Christina Maranci
Gen Ed 1185 | Last offered Fall 2024
How can one small, remote country change the way we think about the culture of the world?
Being wedged between superpowers might seem like a recipe for ethnic assimilation and cultural conformity. Yet what if it made you stronger? In the case of Armenia, being “in-between” led to a vibrant, diverse, and resilient culture, a distinctive religious and national identity, and a dynamic diaspora. Travelling from antiquity to modernity, we will explore how Armenia and Armenians survived and thrived despite invasion, oppression, statelessness, and planned annihilation. We will explore the connections between Armenian culture and diverse traditions, including classical antiquity, the Ancient Near East, Sasanian and Islamic Iran, and the Byzantine empire, East Asia, and Europe, and the relations between Armenia and neighboring cultures of the Caucasus. We will follow the Armenian experience into the early modern period, when Armenians established a trade network reaching from the Indian subcontinent to Amsterdam, absorbing and informing a kaleidoscope of cultures along the way. We will wrap up with the survival of Armenian traditions in contemporary culture, the role of the Armenian genocide in shaping Armenian identity, including in neighboring Watertown. Finally, we will discuss the meaning of cultural heritage for Armenians today, and explore its role at the intersection of politics, diplomacy, law, scholarship, human rights, and activism.