RUTGERS TO OFFER COURSE ON NAGORNO-KARABAGH

009/05/27/rugers-to-offer-course-on-nagorno-karaba gh/
May 27, 2009

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J.-A course entitled "Conflicts in the Caucusus:
Ethnic Separatist Movements in Comparative Perspective" will be offered
this coming fall at Rutgers University in New Jersey. The course will
provide an overview to ethnic and separatist conflicts in Abkhazia,
Chechnya, Ossetia, and Nagorno-Karabagh, with Karabagh used as a case
study and primary focus of the course. The course will be offered on
Monday evenings from 6:10-9 p.m. on the College Avenue campus.

John Antranig Kasbarian, who holds a Ph.D. in geography from Rutgers,
will instruct the course. His doctoral dissertation dealt with the
geography of nationalism during the recent war in Karabagh, based in
large part on his own experiences on the ground. The work is entitled
"We Are Our Mountains: The Geography of Nationalism in the Armenian
Self-Determination Movement, Nagorno-Karabakh: 1988-98." Kasbarian has
published widely on Karabagh in both academic journals and the press. A
former journalist, he is active in Armenian affairs and currently works
as development director for the New York-based Tufenkian Foundation,
supervising activities in Karabagh that focus on small business
development, economic recovery programs, and refugee resettlement.

"We are delighted to have such a course offered at the State University
of New Jersey. It gives us great satisfaction to expand the breadth
of courses offered through our program, which has promoted Armenian
culture and history for the past 25 years at Rutgers," said James
Sahagian, chairperson of the Committee for Armenian Studies at
Rutgers. "Professor Kasbarian combines both his knowledge and passion
for the region, all while being an articulate and talented lecturer,"
he said.

On April 16, Kasbarian led a seminar providing an overview of the
course, which was well received. The seminar was attended by students
as well as alumni and supporters of the Rutgers University Armenian
Studies Program.

The course is being sponsored by the Rutgers University Armenian
Studies Program, through the generous support of benefactors G. Haig
and Nadine Ariyan. Their donation was given in memory of Haig’s
childhood friend, Peter Edward Mardikian, who died in the September 11
World Trade Center attack. Peter was just 29 years old, and married
for only six weeks, when the tragedy occurred; he was getting ready
to present at a technology and financial trade show at Windows On the
World, the 106th floor of the World Trade Center. Peter’s mother,
Shakeh "Jackie" Mardikian, has been working as a medical librarian
at Rutgers’ Library of Science and Medicine since 1991.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress