LECTURE - [Summary]

A cultural identity without a capital city

Author of The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars, Dr. Razmik Panossian presented his book during one of MEKIC’s talks. The author analyzes the emergence of the Armenian nation with its national identity’s constituent features – religion, language, and collective memory.

The author’s thesis is that the construction of a national identity among Armenians is based on multiple locations. This is the opposite of what happened in neighbouring countries like Iran and Turkey. Indeed, Armenians do not have a cultural capital city like Teheran for Iranians, Istanbul for Turks or even Paris for French people, who have been able to create a single identity by unifying cultural diversity. The absence of a focal point nevertheless allowed for a greater cultural diversity in the Armenian national identity – a diversity that goes from Venice to Julfa in Iran, and even to Madras in India.

The book takes a brief look at Armenian history, analyzes Armenian cultural plurality and compares the characteristics of Armenians from Armenia and from the diaspora. Other themes that deal with the construction of a national identity are also the Armenian genocide and the Soviet legacy of the 20th century. In general, Razmik Panossian is interested in the role of modernity and he presents key events in Armenian history: the first attempts at liberation, the Armenian Renaissance in the 19th century, the genocide of 1915, and the Soviet occupation.

Ali Paknezhad