Richard Hovannisian Archives

LOS ANGELES: Richard Hovannisian’s Van and Bitlis-Mush Volumes Published in Turkish

January 11, 2017 by administrator

Two of Professor Richard G. Hovannisian’s volumes, ‘Armenian Van’ and ‘Armenian Bitlis & Mush’, were recently published in Turkish by Aras Publishers in Istanbul.

LOS ANGELES, Calif.—Two of Professor Richard G. Hovannisian’s volumes, Armenian Van and Armenian Bitlis and Mush, were recently published in Turkish by Aras Publishers in Istanbul.

Both volumes, edited by Hovannisian, are from the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) international conference series “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,” begun by Hovannisian in 1997. Aras Publishers plans to translate all 14 volumes in the UCLA series into Turkish, the most recent of which, was released in 2016 by Mazda Publishers under the title, Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean: Musa Dagh-Dört-Yol-Kessab.

Contributors to the Van and Bitlis-Mush volumes discuss the political geography and dynastic history and culture of the two regions from antiquity to the 20^th century; their art and architecture; classical historians and colophons; interactions with foreign powers; tribulations under Ottoman rule; their role in Armenian liberation movements; their fate during the Armenian Genocide and self-defense in World War I; and their presence in modern literature.

The two volumes were released to the public in Istanbul on Nov. 9-10, 2016, during an international conference on Van sponsored by the Hrant Dink Foundation. During his keynote address, Hovannisian reflected on growing up in the San Joaquin Valley of California among the immigrants and survivors from Van, Bitlis, and Mush. He then assessed the multifaceted information and insights gained from the 70 oral history interviews that he and his students at UCLA conducted with natives of the city and numerous villages of the province of Van.

Aras Publishers is currently translating the third volume in the UCLA series, Armenian Tsopk/Kharpert.

Hovannisian on the Road

Hovannisian continued his active schedule in the fall of 2016. Arriving in Boston from Istanbul on Nov. 12, 2106, he was honored, along with Professor Nina Garsoian, for his contributions as a pioneer of Armenian studies in the United States at the 60^th anniversary gala of the National Association for the Advancement of Armenian Studies (NAASR).

On Nov. 19, 2016, he spoke at the Kessab Educational Association’s annual “Perpoor” night hosted by Dr. & Mrs. George Apelian in Thousand Oaks.

With daughter Ani Hovannisian Kevorkian, he was in Stockholm, Sweden on Nov. 26-27, 2016, at the invitation of the Federation of Armenian Associations, to present his most recent volume on the Northeastern Mediterranean communities, with short film segments by Ani. They then traveled to Oslo for an evening with the small but active Armenian Cultural Association of Norway.

On Dec. 8, 2016 Hovannisian spoke in Chicago under the auspices of the Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU), Armenian Bar Association, and Armenian International Women’s Association (AIWA).

Presentations continue in early 2017 with lectures at Abril Bookstore in Glendale, Calif. in cooperation with the Chork-Marzban (Dort-Yol) Compatriotic Union on Jan. 26, Fresno State University on Jan. 27, South Florida University and Sourp Hagop Church in Tampa, Fla. On Feb. 13-15, several presentations in Beirut and Cairo on Feb. 23-March 4, and the Armenian Institute in London on March 18.

Hovannisian is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence, the four-volume history The Republic of Armenia, and has edited and contributed to more than 35 books, including The Armenian Genocide in Perspective; The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times; Remembrance and Denial; Looking Backward, Moving Forward; The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies; as well as many others. A member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, he was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History, which is today renamed in his honor, and is presently an adjunct professor at USC, advising the Shoah Foundation on its Armenian Genocide testimony collection.

Source: http://armenianweekly.com/2017/01/09/hovannisian-published-in-turkish/

Richard Hovannisian to present book on Turkey’s Armenian communities

January 7, 2017 by administrator

Dr. Richard Hovannisian, Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA , will present a talk on his newly published book “Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean: Musa Dagh-Dört Yol-Kessab ” on January 27, in the University Business Center, Alice Peters Auditorium, on the Fresno State campus, Massis Post reports.

The presentation is the first in the Armenian Studies Program Spring Lecture Series that is supported by the Leon S. Peters Foundation. The Hamazkayin Armenian Educational and Cultural Association of Fresno is a co-sponsor for this event.

“Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean” focuses on the history, economic, cultural, educational and political developments among the Armenians in Musa Dagh, Dört Yol, and Kessab. It also presents the thriving Armenian communities of Beylan and Antioch and the onetime Armenian villages in the Ruj Valley and those near Latakia.

Prof. Hovannisian will explore dramatic episodes in Armenian history and the heroism of the rugged and sturdy people who lived and defended these communities and, in the case of Kessab and a single village in Musa Dagh, continue to endure there. The presentation will also examine the fraudulent transfer of the Sanjak of Alexandretta to Turkey in 1939 and the three-month occupation of the area by the al-Nusra front in 2014.

Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian is Professor Emeritus of Armenian and Near Eastern History at UCLA, President’s Fellow at Chapman University, and Adjunct Professor of History at USC to work with the Shoah Foundation on testimonies of survivors of the Armenian Genocide. He received a Ph.D. in history from UCLA and was a member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, where he organized both the undergraduate and graduate programs in Armenian history and served as the Associate Director of UCLA’s Center for Near Eastern Studies for two decades. Professor Hovannisian is a founder and six-time president of the Society for Armenian Studies (SAS), and a member of a number of editorial boards, scholarly organizations, and civic organizations.

Dr. Hovannisian has given more than 2,500 university and community lectures in 48 countries and has participated in numerous teacher workshops and international forums and media events. He has published more than 30 volumes on Armenia History and culture and seven other books on Near Eastern history, society, and culture. In addition, he has edited and contributed to fourteen volumes in the UCLA conference series, “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces.”

Copies of “Armenian Communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean,” as well as other publications in the “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces Series,” will be available the night of the lecture.

The lecture is free and open to the public.

BELMONT: Richard Hovannisian to Discuss First Republic of Armenia at Lecture in Belmont

November 3, 2015 by administrator

BELMONT, Mass.—On Thurs., Dec. 3, Dr. Richard G. Hovannisian will present a lecture entitled, “The First Republic of Armenia and Its Importance Today,” at 7:30 p.m., at the First Armenian Church of Belmont, 380 Concord Ave., in Belmont. The lecture is sponsored and organized by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and is co-sponsored by the Armenian Assembly of America, the Armenian National Committee of Eastern Massachusetts, the First Armenian Church, and the Hamazkayin Armenian Cultural and Educational Society.

Next year will mark 45 years since the publication of the first volume of Hovannisian’s magnum opus The Republic of Armenia, and the completion of its translation into Armenian. The volumes stand as a foundational work for the study of modern Armenian history and a unique contribution to the field of Armenian studies.

Covering the years 1918-21 and drawing on a vast array of archival and published sources, Hovannisian’s work chronicles in painstaking detail the brief lifespan of the first independent Armenian state in more than half a millennium. Although, as Hovannisian observed, “the historical moment was unpropitious for enduring Armenian freedom,” and when he wrote those words the existence of the present-day Republic was 20 years off, today we are afforded a different perspective and the time is right to reexamine those crucial few years of the First Republic’s existence.

Richard G. Hovannisian is the author of Armenia on the Road to Independence, the four-volume history The Republic of Armenia, and has edited and contributed to more than 35 books, including The Armenian Genocide in Perspective; The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times; Remembrance and Denial; Looking Backward, Moving Forward; The Armenian Genocide: Cultural and Ethical Legacies; and 14 volumes of proceedings from the UCLA conference series “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces.” A member of the UCLA faculty since 1962, he was the first holder of the Armenian Educational Foundation Chair in Modern Armenian History, which is today renamed in his honor, and is presently an adjunct professor at USC, advising the Shoah Foundation on its Armenian Genocide testimony collection.

A reception at NAASR and the Bookstore will follow the program. Copies of The Republic of Armenia and other books by Hovannisian will be available the night of the lecture.

For more information, contact NAASR by calling (617) 489-1610 or e-mailing hq@naasr.org.