DR. H. MARUTYAN LECTURES ON KARABAGH MOVEMENT AND ARMENIAN IDENTITY

Cambridge, MA - Dr. Harutyun Marutyan, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, gave a lecture entitled "The Genocide and Armenian National Identity Changes During the Karabagh Movement (1988-1990)" in a public event on April 21. The lecture was co-sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) and the Zoryan Institute for Contemporary Armenian Research and Documentation.

Through an analysis of banners and posters prominently used in Armenia during the Karabagh Movement, Dr. Marutyan demonstrated that there was a strong connection in the minds of the Armenian people between the contemporary pogroms against Armenians in Azerbaijan and the Armenian Genocide of 1915. He presented numerous slides depicting signs and banners from the Movement that even in their early phases recalled the Genocide. From displays in the distinctive shape of the Armenian Genocide Memorial (Dzidzernagapert) to the content of banners, caricatures, and slogans in Armenian, English, and Russian, the Armenians clearly demonstrated that they viewed the Sumgait and Baku pogroms as synonymous with and a continuation of the Genocide. In addition, they evoked other cases of mass violations of human rights, including Stalin's purges and exiling of Armenians to remote areas of the Soviet Union.

Dr. Marutyan described the transformation of national identity from that of a victimized people to that of a people with a new assertiveness. Initially, the protesters directed their concerns toward the essentially powerless Armenian public and government. Soon they directed their protests toward the government and Communist Party hierarchy in Moscow. Eventually, they looked beyond the Soviet Union and appealed to the outside world in general. The progression of the Karabagh Movement inevitably led to a call for independence, which many Armenians saw as the only way to prevent the future genocide of their people.

Dr. Marutyan demonstrated compellingly how historical memory strongly affected Armenian identity and influenced the creation and subsequent development of the Karabagh Movement, ultimately leading to the independence of Armenia and neighboring Karabagh.

Dr. Harutyun Marutyan is a Social/Cultural Anthropologist, Senior Researcher at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia and is also Visiting Professor of Anthropology at Yerevan State University. He is author of numerous books and articles, and co-author of "Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity" (Indiana University Press, 2001) and "Stories on Poverty" (Yerevan: Lusakn Press, 2001). Currently, Dr. Marutyan is Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Anthropology Program, MIT. During his stay in the United States, he has lectured at MIT, Rice University, Berkley, UCLA, and has been invited to lecture at other universities before he leaves the United States at the beginning of June.