ARMENIA AWARDS BALAKIAN WITH PRESTIGIOUS MEDAL
By Anthony Adornato
Colgate University News & Events, NY
Dec 18 2007
As a young student, Colgate University professor Peter Balakian’s
curiosity about his family roots led him on a personal and intellectual
journey. Balakian has spent decades unraveling his Armenian ancestry
and, in the process, educating the world about the atrocities of the
Armenian genocide.
Now, the Armenian government is recognizing Balakian, the Constance
H. and Donald M. Rebar Professor in the Humanities and professor of
English at Colgate.
During a ceremony last month at the Embassy of Armenia in Washington,
D.C., Balakian was awarded the Movses Khorenatsi Medal. The medal —
one of Armenia’s highest civilian honors — is presented to individuals
for their prominent contributions in the fields of culture, arts,
literature, education, and humanities.
"I feel honored that President Kocharian has honored me in this way,
and I hope that my work will contribute to an ongoing body of knowledge
about the Armenian genocide," said Balakian.
Ambassador Tatoul Markarian lauded Balakian’s literary accomplishments
along with his active position and leadership on Armenian issues.
"His books preserve for us and the entire humanity the record of
the tragedies, the challenges, and the perseverance of the Armenian
people in the most tragic chapter of our millenniums-old history,"
noted the Ambassador.
Balakian is the author of eight books including The Burning Tigris:
The Armenian Genocide and America’s Response, which was a New York
Times Notable Book and Best Seller.
His award-winning memoir, Black Dog of Fate, chronicles the sudden
awareness of his ethnicity — "the story of a boy growing up bewildered
by some of the ambiguous signals he’s receiving from his elders who
are trying to repress the trauma of the past."
In his remarks at the Embassy of Armenia, Balakian discussed the
remarkable resilence of the Armenian people and stressed education
as the key to progress.
"It is gratifying to be able to say in 2007 that we have educated
significant chunks of Europe, North America, and the Middle East
about who we are and what our history has entailed. If you asked
Armenians in 1970 if we would have transmitted our history into
popular consciousness, into the curriculum, into the news of the day,
I think they would have dismissed you as a dreamer."
rmenia-awards-balakian-with-p.html
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
