internally displaced families (IDPs), students in rural regions, and girls in Azerbaijan’s south. Students from all three groups apply and are accepted to universities at lower rates than the average in the location where they live, suggesting that these groups are indeed disadvantaged. In addition to providing specific data on vulnerability, he will use the framework of social exclusion to explain the lower educational performance and lead into a discussion of possible policy options for the government to decrease vulnerability of these groups. The main argument of the paper is that the social exclusion can be a useful framework for first measuring and then explaining deprivation of certain groups in society and can thus be very useful base for developing social policy.
Presentation: Powerpoint slides http://crrc.az/upload/CIE_SocialExclusionforIDP_AlumniConferencePresentation.ppt
Lecturer’s Bio: Vitaly Radsky is currently working as an International Fellow at the Center for Innovations in Education (CIE) in Baku. He has working with local civil society in human rights and education since coming to Azerbaijan through the U.S. State Department’s Critical Language Scholarship in the summer of 2011. Though new to the field of education, during the last two years he has participated in four CIE publications including studies on private tutoring, school leadership, and education for vulnerable groups such as internally displaced children. He received his B.A. in political science from Davidson College, USA and can communicate in English, Russian, and to some extent in Azerbaijani.
Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP to Aynur Hajiyeva at aynur “at” crrccenters.org.
CRRC-Azerbaijan Public Lecture: “Russian Attitudes on Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Migration”
Date: Monday, June 24, 2013
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Khazar University, 122 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Room #13, Baku. Map: http://goo.gl/OxY09
Overview: CRRC-Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to a public lecture “Russian Attitudes on Nationalism, Ethnicity, and Migration” by Dr. Henry E. Hale, Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University.
Summary of talk: Some observers have noted a rise in nationalist and anti-migrant sentiments in Russia in recent years. The speaker will present preliminary findings from a new survey of public opinion in Russia that documents the extent of such sentiments and explores their sources.
Speaker’s Bio: Henry E. Hale (PhD Harvard 1998) is Associate Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the George Washington University in Washington, DC. He is the author of the books Why Not Parties in Russia? Democracy, Federalism and the State and The Foundations of Ethnic Politics: Separatism of States and Nations in Eurasia and Beyond and co-editor of the collective monograph Россия 2000-х: Стереоскопический взгляд. He co-directs the Program on New Approaches to Research and Security in Eurasia (PONARS Eurasia) and was director of the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES) at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs 2009-12.
Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP to Aynur Hajiyeva at aynur “at ” crrccenters.org
https://www.facebook.com/events/510111465721666/
2nd Alumni Education Forum
“Reforming Azerbaijan’s Education System: Challenges and Policy Solutions”
June 20, 2013, Baku, Azerbaijan
Organizers: US-Educated Azerbaijan Alumni Association (AAA), Center for Innovations in Education (CIE), and American Center of the Azerbaijan University of Languages
Location: The Baku American Center of the University of Languages, located at 60 Rashid Behbudov Street. The conference will run from 9:30 to 13:30.
Working language: Azerbaijani language (translation is provided for presentations in English language)
Forum Agenda
9:00- 9:30 Registration
9:30- 10:00 Opening Remarks by distinguished guests (The Ministry of Education, The State Students Admission Commission and University of Languages)
Format of the presentations:
– each presentation is 15 minutes;
– questions are welcomed during or after each presentation;
– discussion is encouraged only for 10 minutes after each presentation.
Moderators: Asif Jahangirov & Ulviya Mikailova
10:00- 11:30 Session I
Improving the Quality of Education through Community Participation in School Management: Any possibility without further educational decentralization?
Murad Nasibov, Co-Founder of New Education Initiatives, Health and Gender Program Officer, Oxfam Azerbaijan
Linking Higher Educational Institutions with the Industry- The Success Model
Elshan Rzayev, Petrophysics Discipline Lead in BP AGT Baku
Teacher Training and Development
Gunel Jafarova, ABA CEELI and Qafqaz University
11:30- 11:45 Coffee Break
11:45- 1:15 Session II
Introductory remarks by Chargé d’affaires, Victoria Sloan, US Embassy in Baku
Developing an Inclusive Social Policy: Education for Azerbaijan’s IDPs
Vitaly Radsky, Center for Innovations in Education
Educational Reform and Prevention of Vulnerability
Gwen Burchell, United Aid for Azerbaijan
Analysis of Master Admission Exam Results in Logical Questions
Elmin Ibrahimov, Murad Muradov, Takhmina Imanova (recent graduates of Master of Arts in Diplomacy and International Affairs, Azerbaijan Diplomatic Academy)
1:15- 1:30 Closing Remarks
Conference papers can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/metjttz
“Connected Revolutions: Armenians and the Russian, Ottoman, and Iranian Revolutions in the Early Twentieth Century”
Presentation by Prof. Houri Berberian
Thursday, June 20, 2013 @ 7:30PM
In the Hampar Hall of the Western Diocese of the Armenian Church: 3325 N Glenoaks
Blvd Burbank. CA 91504, USA
Abstract: In 1907, a skilled bomb maker and one of the three founders of the Armenian revolutionary party (Dashnaktsutiun) of the late 19th century, Rostorn (Stepan Zorian) sat with Iranian connitutionalist leaders and agreed to a deal. He consented to place the party at the service of the Iranian Constitutional Revolution (1905 1911). Months later, Armenian revolutionaries took up arms against royalists trying to halt the progress of the constitutional revolution. Only two years earlier, Rostom had been in the Caucasus, during the Russian Revolution (1905), convincing his party comrades there to include the Caucasus in their revolutionary struggle. Fast forward three years to 1908, and Rostom took part in important discussions with Ottoman revolutionaries involved in the reinstatement of the constitution of that year. His geographic mobility, his sudden appearance at pivotal moments in three different states’ revolutionary struggles, and his remarkable ease when operating in varied and dramatically different milieus are nothing short of striking. Yet Rostom was only one of many Armenians who made their way through the early twentieth-century revolutions in the Ottoman, Russian, and Iranian region, often participating in two or three of the revolutions. Their involvement points to a fascinating and heretofore unexamined and important feature of modern revolutions: the critical circulation of not just ideas but of individuals and material. A review of the biographies of these individuals, political party documents, and correspondence demonstrates how mobile, active, and dynamic many were in connecting all the major revolutions at the dawn of the twentieth century. Drawing on a “connected histories” approach, I argue that the history of the region and its revolutionary struggles must be explored through the flow of elites, their ideas, and experiences. In that sense, the fact that Armenian revolutionaries and intellectuals, as both local and “global” agents, were literally (and at times figuratively) all over the place,” collaborating in revolutionary activities, being influenced by, and influencing political culture as well as social and political ideologies, points to the connectedness of these revolutions as well as the need to study them “through one another, in terms of relationships, interactions, and circulation”. Through the examination of the circulation of individuals and ideas as exemplified but not limited to Armenians, the picture that emerges is one of trans-impertal connections and “connected revolutions.”
Houri Berberian is Professor of Midde Eastern History at California State University. Long Beach, where she also serves as Director of the Middle Eastern Studies Program. She is the author of a number of articles and a book,Armenians and she Iranian Constirutional Revolun’on of 1905-1911: “The Love for Freedom Has No Fatherland” (2001).
She is currently working on a book project connecting the early twentieth-century revolutions in the Russian and Ottoman empires and Iran through the circulation of Annenian revolutionaries and ideas.
For information please contact Dr. Hagop Panossian at (818) 453-0618 or info@ARPAinstitute.org
The impact of male migration on the women left behind in rural Armenia
A presentation at Yerevan State University Regional Conflict Center (YSU Library building, 3rd floor) on Friday, June 21, 2013, at 4 pm. Entrance is free, no registration is needed. Tel: +374 10570673
By Arusyak Sevoyan
Despite the vast research on the consequences of migration, little is known about the effects of seasonal migration on the women left behind, especially in the countries of former Soviet Union, that have undergone vast demographic changes in the last two decades. Using cross-sectional data from two surveys conducted in rural Armenia in 2005 and 2007, the effects of seasonal migration on reproductive behavior and outcomes, as well as sexual health among women left-behind have been explored. Research findings from three independent studies are presented, that combined draw a large picture of the consequences of seasonal migration on the rural women’s reproductive health and behaviour in the rural settings of Armenia.
The first study adds to the limited research on migration and fertility regulation by looking at the effects of male seasonal migration on left-behind women’s use of long-term contraception and induced abortion in a low-fertility high-migration setting in rural Armenia. The second study examines the effect of male circular labor migration on the risks of sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) among women left behind using data from 2007 survey of 1,240 married women in Gegharkunik. The next study builds upon the findings that left-behind women had higher risks of contracting STDs than women married to non-migrants. Using data from the 2007 survey, it examines how migration influences spousal communication about STDs, and how this association, in turn, affects women’s sexual health seeking behavior.
Short Bio:
Dr Arusyak Sevoyan is a research associate at the Australian Population and Migration Research Centre at the University of Adelaide, South Australia. Arusyak Sevoyan has a PhD in Sociology from Arizona State University, and MA and BA in Sociology from Yerevan State University. Her research focus is on Demography and Health, including but not limited to international migration, fertility and reproductive health among women. Dr Sevoyan is a recent recipient of the Australian Research Council’s Discovery Early Career Researcher Award. Her work has been published in leading academic journals and presented at various international conferences in the USA, Europe and Australia.
3rd ASCN Annual Conference: Political Transformation and Social Change in the South Caucasus: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan in Perspective
The Academic Swiss Caucasus Net (ASCN) is pleased to announce its 3rd ASCN Annual Conference that will take place in Tbilisi, Georgia on 21 and 22 June 2013.
Content and Objectives
The conference aims to gather junior scholars and researchers from various disciplines of the social sciences (political science, sociology, anthropology, etc.) involved with the South Caucasus. More specifically, the conference will address the following points of interest:
It will provide opportunities for researchers vested in Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan to engage, network, exchange and discuss their research projects, papers and findings;
It will provide a forum for discussion regarding the contradictions and ambivalences of the transformation process in the South Caucasus;
It will provide a forum for discussion regarding the challenges, social science researchers in the South Caucasus are confronted with.
Venue, Accommodation and Transport
The ASCN programme will cover travel and accommodation expenses for all selected participants. Opportunities for co-financing will arise should the travel costs in individual cases exceed the average expenses per participant attending the conference.
The selected participants will be informed about the programme, the specific conference panels and the format of the paper to submit, as well as organisational details, in due time.
For more details visit: http://www.ascn.ch/en/Events/Annual-Conference-2013
CRRC-Azerbaijan Work in Progress (WiP) series: Expropriation, Nationality, and Diplomacy
Date: Friday, June 21, 2013
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Khazar University, 122 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Room #13 (1st floor), Baku. Map: http://goo.gl/OxY09
Overview: CRRC-Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to a public lecture Expropriation, Nationality, and Diplomacy by Dr. Rachel Wellhausen, a visiting Fellow from Princeton University and a Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin.
Dr. Wellhausen will speak on the following topic:
Expropriation of foreign-owned property continues to be part of the modern economy. Under what conditions do governments have the ability to expropriate foreign direct investment (FDI) in a globalizing world? I argue that governments have more permissive space to expropriate when host to a greater diversity of nationalities of foreign firms. One means of observing this dynamic is through diplomatic advocacy, because diplomats scale back their efforts when FDI national diversity weakens diplomatic leverage. This paper uses case studies of European and American investors in Argentina, Ukraine, Russia, and Romania to link variation in expropriation to FDI national diversity via diplomacy. If we take FDI national diversity as a marker of global integration, more integrated governments are – counterintuitively – more likely to expropriate.
Presentation paper: http://crrc.az/upload/CRRC_Wellhausen_Exprop_Diplomacy.pdf
Lecturer Bio: Rachel Wellhausen is a Fellow at the Niehaus Center for Globalization and Governance at the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University. She is an Assistant Professor of Government at the University of Texas at Austin and a faculty affiliate at the McCombs School of Business (on leave 2012-2013). In summer 2013, she is currently conducting fieldwork in Baku, Azerbaijan and Moscow, Russia. Her dissertation, “When Governments Break Contracts: Foreign Firms in Emerging Economies” won the 2013 American Political Science Association award for the best dissertation in political economy in the last two years.
Dr. Wellhausen received her Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She holds a M.Sc. with Distinction in European Political Economy: Transition from the London School of Economics. She is a graduate of the Honors College at the University of Arizona and holds a B.A. in Economics, a B.A. in English with Honors, and a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies (Russian and Slavic Studies, German Studies, and Political Science). Rachel has experience living and working in London; Irkutsk, Russia; and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe.
Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP to Aynur Hajiyeva at aynur “at” crrccenters.org
CRRC-Azerbaijan Work in Progress (WiP) series: Women, Peacebuilding and United Nations Resolution 1325 in Azerbaijan
Date: Friday, June 14, 2013
Time: 17:00 -18:30
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Khazar University, 122 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Room 13, Baku. Map: http://goo.gl/OxY09
Overview: CRRC-Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to a public lecture on Women, Peacebuilding and United Nations Resolution 1325 in Azerbaijan by Sinéad Walsh, a visiting scholar from Trinity College Dublin. Ms Walsh will present the preliminary findings of her PhD fieldwork on the topic of women and peacebuilding.
The presentation will include an introduction to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security, which calls on all UN member states to support and promote women’s engagement in peacebuilding and conflict resolution. Ms Walsh will then compare international discourse on Women, Peace and Security with peacebuilding perspectives in local women’s organisations in Azerbaijan.
Ms Walsh will outline her findings on women’s political and civic participation in Azerbaijan and the challenges posed to a grassroots peacebuilding agenda. She will then discuss the experience of Azerbaijani women in regional peacebuilding initiatives and explore current attitudes towards the conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, drawing on in-depth interviews and observations.
Finally, Ms Walsh will raise the question of gender identity in Azerbaijan, and discuss whether women’s growing engagement with peacebuilding is bringing a change in attitudes towards women or reproducing traditional gender norms.
Presentation slides: http://crrc.az/upload/CRRC_Presentation_Sinead_Walsh.ppt
Presenter Bio: Sinéad Walsh is a second year PhD student and Government of Ireland Scholar at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland’s oldest university. The working title of her thesis is Developing a Women’s Agenda for Peace? United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 in Azerbaijan and Armenia. She is currently engaged in independent field research in Azerbaijan, focusing mainly on peacebuilding initiatives within women’s non-governmental organisations. This project is supported by the Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship Scheme.
Ms Walsh has an M Phil in Conflict Resolution and Reconciliation, for which she carried out extensive research on gender and conflict transition at the Irish School of Ecumenics in Northern Ireland. She has a BA in European Studies from Trinity College Dublin, with a distinction in Russian language, which she studied at the Gorky Literary Institute in Moscow. She has been a Foundation Scholar of Trinity College since 2007. Ms Walsh is also a member of the global peace organisation Service Civil International, and completed her European Voluntary Service in Russia in 2010.
Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP to Aynur Hajiyeva at aynur”at” crrccenters.org
URL: http://crrc.az/upload/CRRC_Presentation_Sinead_Walsh.ppt
SSRC Eurasia Program Webinar Series: Issues in Quantitative Methods in Eurasian Studies
The SSRC Eurasia Program is pleased to announce the fourth installment in our Webinar Series on Issues in Quantitative Methods in Eurasia Studies:
June 12, 2013
3:30PM EDT
To register, click here: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/881234958
Grantwriting to Support Quantitative Research in Eurasian Contexts
This webinar will recommend strategies for writing effective proposals, and also review potential funding sources. Topics to be covered include the following:
- Identifying potential funding sources
- Types of grant support: for collecting new surveys, adding on to existing surveys, and/or analysis of existing surveys
- Writing about research design: sampling, measures, models, quality control, analytical techniques
- Estimating timelines and costs
- Tailoring proposal to audience: explaining quantitative approaches to interdisciplinary and non-quantitative audiences; justifying Eurasian context to non-area-studies audiences
The webinar instructor, Jane Zavisca, is a sociologist at the University of Arizona who has won multiple nationally-competitive awards to support both quantitative and qualitative research in Eurasia, including support from NSF, SSRC, NCEEER, and Fulbright-Hays. She has also advised multiple graduate students on successful grant applications. Professor Zavisca is currently fielding a large survey of housing in Russia (in collaboration with Ted Gerber of the University of Wisconsin). They have also just been awarded a large grant to conduct a related comparative survey in four countries in Eurasia.
CRRC-Azerbaijan Work in Progress (WiP) series: The external energy governance of the EU – The ambivalent case of Azerbaijan
Date: Friday, May 31, 2013
Time: 17:00 – 18:30
Location: CRRC-Azerbaijan, Khazar University, 122 Bashir Safaroglu Street, Room #13 (1st floor), Baku
Overview: CRRC-Azerbaijan is pleased to invite you to a public lecture “The external energy governance of the EU – The ambivalent case of Azerbaijan” by Bernd Weber, a visiting PhD Candidate from Sciences Po Paris and PhD Fellow of the Oxford-Sciences Po Research Group who will be speaking about the EU’s approach to europeanize energy in the neighborhood through the promotion and transfer of energy (security) related EU rules, norms, policies and standards to third countries.
Bernd Weber will outline the challenge of European supply security in the aftermath of gas supply crisis that can repeat themselves in Europe’s Eastern and Southern neighborhood in the absence of enforceable and binding regulatory frameworks. He will then provide an overview of the EU’s external energy governance approach towards the Eastern neighborhood, highlighting goals, instruments and internal and external obstacles of coherence and resistance. He will also examine the role of changing influences from the international, regional and European level that shed further light on the strategic shifts of neighboring actors and thus on the convergence with the EU, its consolidation and revision. Finally, he will discuss the Azerbaijani case and its ambivalence, pointing to a varying degree of convergence during different periods of Euro-Azerbaijani energy relations and highlighting the limits of the effectiveness of the EU external energy convergence towards a more and more assertive neighboring supplier.
Presentation paper: PhD project outline [http://crrc.az/upload/Outline_PhD_Project.pdf]
Lecturer Bio: Bernd Weber is a PhD candidate and lecturer at the Centres d’Etudes et de Recherches Internationales (CERI), Sciences Po Paris. After having received his Master’s Degree in Political Science, Economic Geography and European Cultural Anthropology from LMU Munich, he worked as an associated researcher at the Fundação Getúlio Vargas (FGV) in São Paulo and Trainee Policy Officer at the Directorate-General for Trade of the European Commission in Brussels.
His research focuses on Europeanisation processes in the Eastern and Southern EU neighborhood and negotiations between public and private actors in the energy sector. Bernd Weber is benefiting from the scholarly exchange scheme of the Oxford-Sciences Po Research Group (OXPO) to continue his research at the Department for Politics and International Relations at the University of Oxford during the academic year 2013/2014. He teaches courses on the European Neighborhood Policy at the French-German Campus of Sciences Po, coordinates the Spring School on energy and climate key issues at the Central and Eastern European Campus of Sciences Po and organized several expert workshops on European energy issues.
Refreshments and snacks will be provided. RSVP to Aynur Hajiyeva at aynur@crrccenters.org.
Georgian Political Science Association is pleased to invite you to its monthly seminar:
The Future of the EU as a Strategic Geopolitical Actor.
17:00, 28 May 2013
Speaker: Ahto Lobjakas: analyst at the Estonian Foreign Policy Institute, PhD candidate at the University of Tartu. In 2000-2010, he was Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s correspondent in Brussels, closely covering the EU’s and NATO’s relations with FSU countries (as well as Afghanistan).
Abstract: The presentation will focus on the impact of the crisis on EU foreign-policy making, as well as the “balance of power” within the Union, as exemplified by the Cyprus crisis, which was treated as a purely euro-zone matter despite the potentially massive geo-strategic issues at stake. Author argues that, the EU’s foreign and security policy has unraveled at this point, its only functioning structures the knee-jerk actions of the European Commission and the EEAS. Without political leadership, which will only return with a new basic EU treaty, the EU’s relationships with other world powers and neighboring states will devolve to member state level.
Venue: Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies (GFSIS), 3a Chitadze str. Tbilisi. Georgia
This event is free and open to the public
sea details at www.georgianpsa.org
Seminar will be held in English
Workshop “The EU’s Association Agreements with the Eastern Partnership Countries”
Organizers:
University of Kent — Brussels, Belgium
National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, Ukraine
May 31th, 2013, at 10:00-16:30
Wilson Room
Brussels School of International Studies
Boulevard de la Plaine 5, Third Floor
BE-1050 Ixelles, Bruxelles
1000-1010 Welcome
Tom Casier, Senior Lecturer, Brussels School of International Studies
Andreas Umland, DAAD Associate Professor, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
1010-1030 Opening statement
Nadiya Tsok, Deputy Head, Mission of Ukraine to the European Union at Brussels
1030-1150 Panel 1: “What’s New? The History, Contents and Meaning of the Association Agreements for the EaP Countries”
Chair: Andreas Umland, DAAD Associate Professor, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Roland Freudenstein, Head of Research, Centre for European Studies, Brussels, “International Democracy Support and the EU’s Eastern Partnership Programme”
Roman Petrov, Jean Monnet Chair in EU Law, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, “The EU-Ukraine Association Agreement: Towards a New Generation of Contractual Relations between the EU and the Eastern Partnership Countries”
Hrant Kostanyan, Associate Research Fellow, Centre for European Policy Studies, Brussels, “The Role of the EEAS in the EU-Moldova Association Agreement Negotiations”
1150-1210 Coffee Break
1210-1330 Panel 2: “Where Are We Now? The Specific Legacies, Current Situation and Future Developments in the EaP Countries”
Chair: Tom Casier, Senior Lecturer, Brussels School of International Studies
Winfried Schneider-Deters, former Kyiv Office Head, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Heidelberg, “The EU’s Ukrainian Dilemma”
Agata Biernat, Doctoral Researcher, Nicolaus Copernicus University of Torun: “Moldova and the Eastern Partnership: Taking Firm Steps Towards EU Accession?”
Ria Laenen, Senior Research Fellow, KU Leuven Institute for International and European Policy, “The EaP and EU-Association Process in Armenia and Azerbaidshan”
1330-1430 Lunch Break
1430-1550 Panel 3: “Will ‘Conditionality Light’ Work? Comparing the EU’s Eastern Enlargement and Partnership Policies”
Chair: Tom Casier, Senior Lecturer, Brussels School of International Studies
Maria Davydchyk, Program Officer, German Council on Foreign Relations, Berlin: “The EU Policy of Critical Engagement towards Belarus: Claims versus Reality”
Maria Zolkina, Analyst, Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation, Kyiv, “‘Light Conditionality’: Impeding Effects on Ukraine’s Europeanization”
Andreas Umland, DAAD Associate Professor, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy: “The ‘Simultaneity Dilemma,’ ‘Impossibility Theorem,’ and EU Membership Perspective: Why the Eastern Partnership Has Been a Failure”
1550-1620 Closing remarks
Stefan Tressing, Desk Officer, European External Action Service, Brussels (TBC)
Andreas Umland, DAAD Associate Professor, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy
Tom Casier, Senior Lecturer, Brussels School of International Studies
1800-2300 Party “Ukrainians Get Together”. London Calling, Rue de Dublin 46, 1050 Brussels. See for details and please register here https://www.facebook.com/events/371110006344078/
Unfortunately, we have no funding whatsoever for covering travel expenses, housing, honoraria etc. – neither for speakers nor for discussants.
If you are considering to attend the conference as a listener, discussant or speaker, please, pre-register – as far as possible – at this Facebook event site: https://www.facebook.com/events/150115945154528/
FYI: This conference is part of the programme of a study visit by 23 students from, and affiliates of, the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, to the EU and NATO, on 26-31 May 2013. See last year’s conference within a similar framework: https://www.facebook.com/events/387175921303419/
Lecture: The Animal Style in Art: From Scythia to Aghtamar to Modern Russian Literature
Dr. James R. Russell
Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies
Harvard University
Thursday, May 30, 2013 7:30 p.m.
NAASR Center
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
The Church of the Holy Cross on Aght’amar island in Lake Van, Armenia, built in AD 920, famously features a spectacular bas-relief sculptural program on its outer walls, where we find antic animals strikingly reminiscent of images from Scythian art, wrought in gold, of the ancient world. The impression one takes away of Scythian art is of the pleasure of movement, the beauty of the kinetic body. And if one recalls that much of this art was meant to be portable, often to adorn a rider and his mount, it is understandable that it celebrated the galloping horse, the swooping falcon, the hare or stag in full flight.
If the Animal Style, which endured for many centuries past the Classical age, found its way from gold to stone, with perhaps a quick stopover in Sasanian Iran, it is surely at home in Armenia. Tracing the imagery of Scythia and Aght’amar’s Church of the Holy Cross and following it into Russian art and literature, Prof. James R. Russell will pursue the meanings and repercussions of this pattern of animal imagery, in visual art and in the written word.
James R. Russell has been the Mashtots Professor of Armenian Studies at Harvard University since 1992. His books include Bosphorus Nights: The Complete Lyric Poems of Bedros Tourian, Armenian and Iranian Studies, The Book of Flowers, An Armenian Epic: The Heroes of Kasht, Zoroastrianism in Armenia, and Hovhannes Tlkurantsi and the Medieval Armenian Lyric Tradition.
This lecture is presented in honor of the 90th birthday of Prof. Nina G. Garsoian. Garsoian received her BA from Bryn Mawr College 1943 and her MA and PhD from Columbia University in 1946 and 1958 in Byzantine, Near Eastern, and Armenian History. Garsoian was the first female dean of the Graduate School at Princeton University and a two-term trustee of the Ford Foundation. Currently, she is Avedissian Professor Emerita of Armenian History and Civilization at Columbia University and is the director of the Revue des Etudes Armeniennes in Paris.
For more information, contact National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) at 617-489-1610 or hq “at” naasr. org.
Supporting the Country to Turn Challenges into Opportunities
a lecture-discussion conducted by Mr. Jean Michel Happi, World Bank Armenia Country Manager
organized by CRRC-Armenia in cooperation with the Department of Economics of the YSU
Date: May 15, 2013
Time: 14.30 – 16.30
Location: Conference Hall, YSU 6th Building, 52 Abovyan Street, Yerevan
Language: English with simultaneous translation into Armenian
Overview:
The World Bank’s focuses on the near-term needs of accelerating economic growth, creating jobs, and reducing poverty. It aims to support the Government of Armenia’s (GoA) new Armenia Development Strategy (ADS) 2025. In an effort to draw greater synergies from our work and catalyze higher volumes of private resources to support Armenia’s development, Bank prioritizes increasing employment through creation of quality and high productivity jobs for the next five years. The three possible key areas of concentration of the Bank’s effort ought to evolve around (a) the support of competitiveness and job creation, (b) improvement of efficiency and equity in social services, and (c) improvement of governance and fight against corruption in the public services.
In order for us to be able to better meet your expectations, we encourage you to answer a few questions, allowing us to maximally tailor the presentation to your needs. Please, click here to answer the questions.
Lecturer Bio:
Mr. Jean-Michel Happi is the Country Manager in the World Bank Yerevan Office, in the Europe and Central Asia Vice-Presidency. Mr. Happi, has broad ranging development experience. He has worked on issues of competition policy, privatization, governance and anti-corruption, infrastructure development and utility sector reform. He has also been involved with Bank-wide efforts to mobilize concessional financing for low-income countries, and in helping develop Bank-country partnership strategies. He has worked across many countries in South Asia, Africa, Europe and Central Asia, and Middle East.
Prior to joining the World Bank Group, Mr. Happi worked as economist at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) in Geneva. He is a graduate from the French School of Economics (Ecole Nationale de Statistique et de l’Administration Economique) and holds Post-Masters degrees in Applied Mathematics from Paris-6 University.
Registration:
If interested, please confirm your attendance via crrcnews “at” crrc. am or call at 58 13 30, 58 14 50 before May 14, 17:00, mentioning your organizational affiliation and translation needs.
Book Presentation: “Georgia: A Political History Since Independence”
On 13 May, 2013 Center for Social Sciences and National Parliamentary Library of Georgia organize a presentation of Professor Stephen F. Jones’ new book:
“Georgia: A Political History Since Independence”
Professor Stephen F. Jones is a prominent scholar and an expert on post-communist societies in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. He is a Professor of Russian Studies at Mount Holyoke College. Professor Jones also is an Honorary Doctorate of Tbilisi State University, and a member of CSS International Advisory Board.
Date: 13 May, 2013
Time: 17:30-19:00
Venue: The First Building of the National Library, Exhibition Hall
Book Overview:
Georgia emerged from the fall of the Soviet empire in 1991 with the promise of swift economic and democratic reform. But that promise remains unfulfilled. Economic collapse, secessionist challenges, civil war and the failure to escape the legacy of Soviet rule – culminating in the 2008 war with Russia – characterize a two-decade struggle to establish democratic institutions and consolidate statehood. Here, Stephen Jones critically analyses Georgia’s recent political and economic development, illustrating what its ‘transition’ has meant, not just for the state, but for its citizens as well. An authoritative and commanding exploration of Georgia since independence, this is essential for those interested in the post-Soviet world.Release date: December 24, 2012Publisher: I. B. TaurisISBN-10: 1845113381
ISBN-13: 978-1845113384
Armenian History Beyond the Pillars of Hercules: Plus Ultra
lecture by Prof. Seta B. Dadoyan
Date: May 9, 2013
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Location: 395 Concord Ave, Belmont, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)
Plus Ultra, or “further beyond,” is the reversal of the motto Non Plus Ultra, or “nothing further beyond,” which was a warning to those who dared to go beyond the Pillars of Hercules—the two rocks on either side of the Strait of Gibraltar, the exit into the Atlantic Ocean. In its methodology, philosophy of history, and thematic structure, Dadoyan’s trilogy The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World marks a radical revaluation of mainstream narratives, ideological and institutional limitations, and an exit into a broader world in search of new paradigms and images. Based on two decades of research and new sources, the book is written as an argument for a different reading of the historical experience with Islam, and for a deeper understanding of the multidimensional nature of the Armenian experience on the crossroads of civilizations in the vast and rich Near/Middle Eastern world.
Dadoyan has taught at the American University of Beirut, Haigazian University, Columbia University, St. Nersess Seminary, and the University of Chicago. The focus of her research and publications is the critical revaluation of the Armenian experience in its broader and interactive aspects. She is the author of numerous articles in scholarly journals and seven books, including Pages of West Armenian Philosophical Thought (1987), The Fatimid Armenians: Cultural and Political Interaction in the Near East (1997), and The Armenian Catholicosate from Cilicia to Antelias: An Introduction to the Political History (2003). Her magnum opus is the trilogy The Armenians in the Medieval Islamic World: Paradigms of Interaction, Seventh to Fourteenth Centuries (2011-13).
For more information, call (617) 489-1610 or e-mail hq@naasr.org
The Religion and Politics of Cruelty
Public Lecture by Professor Ivan Strenski,Holstein Family and Community Professor of Religious Studies, University of California
organized by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia and the Political Science and International Affairs Program of the American University of Armenia
Date: Wednesday, May 8, 2013
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: American University of Armenia, 40 Baghramian Street, Alex and Marie Manoogian Hall (PAB, 106E)
Language: English with simultaneous interpretation into Armenian
Ivan Strenski is Holstein Family and Community Distinguished Professor of Religious Studies at the University of California, Riverside. He holds a BA with First Class Honors (University of Toronto) and a PhD (University of Birmingham, England), studying under the late Ninian Smart. In 2007, he was awarded the degree of Doctor Honoris Causa by the University of Lausanne. From 1979-2004, he served as North American Editor-in-Chief of the international journal, Religion. Strenski is the author of fourteen books and over 50 articles, many of which attempt to locate various efforts in theoretical thinking, such as about myth, gift or sacrifice, within the larger social, political and religious contexts of modern European life.
ADMISSION IS FREE!
For further information, please contact the U.S. Embassy Public Affairs Section
at (010) 494590 / 494410.
Intellectuals Analyzing the Soviet Legacy in Post-Soviet-Armenia
Aghasi Tadevosyan
Cosponsored by the Armenian Research Center, University of Michigan-Dearborn and the AGBU Alex & Marie Manoogian School
Thursday, 7:30 PM
May 2, 2013
Multipurpose Room
AGBU Alex & Marie Manoogian School
22001 Northwestern Highway.
Southfield, MI 48075, USA
Armenia is in transition from Soviet socialism to liberal democratic capitalism. After more than 20 years of independence, one of the important issues for the success of this transition remains the issue of Armenia’s Soviet legacy. There are different opinions among the social groups of the Republic of Armenia concerning this legacy. Some people consider the Soviet era as a positive turn for the Armenian nation. But during the last 5 years, especially after the presidential election of 2008 and the subsequent violent crackdown of March 1st, public opinion has changed significantly. There is a new assumption that the sovietization of Armenia could have halted the development of capitalism in the Republic of Armenia. Moreover, one of the widely debated themes in Armenia is the problem of Russian colonialism and its consequences. Today, Soviet totalitarianism and the sovietization of Armenia are viewed as an advancement of Russian colonialism. One of the suggested ways for overcoming the post-Soviet legacy of Russian colonialism is the formation of postcolonial discourse in Armenian civil society. This approach will assist various social groups in a reevaluation of the old approaches and to find new ways of transition and development.
Aghasi Tadevosyan was born in 1966 in Armenia. He graduated from the Department of History of Yerevan State University in 1991. In 1995, he obtained a Ph.D. in Social Anthropology. His main research interests are social changes, cultural transition, value transformation, modernization, and migration processes of post-Soviet Armenia. He has authored or co-authored 11 monographs and more than 40 scientific articles published in the Armenian, English and Russian languages. He is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of the Republic of Armenia, an Associate Professor at Yerevan State University, and currently a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the University of California at Berkeley.
Light refreshments will be served.
The University of Michigan-Dearborn does not necessarily endorse the speaker’s views.
Armenian Research Center
University of Michigan-Dearborn
4901 Evergreen Rd.
Dearborn, MI 48128-2406
Moralism, Fundamentalism, and the Rhetoric of Decline in Eurasia, 1600–1900: Imperialism and Fundamentalism in Nineteenth-Century Eurasia
May 17 and 18, 2013
UCLA
Center for Seventeenth- & Eighteenth-Century Studies
This conference will explore the connections between encounters with Western imperialism and the rise of fundamentalist religious and cultural movements in the Ottoman and Qing empires. Discussions will occasion a revisiting of the term fundamentalism: its history and what it means in various contexts (and this one in particular). While typically scholarship on indigenous responses to imperialism and crises of state power have focused on the local reformers and modernizers, the papers for this session will look at the equally new turn to—or invention of—traditions, whether religious, intellectual, or literary, in the Eurasian landed empires on the verge of modernity. These developments, it will be suggested, helped to forge impressions both internally and abroad of these societies as moribund and “traditional” by the turn of the twentieth century. Topics may include Neo-Confucian revivalism in the late Qing, “preserving character” (xizi) associations in late nineteenth-century China, experiments with old-style poetry, changes in the Ottoman shadow puppet theater (karagöz), Salafi Islam, and Sultan Abdülhamid II’s pan-Islamic foreign policy.
Forum: Growing LCTLs: A Forum for the Less Commonly Taught Languages at CUNY
May 3, 2013
Institute for Language Education in Transcultural Context (ILETC)
City University of New York (CUNY)
365 Fifth Ave
New York, NY 10016
Confirmed Guest Lecturer (4pm-6pm): Dan E. Davidson, President of American Councils for International Education and Professor of Russian and Second Language Acquisition at Bryn Mawr College. Read more about Dr. Davidson here.
This daylong event will include both traditional panel presentations and roundtable discussions, with participants from both educational and cultural institutions interested in promoting awareness of LCTLs and the development and expansion of programs devoted to teaching LCTLs. The scope of the forum is purposefully broad and varied: participants may present institutional initiatives or ideas to be brainstormed, report academic or experiential findings, or share experiences, projects, and practices related to teaching, cross-campus collaborations, advocacy, and funding possibilities. Please submit proposals as a single file (.doc, .docx, or .pdf) including your name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and email address(es), as well as the title of your contribution, a note on whether you prefer to join in a traditional panel or a roundtable discussion, and abstract of 300 words or less to iletc “at” gc.cuny. edu by April 10th, 2013. Acknowledgement of received proposals will be prompt and notification of acceptance will occur no later than April 17th.
Tentative Program
(panel titles are provisional and may be revised based on submissions)
9:30am – 11:30am
Rm 3207 : Planting LCTL Seeds
Rm 6421 : Nurturing LCTLs
11:30am – 2pm
Rm C415A : Lunch
2pm – 4pm
Rm 3207 : Developing LCTL Materials and Methods
Rm 6421 : LCTL Community Impact
4pm -6pm
Rm 9204 : Guest Lecture: Dan E. Davidson
Memory Projects and Ethnic Conflicts in Post-Soviet Georgia
Thursday, 25 April 2013, 2:00pm
Room 1510 International Affairs Building
Columbia University, New York
Please join the Harriman Institute for a lecture by Malkhaz Toria (Visiting Scholar, Harriman Institute, and Assistant Professor, College of Arts and Sciences, Ilia State University, Tbilisi, Georgia).
harriman.columbia.edu
International Scientific Symposium on Emerging Issues in Environmental and Occupational Health: Mining and Construction in Transition Economies
April 22-23, 2013
American University of Armenia
40 Marshal Baghramyan, 0019 Yerevan, Armenia
Preliminary Program
International Scientific Symposium Emerging Issues in Prevention of:
I – Mining-related Illness in Miners and the Community (especially Children)
II – Work-related Illness in Construction Workers
III – Environmental and Work-related Cancer
IV – Environmental and Work-related Illness
Anticipated Audience
Occupational and environmental health scientists from: Academia, Government, NGOs, business, labor and others in the public and private sectors will find participation in this Symposium useful. This may include those from Ministries of Health, Environmental Protection, Labor and other Governmental representatives.
Changing economies in the former Soviet States, Central Asia, Middle East, and North Africa bring socio-economic impacts to societies in the region and new challenges in occupational and environmental health. Growth includes significant increases in mineral extraction and construction that will bring growing risks to worker and community health and especially children. System changes in the region include a transition from State-owned to Private industry and fragmentation of State large-scale industry.
Symposium Goals
Building on the 2012 November AUA Conference on the Socio-Economic Impact of Mining, a scientific symposium highlighting advances in occupational and environmental health will bring together internationally recognized experts sharing recent experiences with regional public health scientists. The goal of this dialog is to improve understanding of how to apply evidence-based scientific findings to strategically protect worker and community health in the region. A regional symposium is consistent with Collegium Ramazzini goals of sharing information through regional conferences throughout the world and AUA’s commitment to community service to help fill a need in this region’s economic transition.
Site visit on April 25, 2013: An optional site visit is being planned for conference participants to experience local conditions and representative environmental concerns related to mining development.
The language of the conference is English; some sessions will have simultaneous translation.
Organizing Committee
AUA College of Health Sciences
AUA Akopian Center for the Environment
Collegium Ramazzini
More information available: http://eoh2013.aua.am/
“Should Azerbaijan join OPEC?”
Professor Michael Beenstock (Ph.D., London School of Economics)
International Faculty Committee of ISET and Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Wednesday, April 3, 2013 at 5:00 pm
Qafqaz Baku City Hotel, Gebele Conference Hall, 2nd Floor
34 Tbilisi Avenue, Nizami District, Baku, Azerbaijan
The public lecture will be followed by an Open House of ISET, during which you will be able to learn more about ISET’s Two-year Master’s Degree in Economics. ISET is currently accepting applications for its highly-prestigious Master’s Degree Program in Economics. Azerbaijani applicants are offered:
· Future Leader Scholarships up to USD 500 per month for outstanding candidates,
· 100% scholarships covering the full cost of tuition and living stipends up to $150 for all candidates meeting the minimum academic requirements (GPA of B-),
· Free housing for the entire duration of studies in Tbilisi,
· Possibility of internships and/or semester abroad in Europe,
· Summer internships/job placement in Azerbaijan.
ISET is the only institution in the South Caucasus offering a world class Master’s Program in Economics. From a total of 153 ISET graduates, 97% are currently employed or studying abroad. ISETers hold leading positions in central Banks, ministries, NGOs, and financial institutions in all three South Caucasus countries and study in PhD programs at Stanford University, University of Chicago, New York University and University of Pennsylvania, among others. All classes at ISET are taught in English, by international faculty and visiting faculty from the US, Western Europe, or Israel. Students can choose to participate in applied concentrations, such as energy or agricultural economics.
Applications for admission in fall 2013 are accepted online (www.iset.ge) until 1 pm, May 1, 2013, Tbilisi time. Admission exams in English and mathematics will be conducted in Baku in early May.
Contact person: Maya Surguladze
admissions “at” iset. ge
Tel: +995 (322) 507 177 ext.104
“Authoritarianism and Beyond: Lessons from Postsocialist Societies”
2013 Annual Symposium of the SOYUZ Research Network for Postsocialist Cultural Studies
Columbia University
March 22-23, 2013
The 2013 SOYUZ symposium contemplates the characterization of many contemporary postsocialist societies as authoritarian. Highlighting strong presidential authority, lack of democratic succession of rule and insufficient public representation, this analytic posits authoritarianism is the opposite of liberal democracy. The participants of the symposium seek to extend interpretive work on authoritarianism beyond this dualistic framework. Drawing on original field research, these papers offer an insight into the official and popular representations and memories of authoritarian pasts and presents and explore analytical limits and potentialities of the term authoritarianism itself.
The 2013 SOYUZ symposium committee: Zhanara Nauruzbayeva (Columbia University), Alan Timberlake (Columbia University), Elise Giuliano (Columbia University), Marina Mikhaylova (Temple University), and Tsveta Petrova (Columbia University).
*The symposium is hosted and sponsored by the Harriman Institute for Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies at Columbia University.*
Location: Saturday, March 22- 403 International Affairs Building;
Friday, March 23- 602 Hamilton Hall
Website: http://soyuz2013.wordpress.com/
C O M P L A I N T S: CULTURES OF GRIEVANCE IN EASTERN EUROPE AND EURASIA
March 8-9, 2013
Princeton University
http://culturesofgrievance.wordpress.com/
Program in Law and Public Affairs; Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies
Complaints are one way that the powerless and the dispossessed communicate their disagreement, dissatisfaction, and resentment to the powerful and the dominant. As a legal genre, a communication tool, and a narrative structure, complaints have a long history in Eastern Europe and Eurasia, from the peasants’ petitions to the Russian tsar to the dissidents’ letters to the party committees and from the complaint books in Soviet grocery stores to denunciation reports to the secret police. This conference plans to examine the genre of complaints in the public culture of Eastern Europe and Eurasia.
Among the questions we ask are: To whom are grievances addressed? Against what do people complain? Do grievances turn into formalized complaints in law or do petitioners seek discretionary exceptions? We start with the grievances and follow where they lead – which is sometimes into law, sometimes into politics and sometimes into the drawer.
In his After the Wall: East Meets West in the New Berlin, John Borneman reminded us that legal petitions in East Germany were in fact a form of legal privilege, a politically legitimized framework of public discourse
that “allowed the citizenry a licit means of responding to and interrogating the economic and political structure.” Nancy Ries in her Russian Talk: Culture and Conversation during Perestroika pointed out another important aspect of complaints: their formulaic structure and repetitive reproduction turn them into “ritualized discourses” through which realms of politics, economics, and law are navigated and negotiated.
The conference Complaints: Cultures of Grievance in Eastern Europe and Eurasia will build on a diverse scholarship on public criticism and dissatisfaction by bringing together an international and interdisciplinary group of researchers from a range of disciplines including law, history, anthropology, sociology, politics, philosophy, psychology, art and literary criticism. The conference will trace the emergence and development of cultures of grievances – those ritualized discourses in which responses to the authorities are merged with their interrogation.
CONFERENCE PROGRAM
Day 1, Friday, 8 March
9:15 Welcome and introductions
9:30-11:30 a.m. I. STATES OF COMPLAINTS: PETITIONING AUTHORITIES
CHAIR: Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton University)
Anne O’Donnell (Princeton University)
Revolution and its Discontents: The Central Bureau of Complaint, 1918-1922
Martin Dimitrov (Tulane University)
What the Party Wanted to Know: Citizen Complaints as a “Barometer of Public Opinion” in Communist Bulgaria
László Kürti (University of Miskolc, Hungary)
Men, Women and Trusted Cadres: The Life and Death of a Grievance Committee in Hungary
James Heinzen (Rowan University)
Bribes, Brokers, and a Judicial ‘Zhalobiurokratiia’: Complaints and Corruption in the USSR Supreme Court during Late Stalinism, 1945-1953
DISCUSSANT: Eugene Huskey (Stetson University)
11:30-11:45 a.m. Break
11:45-1:30 p.m. II. FROM PLEAS TO DEMANDS: LEARNING TO CLAIM
CHAIR: Deborah Kaple (Princeton)
Kristy Ironside (History, University of Chicago)
“I Beg You Not to Reject My Plea”: Asking the Soviet State for Money, 1945-1953
Olga Linkiewicz (Institute of History, Polish Academy of Sciences)
“Petition the Lord with Prayer”: The Dynamics of Self-Esteem and Worldview Perspective in Peasants’ Laments and Remonstrances
Elena Ion (Department of Architecture, Berkeley)
Judicializing Land-Use Planning: Litigation and Urban Politics in Contemporary Bucharest
DISCUSSANT: Jane Burbank (NYU)
1:30-2:45 p.m. Break
2:45-4:30 p.m. III. LANGUAGES OF DISSATISFACTION: COMMUNICATING DISAGREEMENT
CHAIR: Margaret H. Beissinger (Princeton University)
Anna Dolidze (University of Western Ontario) and Stephanie DeGooyer (Willamette University)
The Revolution Will be Anglicized: Protest Semantics in Georgia
Regina Smyth (Indiana University)
Defining Common Ground: The Language of Network Mobilization in Russian Protests
Elena Bogdanova (Centre for Independent Social Research, St. Petersburg)
Complaining to Putin: a Paradox of the Hybrid Regime
DISCUSSANT: Neringa Klumbyte (Miami University)
4:30-4:45p.m. Break
4:45-6:30 p.m. IV. THE ART OF PROTEST: SCANDAL, BLASPHEMY, AND COMEDY
CHAIR: Caryl Emerson (Princeton University)
Shawn Clybor (Manhattan College)
Builderly Complaints: ‘Scandal in the Picture Gallery’ as Socialist Realist Subversion in Stalinist Czechoslovakia
Anya Bernstein (Anthropology/Social Studies, Harvard University)
Trials and Triangulations: Blasphemy as Moral Injury in the Russian Art Wars
Milla Fedorova (Department of Slavic Languages, Georgetown University)
Give me the Book of Complaints: Complaint in Soviet Comedy
DISCUSSANT: Irena G. Gross (Princeton)
Day 2, Saturday, 9 March
9:30-11:15 a.m. V. DISCONTENT IN UNIFORM: GRIEVANCES IN FORMATION
CHAIR: Kathryn Hendley (University of Wisconsin)
Irina Marin (Pembroke College, University of Oxford)
Military Petitionarism in the Habsburg Monarchy: a Romanian Case Study
Amieke Bouma (Free University, Amsterdam)
The Ostdeutsches Kuratorium von Verbänden: Court Petitions and the Socialist Tradition of Petitioning
Gilles Favarel-Garriques (Sciences Po / CERI, Paris)
Usual Suspect? Criticizing Police in Today’s Russia
DISCUSSANT: Anson Rabinbach (Princeton University)
11:15-11:30 a.m. Break
11:30-1:15 p.m. VI. THE CULTURE OF VICTIMHOOD: HIDDEN TRANSCRIPTS
CHAIR: Olga Hasty (Princeton).
Sergei Antonov (Harriman Institute, Columbia University)
A Culture of Victimhood in Pre-Reform Russian Law: Suspicion, Power, and Legal Narratives
Maria Galmarini (James Madison University)
“Where is My Right?… Who Will Help Me?”: Legality and Morality in Disabled People’s Claims to Social Assistance, 1918-1950
Katharina Matro (Stanford University)
“This is Not Our Land”: Letters from Settlers in Poland’s New Western Territories, 1945-1951
DISCUSSANT: Jan Kubik (Rutgers University)
1:15-2:30 p.m. Break
2:30-4:15 p.m. VII. COMPLAINTS AS A WAY OF LIFE: NARRATING GRIEVANCES
CHAIR: Serguei A. Oushakine (Princeton University)
Katherine Lebow (Vienna)
Autobiography as Complaint: Polish Social Memoir Between the World Wars
Christine Varga-Harris (Illinois State University)
I Complain, Therefore I Am – ‘Soviet’: Petitioning as a Ritual of Belonging to Soviet Society
Mia Serban (Ramapo College of New Jersey)
Housing Nationalization Petitions and the Creation of Socialist Legal Consciousness in Romania (1945-1965)
DISCUSSANT: Nancy Ries (Colgate University)
5:15-4:30 p.m. Break
4:30-6:30 p.m. VIII. ROUND TABLE: OVERFLOWING GRIEVANCES : STUDYING DISSATISFACTION IN EASTERN EUROPE AND EURASIA
Participants: Jane Burbank, Kathryn Hendley, Eugene Huskey, Nancy Ries, Kim Lane Scheppele.
Moderator: Serguei A. Oushakine
Organizing committee:
• Kim Lane Scheppele, Director, Law and Public Affairs Program, as well as Woodrow Wilson School, Sociology and Human Values, Princeton University
• Serguei Oushakine, Director, Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies as well as Anthropology and Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University.
• Kathryn Hendley, Law and Political Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison as well as Law and Public Affairs Fellow, Princeton University
• Michael Gordin, Director, Fung Global Fellows Program, as well as Department of History, Princeton University;
• Irena Grudzinska Gross, Slavic Languages and Literatures, Princeton University as well as Institute of Slavic Studies, Polish Academy of Sciences.
Please send your questions and inquiries to: lapa “at” princeton. edu
A New Path Forward on Building Rule of Law in Georgia
Monday, 25 February 2013, 1:00pm
Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room (1219 IAB), Columbia University
Please join the Harriman Institute for an address by Tea Tsulukiani (Justice Minister, Georgia).
Anita Rachvelishvili: The Metropolitan Opera Star in Conversation with Music Critic Maya Pritsker
Thursday, 21 February 2013, 7:00pm
Lindsay Rogers Room (707 International Affairs Building), Columbia University
Anita Rachvelishvili will discuss her life, Georgian language, vocal training and other Georgians in the opera world.
RSVP is required, through the link below. Space is limited. Registration to the waitlist does not guarantee admittance.
Link to website
Tbilisi-Moscow-Paris-New York, 1910-1935
Monday, 18 February 2013, 12:15pm
Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room (1219 IAB)
Please join the Harriman Institute for a lecture by Mzia Chikhradze (Visiting Scholar, Harriman Institute and Senior Research Fellow, Chubinashvili National Research Center for Georgian Art History & Heritage Preservation, Tbilisi, Georgia).
This lecture is about the general tendencies in Georgian, Russian and Western fine arts of the first three decades of the 20th century. The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century was marked by essential changes as the language of art language moved towards the modern and new. New means of expression replaced the tools of art of the past. The center of modernist culture and art was Paris, but new art had spread widely, to Russia and Georgia, for example. This lecture will try to identify some of these processes, accompanied by visual material that will chart parallel tendencies, connections and interrelations of different artists and art movements, common features and regional peculiarities in the arts. The presentation will define the place of Georgian modernism in the context of Western art and show how Georgian artists were involved in the general tendencies of the modern world art. significant part of the lecture will be devoted to the contacts and cultural relations between the American artist and art collector Katharine Dreier and the Georgian artist David Kakabadze to show the importance and place of his art in the development of the Western avant-garde art. The lecture will close with a discussion of the forced, political interruption of the logical development of art in Russia and Georgia.
Harriman Institute
(212) 854-6211
mu2159 “at” columbia. edu
Presentation: Twelve Angry Russians? Nikita Mikhalkov and the Caucasus in Russian Cinema
Professor John Hope
School of Languages and Cultures, Purdue University
Date: TUESDAY, February 12
Time: 3-4 pm
Place: SC 239, Purdue University
West Lafayette, IN
to be delivered by Thomas de Waal (Senior Associate, Russia and Eurasia Program, Carnegie Endowment)
Date: July 9, 2013
Time: 14:30
Location: CRRC-Armenia, 52 Abovyan Street, 3rd Floor, Room 305, Yerevan, Armenia
Language: English
General Overview: Even after his death in 1953 and the end of the Soviet era, Joseph Stalin is still widely discussed in different context, but more often in political terms. To decode the phenomenon of this individual in the countries of South Caucasus and in Russia, Carnegie endowment in 2012 commissioned a bunch of question Caucasus research Resource Centers in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia and Levada Center in Russia to check the public opinion towards Stalin. The presentation will provide the figures and respective interpretation to the “Stalin Puzzle” and invite to a discussion in and around the controversy of both the era and his personality.
You can find the “The Stalin Puzzle: Deciphering Post-Soviet Public Opinion” online at http://carnegieendowment.org/files/stalin_puzzle.pdf
Short Bio: Tom De Waal is a senior associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, DC, specializing primarily in the South Caucasus region comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia and their breakaway territories as well as the wider Black Sea region.
He is author of the authoritative book on the Karabakh conflict, Black Garden: Armenia and Azerbaijan Through Peace and War, which has been translated into Armenian, Azeri, and Russian, with a new, revised edition of the book released in early July 2013, as a special 10th anniversary edition. His latest book is The Caucasus: An Introduction (Oxford University Press, 2010).
De Waal has worked extensively as a journalist and writer in the Caucasus and Black Sea region and in Russia. He has twice worked as an analyst and reporter for the BBC World Service in London, from 1991 to 1993 and from 1998 to 1999, and continues to make documentaries for BBC Radio.
From 1993 to 1997, he worked in Moscow for the Moscow Times, the Times of London, and the Economist, specializing in Russian politics and the situation in Chechnya. He is the co-author (with Carlotta Gall) of the book Chechnya: Calamity in the Caucasus (NYU Press, 1997), for which the authors were awarded the James Cameron Prize for Distinguished Reporting.
Registration: If interested in the discussion, please, confirm your attendance via crrcnews@crrc.am or call at 58 13 30, 58 14 50 before July 9, at 12:00, mentioning your name and organizational affiliation.