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12.12.2013

ARMENIAN DIASPORA’S ACADEMIC AND ANALYTICAL COMMUNITY IN THE SPHERE OF HUMANITIES: OUTLINE

   

Tigran Ghanalanyan
Expert, Center for Armenian Studies, “Noravank” Foundation

There were many Armenian figures in the different communities of Diaspora who were involved in the academic and cultural areas of those countries. This is characteristic for the multi-century history of our scattered communities. Today Armenians from Diaspora are also among the intelligentsia of the countries they reside. There is also academic and analytical community in the sphere of humanities in different countries of the world and in this article we shall try to present it.

It is difficult to characterize this community by means of generalized formulations and evaluations, because anyway there are some peculiarities. The first issue to bother us is the involvement of that person in the Armenian reality. In order to consider this issue a number personal, historical, geographic, political and cultural factors peculiar to that community are decisive. For example, it is obvious that in the aspect of perception of the problems of the Armeniancy and efforts exerted to their solutions, the Armenian from Lebanon who works at the local Armenian school or media, the PhD who has moved to Russia recently and the descendant from Lebanese Armenian family who moved to Canada and now is professor at the humanities faculty of some university can have quite different approaches. It is difficult to offer one distinct formula which can be used in all the situations, just like with any other issue referring to the Diaspora. The perception and view of the motherland by any person, the share of influence of Armenia and local community can be decisive in the aspect of elaboration of a way of cooperation with him.

As it is known there is considerable Armenian presence in dozens of countries and two of them, the U.S. and Russia stand out for the big number of both Armenians and research and analytical community. It is necessary to refer to the analytical and academic communities of these countries separately, and here we shall cover the potential of other communities of the Diaspora. In the future several regions, which are presented in the table below, can be singles out on the grounds of a database of the academics and researches gathered as a result of this study.

As a result we have 27 countries which fall into 4 geographic groups. The biggest of these groups is Europe and it is logical because in case of such division and in the aspect of the Armenian population in general, it overruns all other regions. It should be mentioned that this division is carried out based on the available study and does not claim to include the whole academic and analytical community, which could have brought to some changes in the structure of the groups. But at the same time it is obvious that such a division reflects current realties and outlines the real picture to some extent.

Developing an idea that it is impossible to offer final common formulas for all the communities, one should mention that even within these groups, communities with peculiarities can be found and it is difficult to create common concepts for the groups. Here such small and newly formed communities as in the UAE or Sweden cannot have the same mechanisms as compared, correspondingly, to Lebanon and France. Moreover, there are some peculiarities in the countries, e.g. in the aspect of works carried out in the traditional community and among those who has recently migrated from Armenia.

According to our conventional division, countries which are included in the Middle East group fall into two groups: those with traditional communities and those with newly formed Armenian communities. The first group includes Turkey, Iran, Lebanon, Cyprus and Syria, and the second group – UAE and Kuwait. Besides the historical traditions of the community, in the aspect of number, communities in Turkey, Iran, Lebanon and Syria outnumber others. Though in this region which has many commonalities the accumulated experience can also be singled out. E.g. in UAE and Kuwait the Lebanese experience can be useful, especially if we take into consideration the fact that most of the population here moved and settled in this economically developing countries from Lebanon and other countries of the region with the traditional Armenian communities. Among these aforementioned countries Iran, Lebanon and Syria, which have developed system of community organizations, can be singled out. Besides Armenian schools, which are peculiar to the Armenian communities in the region, the only higher educational institution of Diaspora – Haigazian University is situated in Lebanon1.

It should be underlined that though the Haigazian University has the Chair of Armenology, nevertheless, many lecturers of the Armenian origin working here are specialists in humanities and different social sciences. Hence, the Haigazian University is an example of consolidation of not only Armenological but also academic and analytical community in Diaspora in general. At the same time it should be mentioned that considerable part of both lecturers and students are not Armenians and due to this fact it is easy to integrate both university and lecturers in the local educational system.

The development of the relations between Haigazian University and different educational institutions of the Armenian Diaspora is also crucial. It can promote establishment of cooperation not only between educational institutions but also strengthening of ties between communities. Of course it would be difficult to overestimate setting active cooperation between the university and educational and academic institutions in Armenia. By the way, recently some practical steps have been taken; in particular conferences were arranged both in Beirut and in Yerevan. The experience accumulated by Haigazian University can be useful in the aspect of both organizing educational activity in different communities of Diaspora, and development of the educational system in Armenia. Despite the gradual weakening and reduction of the Armenian community in Lebanon, Haigazian University has potential for development in both educational and research aspects2.

While considering prospects of cooperation with Armenia, it should be mentioned that eager cooperation with the local community organizations is characteristic for the Armenian experts from the Middle East. Hence, in the process of cooperation with academic and analytical community from there, it is possible to use the local experienced Armenian organizations which can become a sort of link between those personalities and their motherland.

The involvement of the Armenians in the intellectual sphere in Europe has centuries-long history too. Of course, here there are also institutions which accumulated huge experience, e.g. Mkhitarian Congregation, and separate experts working in different institutions. For example Italy has rich traditions in the Armenology, and in Sweden there are some persons whose work is conditioned by the tasks set by the local institutions.

Among the European countries France with its rather big expert community stands out. Here both experience accumulated by the local Armenians and organizations established by them and multitude of the local Armenian community are crucial. In Great Britain, where there are much fewer Armenians, they also work in many academic and educational institutions. Here the policy of state in the sphere of science and education, the importance of easy integration of the foreigners in that sphere becomes obvious. Due to this reason some of the Armenian communities in Europe, which have rich history, do not have the academic and analytical community some of lately formed or grown communities have.

There are some countries in Europe the development of the academic and analytical community of which is conditioned by some peculiar impulses. Thus, for example, in Portugal it is mostly conditioned by the activity of Caloust Gulbenkian Foundation.

There are Armenian organizations in Europe, activity of which is directed to the consolidation of the Armenian academic and analytical community. Thus, the French Armenian interdisciplinary association, established in 1981, unites specialists from different spheres. The goal of the association is to participate in the revival of Armenia and set cooperation in the spheres of science and technologies, industry, trade, etc. It also arranges exchange of the specialists from France and Armenia. Of course, this association has broader scope of activity than the sphere of our research but this experience can be useful for the elaboration of format of cooperation in specific fields. Another organization – Union of Armenian Academics – 1860, established in Bochum in 2001, holds educational and cultural events, tends to unite the Armenians from Armenia who are not involved in the community life, promote cooperation between the educational institutions in Germany and Armenia. Ararat International Academy of Sciences, established in 1986 in Paris, which includes academics from Armenia, Europe, Middle East and America, is also worth mentioning. The goal of the academy is to strengthen ties between Armenia and Diaspora, to help the academic and cultural organization from Armenia and to support Hay Dat. The academy has 26 departments, in accordance with the specialties3. The Chobanian Institute in Paris is the organization which is of interest to us. It is independent research center for geopolitical and strategic studies. It deals with the study of the issues connected with the South Caucasus and Middle East.

The academic and analytical community formed in post-Soviet republics is remarkable. Of course, here the Armenians from Russia play important role. Nevertheless, there are some regularities, which are characteristic to all the countries belonging to this group, including Armenia. Of course, being part of one common state is very important. Common academic and educational system existed in these countries, so there are both common problems and common ways of their solution. Though these countries have chosen specific ways of development, nevertheless, there are some preconditions in the aspect of cooperation of academic and educational systems and Armenians working in that sphere.

In the aforementioned context, it can be supposed that the Armenian experts working in the countries of this group can be useful to Armenia in the context of exchange of the experience in the solution of problems, which are peculiar to all the post-Soviet countries.

The forth conventional group includes Armenian experts and academics working in the countries of the American continent. Just like Russia was the leader of the previous group, the same position in this group is occupied by the U.S. Nevertheless, there are many experts and academics who can be useful to Armenia in other countries too. In case with this group distant geographic location of the counties is an obstacle for immediate relationship. But in such cases and in the aspect of cooperation with the Armenian academic and expert community in Diaspora in general, modern information technologies can play a great supplementary role. Cooperation with the experts from these countries can bring to reconsideration of some of the problems and elaboration of effective mechanisms. The main organization of the Armenian communities in Canada and Latin America were formed in the last century and the main emphasis should be laid upon personal cooperation, trying at the same time to involve community organizations.

There are also separate organizations which consolidate local intellectual potential. “Union of Armenia Professionals”, uniting Armenians with higher education in Argentina is one of such organizations. The goal of the association is to discuss political and academic issues which bother Armenians at current stage, represent their national culture4.

Thus, there is considerable academic and analytical community in the sphere of humanities in Diaspora. It has many peculiarities of personal and communal character. Some separate cases of cooperation with Armenia can be observed, but there is no clearly elaborated strategy and policy. This mostly refers to the analysts because the academic circles already have formed mechanisms of cooperation but their efficiency is still disputable. So, taking into consideration rather complex structure of academic and analytical community of the Armenian Diaspora, its peculiarities, such cooperation should be put on a right track which should mostly be initiated by Armenia. And this will further creation of Armenia-centric format.

1 See, Ղանալանյան Տ., Բեյրութի Հայկազյան համալսարանը, «Գլոբուս», թիվ 2, 2013,էջ 42-51:

2 Ibid, p. 50-51:

3 See, «Հայ Սփյուռք» հանրագիտարան, Երևան, 2003, p. 645, 145:

4 Ibid, p. 106:

“Globus” analytical journal, #11, 2013

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