Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History

I Am Servant of Your Voice: Armenian-American Soprano Zabelle Panosian, 1891-1986
2022-10-14 19:00 - 21:00 (America/Los_Angeles) | 10383 Bunche Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
The Armenian Studies Program within the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA presents “I am Servant of Your Voice: Armenian-American soprano Zabelle Panosian, 1891-1986” by musicologist and record producer Ian Nagoski and music collector and researcher Harout Arakelian. This event is co-sponsored by the UCLA Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History, the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies, and the UCLA Armenian Music Program.
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The event will take place at UCLA Bunche Hall, Room 10383
To attend the event virtually, via the Zoom Webinar platform RSVP here.

An Armenian Artist of Constantinople
2022-11-03 06:00 - 21:00 | Zoom Webinar
Webinar Registration

Armeno-Indica: Four Centuries of Familiarity and Friendship
2023-03-17 - 2023-03-18 | UCLA Royce Hall 314 and Fowler Museum
This event is organized by the UCLA Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair in Modern Armenian History.
Friday, March 17, 2023 | 10:00 AM – 6:30 PM (Pacific Time)
to
Saturday, March 18, 2023 | 11:30 AM – 6:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Postponed due to the pandemic, this international conference celebrates the bicentenary of the founding of Kolkata’s famed Armenian College (est. 1821), one of three centers of Armenian higher learning in the diaspora during the nineteenth century and the only one that has survived and is thriving today. Bringing together economic, literary, legal, and cultural historians from India, Armenia, France, the United Kingdom, Germany, and the United States, the conference highlights how, beginning in the early modern period and continuing to the present, Armenians have traveled to India to make its distant shores and cultures their own. India looms large in the Armenian social imaginary. It was not only the place where the first Armenian proto-constitution for an “imagined” nation-republic was published (Madras 1788/9), it was also the cradle of the first Armenian newspaper (Madras, 1794-1796), the first modern Armenian play (Calcutta 1823), and arguably also where the first Eastern Armenian novel appeared (Calcutta, 1846), as well as where the first Armenian “feminist” tract (Calcutta, 1847) was published.
Gathering an international group of scholars, Armeno-Indica explores the Indo-Armenian saga in South Asia from the seventeenth to the twenty-first centuries. Themes to be explored include the connected economic, literary, legal, and political histories of Armenians and Indians in South Asia and beyond across the waters of the Indian Ocean. The keynote for the conference will be delivered by Professor Sanjay Subrahmanyam.

—– RSVP requested for in-person attendance —–
—– RSVP for participation via Zoom —–

Friday, March 17, 2023 (Royce 314, UCLA)
Welcoming words: Amy Landau and Ann Karagozian
(10:00 AM – 10:15 AM)
Introduction to the conference: Sebouh David Aslanian
(10:15 AM – 10:30 AM)
~~ Introduction and Welcome video recording ~~

Panel 1: Trade, Law, and Go-Betweens (10:30 AM – 12:30 PM)
Santanu Sengupta (Kolkata): “Negotiating with Law: Phases of Armenian Interaction with the Early Colonial Law Courts in India.”
Xabier Lamikiz (University of the Basque Country /Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea (UPV/EHU): “Armenian Merchants from Madras in Eighteenth-Century Spanish Manila: A Story of Love and Hate.”
Ruquia Hussain (Aligarh Muslim University, AMU): “Of Sarhad and Calcutta: The English East India Company, Khwāja Israel di Sarhad and the Foundation of Modern Calcutta.”
Sona Tajiryan (Gemological Institute of America, GIA): “How to Choose and Buy Pearls? An Eighteenth-Century Armenian Guide on the Pearl Trade in India (1730s).”
Discussant: Glenn Penny (UCLA)
~~ Panel 1 video recording ~~

Lunch Break: Balcony of Royce 306 (12:30 PM – 1:30 PM)

Panel 2: Language and Literary Revival (1:30 PM-3:00 PM)
Ahona Panda (Claremont McKenna): “Ajab Shahar Calcutta: The Outsider in the Bengal Renaissance.”
Talar Chahinian (University of California, Irvine): “Mobilizing Subjectivity in the Practice of the Nation: Tagheadeants‘s’ Case for Women’s Education.”
Peter Cowe (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA): “Intertextuality and Innovation: Mesrop Taghiadeants‘ and his Experimentation with the Novel Genre in Comparative Perspective.”
Discussant: Houri Berberian (University of California, Irvine)
~~ Panel 2 video recording ~~
Coffee Break: (3:00 PM – 3:15 PM)

Panel 3: Armenian Historiography and Print Culture in Madras (3:15-5:00PM)
Martin Adamian (UCLA, graduate student): “Mesrovb J. Seth, Father of Indo-Armenian Historiography.”
Anna Sirinian (Dipartimento di Storia Culture Civiltà, Università di Bologna): “Azdarar (1794-1796): The First Armenian Periodical in the World.”
Hasmik Kirakosyan (Senior Researcher, Mashtots Repository of Manuscripts, Yerevan): “Harutiwn Shmavonean an Armenian Printer-publisher in Madras and a Farman for Printing in Arabic script in Madras.”
Discussant: Nile Green (UCLA)
~~ Panel 3 video recording ~~

Panel 4: History in the Present (5:00 PM – 6:30 PM)
Armen Arslanian: (Warden of the Armenian Church of Dhaka, Bangladesh): “The Armenian Church of Dhaka (Bangladesh) and the task of Heritage preservation.”
Vache Tadevosyan: (Community leader, Kolkata, India): “The Mardasirakan Jemaran (Armenian College of Kolkata) and its Bicentenary.”
Satenik Chookaszian (Armenian National Gallery in Yerevan): “Sargis Katchadourian’s reproductions of India’s cultural gems from the collection of National Gallery of Armenia.”
Chair and Discussant: Armen Baibourtian
~~ Panel 4 video recording ~~

Saturday, March 18, 2023 (Fowler Museum, UCLA)
Check-in at Lenart Hall (11:30 AM – 12:00 PM)
Welcoming remarks: Amy Landau

Panel 1: Monuments, Patronage, and Indo-Persianate Identities (12:00 PM – 2:00 PM)
Sebouh David Aslanian (Department of History, UCLA): “Cemeteries as Heterotopias: Armenian Sepulchral Culture in Agra and Surat, or what the Dead can tell us About the Living.”
Talinn Grigor (Department of Art History, UC Davis): “‘Transimperial’ Strategies of Artistic Patronage: From New Julfan Merchants to Parsi Industrialists.”
Veronika Zablotsky (Freie Universität, Berlin): “Orientalism and the Making of the Armenian Diasporic Imaginary in Early Colonial India.”
Discussant: Peter Cowe (UCLA)
~~ Day 2 Panel 1 video recording ~~
Panel 2: The Historical Imagination and the Circulation of Revolutionary Ideas in Late 18th Century South India (2:00 PM – 3:30PM)
Michael O’Sullivan (The European University Institute, Florence): “Portfolio Capitalism and History-Writing in Hagop Simonean Ayubeant’s Life of Haydar Ali Khan, c. 1782-1795.”
Ayal Amer (UC Irvine): “Fitna and Patriotism in Late 18th century Madras.”
Satenig Badwagan Toufanian (Inalco, Paris): “The Snare of Glory: A Call for Freedom from Madras.”
Discussant: Sebouh D. Aslanian
~~ Day 2 Panel 2 video recording ~~
Intermission: Lemonade, Cookies and Open Galleries in Courtyard (3:30 PM – 4:40 PM)

Keynote Address (4:40 PM – 5:40 PM)
Sanjay Subrahmanyam (Distinguished Professor & Irving and Jean Stone Endowed Chair in Social Sciences): “Armenians and Others in Mughal Surat: Rethinking Communities, Collaboration and Conflict.”
~~ Day 2 Keynote address video recording ~~
Reception on the Terrace (6:00m – 7:30pm)

That Troublesome Word, Genocide: How Should We Understand It?
2023-04-21 16:00 - 18:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
Please join us for the Raymond H. Kevorkian Annual Armenian Genocide Remembrance Lecture. This event will be held in person and virtually.
In-person: 6275 Bunche Hall, UCLA | Virtual: RSVP via bit.ly/MAH04-21-23
Australian historian and student of genocides, Professor Dirk Moses, recently published a bold and provocative challenge to political and military leaders, as well as the field of genocide studies — The Problems of Genocide: Permanent Security and the Language of Transgression (Cambridge University Press, 2021) — which questions the utility of the concept of genocide, analyzes its harmful effects, and proposes that an alternative concept, permanent security, be used as a more inclusive and effective analytic for crime against civilians. Genocide leaves too much out, for example, aerial bombing, and lets states, notably Western countries, off the hook by allowing arguments made from military necessity. Professor Ron Suny, emeritus of the University of Chicago and the University of Michigan — and author of a major study of the massacres and deportations committed by the Ottoman Turks in 1915, “They Can Live in the Desert But Nowhere Else”: A History of the Armenian Genocide (Princeton University Press, 2015) — uses the insights of Moses’ work to take a fresh look at the Armenian tragedy and how it provides another lens to look at the concept of genocide.

THE HORRORS OF ADANA: REVOLUTION AND VIOLENCE IN THE EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
2023-04-28 18:00 - 20:00 | CA
Please join Bedross Der Matossian, Ph.D., Professor of Modern Middle East History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln for this Lecturer. This event will be held in person and via Zoom.
In-person: UCLA BUNCHE HALL 6275 | ZOOM WEBINAR RSVP at bit.ly/PAI4-28-23

Looking Back Forward: Armenia in Lausanne - Nadir of Diplomacy
2024-04-22 10:00 - 12:00 | Zoom Webinar
Virtual lecture by Professor Hans-Lukas Kieser with discussant Lerna Ekmekcioglu.
RSVP at https://bit.ly/MAH04-22-24.
The annual Raymond Kevorkian Genocide Commemoration Lecture is organized by the Richard Hovannisian Chair of Modern Armenian History at UCLA, with co-sponsorship by the Promise Armenian Institute at UCLA and the UCLA Center for Near Eastern Studies (CNES).

Sahag II Khabayan (1849-1939): Catholicos of Cilicia as Witness to Massacres and the Armenian Genocide
2025-04-25 13:00 - 15:00 | 6275 Bunche Hall, 405 Hilgard Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90045, United States
The talk examines the life and work of Sahag II Khabayan, the Catholicos of the House of Cilicia, as a lens through which to explore the Armenian Genocide and its aftermath. By reconstructing Khabayan’s biography through his correspondence, the talk will challenge traditional historiographies, prioritizing state archives-particularly Ottoman and German sources-over other significant historical records written in Armenian. It will emphasize the importance of Armenian survivor accounts, such as Khabayan’s letters, in understanding the complexities of the genocide and the efforts to preserve Armenian identity and survival in its wake.
Khabayan’s unique position as a political and religious leader during three critical phases of violence-the Adana massacres of 1909, the Armenian Genocide (1915-1923), and the Kemalist offensive (1918-1921) in Cilicia-offers a nuanced perspective on the events. The talk highlights three critical contradictions to traditional narratives: Khabayan’s loyalty to the Ottoman government during World War I, his relationship with Cemal Pasha (one of the key perpetrators of the genocide), and his post-war stance on the future of Armenians in Cilicia, which included critiques of the Armenian National Delegation’s reliance on European powers. Through Khabayan’s efforts to rebuild the Armenian community in Antelias, Lebanon, after the genocide, the talk will underscore his leadership in creating a sanctuary for Armenians and preserving their religious and cultural life. In doing so, the talk will expand the historiographical discourse on the Armenian Genocide, offering a more comprehensive understanding of survival, resistance, and the political realities faced by Armenians during and after this traumatic period.

You can watch a video of this event below:
