Harutyun Marutyan Discusses Armenian Identity at AUA

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YEREVAN, Armenia – On December 17, 2014, the American University of Armenia (AUA) welcomed Harutyun Marutyan for a lecture on “The Karabagh Movement and Genocide Memory: Old Challenges — New Trends,” which covered topics within the framework of his book, “Iconography of Armenian Identity: The Memory of Genocide and the Karabagh Movement.”

Marutyan discussed Armenian identity as it has shifted from one based on victimhood to one based on strength and resilience. He focused on the role played by the memory of the Armenian Genocide during the Revolution of 1988-1990, using iconographic materials such as posters and banners to analyze the evolution of Armenia and Armenian identity.

Harutyun Marutyan is a Leading Research Fellow at the Department of Contemporary Anthropological Studies in the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, and Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Yerevan State University. Born in 1956, he was educated at YSU (History Department, M.A., 1978) and the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in Moscow (Ph.D., 1984). He received his second PhD in 2007 at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Yerevan. He is an IREX/RSEP (Michigan University, 1998), Fulbright (MIT, 2003-2004), and DAAD (Berlin, 2013) alumnus. In 2009-2010 he was Diane and Howard Wohl Fellow at the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies, US Holocaust Memorial Museum (Washington, DC).

He is recipient of the President of the Republic of Armenia Prize (2011) in the nomination of persons having made a valuable contribution to the recognition of the Armenian Genocide for his methodologically innovative research into the continuity of the memory of the Armenian Genocide and its relationship with the Karabagh Movement.

The event was part of the 1915 Centennial series at AUA.

Founded in 1991, the American University of Armenia (AUA) is a private, independent university located in Yerevan, Armenia and affiliated with the University of California. AUA provides a global education in Armenia and the region, offering high-quality, graduate and undergraduate studies, encouraging civic engagement, and promoting public service and democratic values.

Harutyun Marutyan