Fresno State News, CA
April 11 2005
Professor’s Book Coincides with 90th Anniversary of Armenian Genocide
A Fresno State professor’s book looking at Armenians in Canada was
published this month and coincides with the 90th anniversary of the
beginning of the Armenian genocide that killed 1.5 million people.
Dr. Isabel Kaprielian-Churchill, a professor of history at California
State University, Fresno wrote `Like Our Mountains: A History of
Armenians in Canada,’ which was published by McGill-Queen’s
University Press. The book recounts the sweeping social history of
the Armenian-Canadian experience that links the Old World with the
New against a far-flung diaspora.
The genocide of Armenians in Turkey began in 1915. More than
seventy-five thousand Armenians have found refuge in Canada and
Kaprielian-Churchill’s narrative is the first comprehensive account
of their experience from the late 19th century to the devastating
earthquake in 1988.
`Like Our Mountains’ relates the history of the Canadian Armenian
community from its founding, settlements and economic adjustments, to
its social, religious, political and cultural life, transformations
over generations, and relationship with other communities in Canadian
society. The book examines the cities settled by Armenian immigrants:
Brantford before 1914, St. Catharines after World War I, Hamilton
after World War II, and Toronto and Montreal from the 1960s to 1988.
Kaprielian-Churchill carried out exhaustive research in English,
Armenian, and French sources including interviews with survivors of
the genocide, archives, oral histories, diaries and memoirs and
letters.
A professor of Armenian and Immigration History, Kaprielian-Churchill
specializes in the field of Armenian diasporan history.