ZORYAN INSTITUTE OF CANADA, INC.
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Tel: 416-250-9807 Fax: 416-512-1736 E-mail: [email protected]
PRESS RELEASE
CONTACT: GEORGE SHIRINIAN
DATE: April 27, 2004 Tel: (416) 250-9807
DR. H. MARUTYAN LECTURES ON KARABAGH MOVEMENT AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY
Cambridge, MA – Dr. Harutyun Marutyan, Senior Researcher at the Institute
of Archaeology and Ethnography in the National Academy of Sciences of
Armenia, gave a lecture entitled “The Genocide and Armenian National
Identity Changes During the Karabagh Movement (1988-1990)” in a public
event on April 21. The lecture was co-sponsored by the National
Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Zoryan
Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation.
Through an analysis of banners and posters prominently used in Armenia
during the Karabagh Movement, Dr. Marutyan demonstrated that there was a
strong connection in the minds of the Armenian people between the
contemporary pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan and the Armenian
Genocide of 1915. He presented numerous slides depicting signs and banners
from the Movement that even in their early phases recalled the Genocide.
From displays in the distinctive shape of the Armenian Genocide Memorial
(Dzidzernagapert) to the content of banners, caricatures, and slogans in
Armenian, English, and Russian, the Armenians clearly demonstrated that
they viewed the Sumgait and Baku pogroms as synonymous with and a
continuation of the Genocide. In addition, they evoked other cases of mass
violations of human rights, including Stalin’s purges and exiling of
Armenians to remote areas of the Soviet Union.
Dr. Marutyan described the transformation of national identity from that of
a victimized people to that of a people with a new assertiveness.
Initially, the protesters directed their concerns toward the essentially
powerless Armenian public and government. Soon they directed their protests
toward the government and Communist Party hierarchy in Moscow. Eventually,
they looked beyond the Soviet Union and appealed to the outside world in
general. The progression of the Karabagh Movement inevitably led to a call
for independence, which many Armenians saw as the only way to prevent the
future genocide of their people.
Dr. Marutyan demonstrated compellingly how historical memory strongly
affected Armenian identity and influenced the creation and subsequent
development of the Karabagh Movement, ultimately leading to the
independence of Armenia and neighboring Karabagh.
Dr. Harutyun Marutyan is a Social/Cultural Anthropologist, Senior
Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in the National
Academy of Sciences of Armenia and is also Visiting Professor of
Anthropology at Yerevan State University. He is author of numerous books
and articles, and co-author of “Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity”
(Indiana University Press, 2001) and “Stories on Poverty” (Yerevan: Lusakn
Press, 2001). Currently, Dr. Marutyan is Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the
Anthropology Program, MIT. During his stay in the United States, he has
lectured at MIT, Rice University, Berkley, UCLA, and has been invited to
lecture at other universities before he leaves the United States at the
beginning of June.