Photo Albums, Survivor Memoirs, and Foreign Aid

Spring 2003 Edition of Armenian Forum Covers Varied Topics

Princeton, NJ (30 May 2003)—The Spring 2003 edition of Armenian Forum: A Journal of Contemporary Affairs has been released by the Gomidas Institute. The 128-page issue of the celebrated journal includes the following articles and reviews:

Gérard Chaliand, “Turkey, Armenia, and the War in Iraq: A Conversation.” (Click here for more information.)

Victoria Rowe, "‘Resentment against All Places Where Girls Are Barred’: Femininity and Ethnicity in Armenian-American Memoirs." An insightful review of a particular genre of Armenian-American literature: memoirs by women who survived the Armenian Genocide and made their lives in the United States.
Members of later generations tend to think of those women as the embodiment of Armenian identity. The women themselves struggled with what it meant to be Armenian, what it meant to be a woman, what it meant to be a refugee, and, indeed, what it meant to be responsible for bearing and upholding Armenian identity, Rowe demonstrates.

She discusses the following memoirs in depth: Serpoohi Christine Jafferian, Winds of Destiny: An Immigrant Girl’s Odyssey; Dirouhi Kouymjian Highgas, Refugee Girl; Alice Muggerditchian Shipley, We Walked, Then Ran; Elise Hagopian Taft, Rebirth: The Story of an Armenian Girl Who Survived the Genocide and Found Rebirth in America

Rowe holds a Ph.D. from the University of Toronto.

Social Activism and Foreign Aid

An exchange, consisting of six articles, examining the efforts of western donors to reshape society in Armenia. Western donors have spent millions of dollars since 1988 to help people in Armenia and, at the same time, to change Armenian society—presumably for the better. The investors in this transformation have included western government agencies and international institutions, as well as Armenian and non-Armenian foundations, religious groups, organizations, and individuals.
Who determines the new shape that society in Armenia is supposed to take? How effective have these western interventions been? These vital questions are addressed in the exchange.

The lead article is by Armine Ishkanian, who has spent many years studying foreign aid and social activism in Armenia. A postdoctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley, she is currently continuing her research in Armenia. Her thirty-page article is titled, "Importing Civil Society? The Emergence of Armenia’s ngo Sector and the Impact of Western Aid on Its Development."

Hasmik Gevorgyan, a professor of sociology at Yerevan State University, responds to Ishkanian with an essay titled, "The Paradoxical Role of Women in Armenia." A prominent scholar-activist, Gevorgyan leads the trust Social Work and Sociological Research Center, and has served on the board of George Soros’s Open Society Institute Assistance Foundation—Armenia.

Susanna Vardanyan responds with an article titled, "From the First Leaflet to the First Shelter." It describes the evolution of her work as an activist on behalf of battered women. Vardanyan is a physician and president of the Women’s Rights Center, a nongovernmental organization in Armenia.

Michele Rivkin-Fish, a professor of anthropology at the University of Kentucky, responds to Ishkanian with an article titled, "Rethinking Western Strategies for Democracy Building." Rivkin-Fish has closely studied similar issues in the Russian context.

The final response, by Julie Hemment, a professor of anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is titled, "Import/Export? Gender, Diaspora, and the Challenge of Locating ngos." Hemment, like Rivkin-Fish, has done in-depth studies of social activism in postcommunist Russia.

Ishkanian replies to the four responses in an article titled, "Promoting Local Approaches to Global Problems."

For more information about this exchange, click here.

Reviews

Gregory Lima, "Armenia in Pictures," an illustrated review of five books. Gregory Lima was special correspondent and critic at Tehran’s leading English-language daily Kayhan International, which he started in 1958. He is the author of The Costumes of Armenian Women (Tehran, 1974) and other books.
The titles under review are: Mayis Vardanian, The Beginning: Yerevan 1988 (1998); Gareguin Zakoyan, Max Sivaslian, and Vahan Navasardian, My Yerevan (2002); Hrair Hawk Khatcherian, Artsakh: A Photographic Journey (1997); Antoine Agoudjian and Gérard Guégan, Fragile Dreams: Armenia (1999); and Jacob Majarian, Armenia: Pictorial Treasury of an Ancient Land (2001).

David Kazanjian, professor of English at Queens College, reviews Marc Nichanian, Writers of Disaster: Armenian Literature in the Twentieth Century, volume 1, The National Revolution (Princeton and London: Gomidas, 2002).

Armenian Forum is available by subscription at $34 for four quarterly issues. (Students pay only $24.) The Spring 2003 issue (volume 3, number 1) may be purchased separately for $12 plus $3 shipping. For more information or to order, call toll-free 1-888-927-6369 from the U.S. or Canada), E-mail forum@gomidas.org or write Armenian Forum, PO Box 208, Princeton NJ 08542-0208.

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