instituteofarmenianstudies

The After War - Before Peace series began in November with Ambassador Steven Mann, of the American diplomatic service. Now, more than a dozen episodes later, it comes to a close with Ambassador Marc Pierini, a veteran of the EU diplomatic service.

Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Ambassador Pierini, who is a visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe, where his work focuses on developments in the Middle East and Turkey from a European perspective. In his decades as a career EU diplomat, one of his posts was as EU ambassador and head of EU delegation to Turkey (2006–2011) – what some would consider to have been the good years.

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

For decades, Georgia was the transit hub point from west to east. Now, Georgian press see Armenia as taking over that position. Is the regional relationship seen as a zero sum game in Georgia? How does all of this impact Georgia’s vision about its place in the region and the world? What does all this say about regional cohesion and is that even an aspiration by the countries of the region?

Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak to Giorgi Kanashvili, head of the board for Tbilisi-based NGO, the Institute for the Study of Nationalism and Conflicts. He is also a research fellow at Democracy Research Institute and lectures at the Georgian American University and the International Black Sea University.

Also joining the conversation is George Tumasyan, head of the "Ardzagank" Armenian community platform of Georgia aimed at political and civic participation. He is also the founder of the Caucasian Academy of Diplomacy.

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

Iran, which shares borders with both Armenia and Azerbaijan, has maintained neutrality in the Nagorno Karabakh/Artsakh conflict throughout the years. The question is – now what? Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak about the reactions within Iran during the war, as well as the Iran/Armenia/Georgia vertical axis that now has several obstacles in its path and Iran’s existing and aspirational relations with Russia.

Joining the discussion is Dr. Ervand Abrahamian, widely regarded as one of the leading historians of modern Iran, who is a distinguished professor of history at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. Dr. Hamidreza Azizi, a fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs in Berlin, also joins the conversation. Azizi was an assistant professor of regional studies at Shahid Beheshti University (2016-2020) and a guest lecturer at the department of regional studies at the University of Tehran (2016-2018).

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

What are the instruments of justice and equity in the aftermath of the Second Karabakh War? What can the international organizations do? What conventions and statutes apply in this particular case? Salpi Ghazarian and Emil Sanamyan speak with Dr. Irina Ghaplanyan, a political scientist, climate negotiator and published author who served as Deputy Minister of Environment for the Republic of Armenia and is currently teaching at the American University of Armenia.

They also speak to human rights lawyer Sheila Paylan, who spent more than 13 years working as a legal advisor for the United Nations at various international tribunals, including the Rwanda and ex-Yugoslavia Tribunals and the Khmer Rouge Trials, as well as with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. She recently moved to Armenia to assist the government with the post-war transition. 

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Olesya Vartanyan, senior analyst of the South Caucasus region for the International Crisis Group. Based in Tbilisi, Vartanyan researches and produces reports on regional security issues in Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan, with a particular focus on breakaway regions.

Founded in 1995, International Crisis Group is a field-based organization that does research and advocacy on preventing and mitigating deadly conflicts.

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

Was the war in Karabakh Turkey's re-entry into the Caucasus? Are Russia and Turkey on a collision course? How are Azerbaijani investments in Turkey driving the relationship between the two countries? Institute director Salpi Ghazarian and Focus on Karabakh editor Emil Sanamyan speak with Armenian member of the Turkish Parliament Garo Paylan and renowned Turkish economist Dr. Cengiz Aktar about the views from Turkey following the latest war between Armenia and Azerbaijan where Turkish involvement played a decisive role.

Visit the Institute's Youtube page to watch the conversation on video or listen to it in Armenian.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu. 

Who is a 1.5 generation immigrant? What is the connection between generation and language? What are the challenges of transmitting Armenian as a 1.5 generation parent? And what's with all the guilt and shame? Dr. K is joined by attorney and co-founder of ToTalk Armenian, Armine Bazikyan, as they discuss Armine's family's struggles with language transmission and ToTalk as a possible solution.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.

Memories of grandparents and all the ways Armenians refer to their grandparents in this episode of Inch by Inch.

Inch by Inch is an exploration of the details of intimate daily life and their connections to the larger questions, through the prism of Armenian cultural and linguistic memories.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.

Introducing Language Therapy with Dr. K, a new podcast about language in the Armenian context. Discover the quirky nuances, fun, & frustrations of language, as Dr. Shushan Karapetian delves into topics & questions you didn’t even know you were curious about.

In this inaugural episode, Dr. K is joined by Gegham Mughnetsyan, as they discuss his recent Armenian translation of Martin Luther King Jr.’s Letter from Birmingham Jail (https://bit.ly/3eAOPsO). How do we talk about racial justice in Armenian?

Theatre of the absurd — Dr. Myrna Douzjian teaches Armenian language, theatre, literature, film at UC Berkeley. She is the rare graduate of an Armenian school who pursued Armenian Studies and she speaks to Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian about those challenges as well as the difficulty of studying Armenian literature and drama as part of world literature.

For more, visit armenian.usc.edu.

50 years of Armenian Studies at NAASR — Marc Mamigonian is the Director of Academic Affairs at the Natl. Assn. for Armenian Studies and Research in Massachusetts. He discusses the trajectory and infrastructure of the field with Institute Director Salpi Ghazarian, and about the demand for rare books.

Learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies at http://armenian.usc.edu.