CAS Workshop. 14th Annual International Graduate Student Workshop in Armenian Studies: “The Archive in Theory and Practice in Armenian Studies”

The Center for Armenian Studies’ 14th Annual International Graduate Student Workshop brings together emerging scholars from diverse disciplines to critically engage with the concept of the archive in Armenian Studies. While archival theory often conceptualizes archives as repositories of collective memory, history, or knowledge, this workshop explores both institutional and non-traditional archives, questioning how they are formed, preserved, and accessed. Through an interdisciplinary lens, participants will examine the role of archives in shaping Armenian history, cultural identity, and scholarship, as well as the limitations and biases inherent in archival practices. By addressing the challenges of archival silences, displacement, and the role of digital tools in preservation, this workshop aims to foster new approaches to archival research.

The panels will cover a wide range of topics, including new methods in access and digitization, materiality and contact within the archive, the role of state and counter-archives, and local communities’ preservation practices. Participants will engage with case studies on liturgical hymn organization, handwritten text recognition, and digital community archiving, among other innovative research projects. Additionally, a special conversation with personal archivist Anahit Toumajan will offer insights into alternative archival practices outside institutional settings. A guided tour of the University of Michigan’s Armenian special collections will provide hands-on engagement with rare books and manuscripts, further enriching the discussion on archival methodologies and resources.

The workshop will culminate in a keynote lecture by Dr. Elyse Semerdjian, whose research on "embodied archives" offers a feminist critique of archival practice in Armenian Studies. Her work examines how physical and material remnants, such as scars and tattooed texts, function as historical records, challenging conventional notions of archival preservation. By bringing together scholars, archivists, and practitioners, this workshop seeks to advance critical conversations about the past, present, and future of archives in Armenian Studies, fostering a more nuanced understanding of how history is documented, remembered, and reinterpreted.

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DAY 1 — Friday: April 4, 2025
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9:00-9:30 AM — Introductory Remarks: Emma Avagyan (Middle East Studies), Nazelie Doghramadjian (Information), Allison Grenda (History of Art), Gottfried Hagen (Middle East Studies)

9:30-11:00 AM — Panel 1: New Methods in Access, Preservation, and Digitization of Armenian Heritage
Discussant: Bogdan Pavlish, University of Michigan
● Vardan Sargsyan, University of Michigan. “Unlocking the Sharaknots’: A New Approach to Organizing Armenian Liturgical Hymns”
● Chahan Vidal-Gòrene, Calfa, École Nationale des Chartes-PSL. “A Case Study on the Application of Handwritten Text Recognition to Mekhitarist Archives”

11:00-11:15 AM — Break

11:15 AM-12:45 PM — Panel 2: Beyond Text: Materiality and Contact within the Archive
Discussant: Christiane Gruber, University of Michigan
● Anahit Gasparyan, Tufts University. “Reimagining Access to Armenian Sources: The Value of Facsimiles in Art Historical Research”
● Tsovinar Kuiumchian, University of Oxford. “‘My house is full of ghosts’: Textile Archive as a Transgenerational Contact Zone”

12:45-2:00 PM — Lunch for Workshop Participants

2:00-3:00 PM — Panel 3: Conversation with Mrs. Anahit Toumajan, Armenian Language Teacher & Personal Archivist
Moderators: Nazelie Doghramadjian, University of Michigan; Michael Pifer, University of Michigan
● Anahit Toumajan, who is an Armenian language teacher and personal archivist in the Armenian community here in Michigan, will discuss her work preserving and arranging Mihran Toumajan’s archive. Mihran, born in 1890, was one of the five pupils of Gomidas and went on to become a famous composer and musician himself. Throughout his life, he kept detailed correspondence with his family, friends, and fellow pupils. Through his letters and journals, we learn more about his childhood, his family’s purchase of his first piano, his lessons with Gomidas, and well as his capture and exile during the Armenian Genocide. In conversation with PhD student Nazelie Doghramadjian and Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian Language and Literature Michael Pifer, Anahit Toumajan will discuss her work on this invaluable archive in her home, and how her work may be different from institutional archiving. She will also discuss some special materials within the archive that are full of emotion, personality, and history.

3:00-3:30 PM — Break

3:30 PM - 4:45 PM — Library and Special Collections Tour
Led by U-M Librarians Brendan Nieubuurt, Armine Kirakosyan, and Beth Snyder [for workshop participants only]
● The University of Michigan's Hatcher Graduate Library and Special Collections Research Center is a gem on our campus and for the Center for Armenian Studies. U-M Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies Librarians Armine Kirakosyan, Brendan Nieubuurt, and Beth Snyder will give workshop participants a tour of our library, just a 5-minute walk from our conference. Participants will get to see our study spaces, book stacks, and, most importantly, our Armenian special collections, rare books, and manuscripts.

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DAY 2 – Saturday: April 5, 2025
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9:20 AM — Brief Kick-off Remarks

9:30-11:30 AM — Panel 4: The State’s People and Their Counter-Archives
Discussant: Hazal Özdemir, University of Michigan
● Eray Erkoca, Binghamton University (SUNY). “Respecting the Untruth?: The Archives, Self-Narratives, and Ontology in the Context of the Armenian Genocide”
● Mete Ulutaş, Pennsylvania State University. “An Ethnography of Historical Research: Artifacts of State and People”
● Gayane Aghabalyan, University of Glasgow. “Between Privacy and Preservation: Ethical Considerations in Archival Research on Near East Relief Orphanages in Alexandrapol”

11:30-11:45 AM — Break

11:45 AM-1:15 PM — Panel 5: Archival Silences and Their Stories
Discussant: Melanie Tanielian, University of Michigan
● Júlia Tordeur, Getulio Vargas Foundation, Research and Documentation Center on Contemporary Brazilian History. “Reconstructing Armenian Family Histories in Brazil: Archival Silences, Digital Tools, and Diaspora Memory in the Aftermath of the Genocide”
● Nazelie Doghramadjian, University of Michigan. “Silence as Opportunity: Archival Stewardship in the Armenian Community”

1:15-2:15 PM — Lunch for Workshop Participants

2:15-3:45 PM — Panel 6: Local Communities’ Knowledge and Preservation Practices
Discussant: Patricia Garcia, University of Michigan
● Houry Pilibbossian, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. “Hi Haleb (Հայ Հալէպ): Digital Community Archive from Practice to Theory”
● Sama Totah, University of Michigan. “Beyond the Borderland: The Transnational Dimensions of the 1992-1993 Abkhaz War”
● Cafer Sarıkaya, Boğaziçi University. “Conducting a Study of Oral and Local History in the Black Sea Region”

3:45-4:00 PM — Break

4:00-5:45 PM — Keynote Address: Elyse Semerdjian, Clark University. “Speaking Scars and Tattooed Texts: ‘Embodied Archives,’ as Feminist Critique in Armenian Studies”
● Elyse Semerdjian is the Robert Aram and Marianne Kaloosdian and Stephen and Marian Mugar Chair of Armenian Genocide Studies at the Strassler Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Clark University. A specialist in the history of the Ottoman Empire, especially Ottoman Aleppo and the Armenian community, she authored “Off the Straight Path”: Illicit Sex, Law, and Community in Ottoman Aleppo (Syracuse University Press, 2008) and Remnants: Embodied Archives of the Armenian Genocide (Stanford University Press, 2023) as well as several articles on gender, Ottoman Armenians, urban history, and law in the Ottoman Empire. She is currently writing the long-dreamed book about the Armenian community of Aleppo from the early Ottoman period to the present.

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This workshop, sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Center for Armenian Studies and funded by the Manoogian Foundation, is organized by Emma Avagyan (PhD student in Middle East Studies), Nazelie Doghramadjian (PhD student in Information Studies), Allison Grenda (PhD student in the History of Art), and Dr. Gottfried Hagen (Middle East Studies). For questions, please email [email protected].

Register here: https://umich.zoom.us/j/97067599569