PRESS RELEASE
UCLA AEF Chair in Armenian History
Contact: Prof. Richard Hovannisian
Tel: 310-825-3375
Email: Hovannis@history.ucla.edu
FEBRUARY 26, 2008
UCLA CONFERENCE FEATURES MUSA DAGH, KESSAB, DORT-YOL
UCLA-A leap-year international conference on the Armenian communities
of the Northeastern Mediterranean will take place on the weekend of
February 29-March 1, 2008. The seventeenth in the UCLA AEF Chair’s
conference series `Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,’ the
two-day gathering will focus on region extending from Dort-Yol
(Chork-Marzban) to Musa Dagh and Kessab. Serving as co-sponsors are
the Mousa Ler Association of California and the Kessab Educational
Association of Los Angeles, along with the UCLA Centers for Near
Eastern Studies and European and Eurasian Studies, International
Institute, and Department of History
Participants include scholars from Armenia, France, Great Britain,
Netherlands, Syria, and several institutions in the United States. The
opening session in Armenian will take place on Friday evening,
February 29, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Kalaydjian Hall of the
Armenian Church Western Diocese at 3325 N. Glenoaks Boulevard in
Burbank (Buena Visa exit from the 5 Golden State Freeway).
Following an introduction by Professor Richard Hovannisian, AEF Chair
at UCLA, Dr. Hagop Tcholakian of Aleppo, the author of a three-volume
history of Kessab, will give an overview of the Armenian communities
from Beylan to Antioch and Latakia. He will be joined by Dr. Verjine
Svazlian of the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, who
will discuss the oral tradition of Musa Dagh, and by Ms. Isabel
Mavian, both of Paris and of Yerevan, who will examine how the people
of Kessab responded to calamitous situations between 1909 and 1947.
The all day sessions on the UCLA campus on Saturday, March 1, from 10
a.m. to 5:00 p.m., will be in English and take place in the
refurbished Broad (formerly Dickson) Auditorium. The morning program
will include an illustrated presentation by Ms. Ruth Thomasian of the
Project SAVE Archives, Watertown, Massachusetts. Dr. Minas Kojayan of
the AGBU High School in Canoga Park will examine the repeated
self-defense of Chork-Marzban (Dort-Yol) from 1896 to 1921, with
Mr. Aram Arkun of New York City making additional comments in
writing. Dr. Vahram Shemmassian of CSU Northridge will offer an
overview of the history of Musa Dagh in the nineteenth and twentieth
centuries.
The second morning session will feature Dr. Susan Pattie of University
College London who has chosen the title, `Even Paradise Isn’t Perfect:
Memories of Kessab.’ Dr. Hagop Tcholakian will speak on Kessab after
becoming a diasporan community, following brief readings and
explanations of the Musa Dagh and Kessab Armenian dialects will be
given by Dr. Hagop Panossian of the Mousa Ler Association and
Dr. Hrair Atikian of the Kessab Educational Association.
In the afternoon sessions, Mrs. Sona Zeitlian will present the
findings of her study on the oral tradition of Musa Dagh. Mr. Ara
Soghomonian, Ph.D. student at UCLA who has investigated primary source
materials on the projected filming of `The Forty Days of Musa Dagh’
will reveal little known aspects of this case of Hollywood
censorship. Dr. Keith Watenpaugh of UC Davis will focus on the
Armenian and Alwaite responses to the Alexandretta crisis in the
1930s.
During the final afternoon session, Dr. Herant Katchadourian of
Stanford University will speak on culture and personality, based on
his field research in Anjar after the relocation there of most of the
natives of Musa Dagh. Dr. Shemmassian will conclude the program with a
sketch of Vakef or Samandagh, the only remaining Armenian village in
Musa Dagh and in all of Turkey. As in most previous conferences in
this series, Mr. Richard and Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Elbrecht of Davis,
California, will mount a related photographic exhibit.
The conference is open to the public without charge. Parking on the
UCLA campus will be in Structure 3, entrance from Hilgard Avenue near
Sunset Boulevard. Daily parking fee: $8.00. For further information,
please e-mail Professor Hovannisian at Hovannis@history.ucla.edu
END