Dear Friends of UCI Center for Armenian Studies,
We are pleased to share some exciting news!
We heartily congratulate the following graduate and undergraduate recipients of our two Armenian Studies awards, made possible — as always — by the generous gift of our supporters. Three of our four winners are also students in our Armenian language classes — clear evidence of how crucial it is to continue to teach Armenian at UCI, both as a heritage language and a research language.
NANEH AWARD FOR GRADUATE RESEARCH IN ARMENIAN STUDIES
This award was created by Professor V. Ara Apkarian and Dr. Alice B. Apkarian to support graduate student research in the Armenian Studies Program. The scholarship is named after Naneh, Armenian Goddess of Wisdom and War in ancient Armenian mythology.
Bedros Torosian will be conducting summer research in Massachusetts for his project exploring the mobility of racialist ideas between the Ottoman Empire and the myriad corners of the globe, mainly North America and Europe, where Ottoman Armenians and Arabs migrated. Bedros Torosian is a third-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.
Elif Shannon-Chastain will be conducting summer research in Istanbul for her project about Ottoman Armenian actresses, Eliza Binemeciyan and Kınar Sıvacıyan within the discourses of gender and nationalism during Turkey’s transition from empire to republic. Elif Shannon-Chastain is a first-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.
Oğul Tuna will be conducting summer research in Istanbul and Ankara for his project about the transformation of Armenian-Turkish relations during the First Republic of Armenia, with a focus on mobile historical actors, contested borders, and shifting political orientations. Oğul Tuna is a first-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.
THE ARMENIAN STUDIES PRIZE IN HONOR OF SYLVIE TERTZAKIAN
This scholarship was created by Vahe Meghrouni to honor Sylvie Tertzakian’s unwavering support and pioneering efforts on behalf of UCI Armenian Studies.
Bedros Torosian, First Prize for “’There is a House but No Keeper, There is a Land but No Cultivator:’ Territoriality, Nationalism, and the Making of Ottoman Armenian Masculinity”
Based on previously unexplored sources, primarily Armenian-language newspapers from the Ottoman Empire and the United States, Bedros Torosian’s research paper examines Armenian intellectuals’ and political elites’ anti-immigration writings in the exclusively androcentric press in their host societies and in the homeland. He argues that Armenian male expatriates who migrated from the Ottoman Empire to the United States between the 1908 Young Turk Revolution and the start of WWI in 1914 viewed and presented permanent settlement in Ottoman territory not only as a national obligation but an “organic exercise of masculinity.” By exploring the intertwined relationship between territoriality, masculinity, and nationalism, he challenges conventional scholarship and makes a significant intervention. Bedros Torosian is a third-year Ph.D. student in the History Department.
Christina Chiranian, Second Prize for “Gender and Sexuality During the Velvet Revolution”
Drawing on available primary and secondary sources, senior Christina Chiranian’s research paper, “Gender and Sexuality During the Velvet Revolution” is an exploration of both the promises Armenia’s Velvet Revolution of 2018 held for women’s rights and representation and the subsequent disappointment with Nicol Pashinyan’s government as hopes for social change, especially regarding gender and sexuality in Armenia, were dashed. She argues that despite Armenian women’s pivotal role in the success of the revolution, women’s economic and political participation reached new lows as Armenian society continued to reject the LGBTQ community. These defeats were further exacerbated by the 2020 War with Azerbaijan, and there has been a regression in women’s status. Christina Chiranian is a Social Policy and Public Service major with a Minor in Armenian Studies and a Minor in Education.
Congratulations to you all!