Professor Emeritus of Armenian Languages and Literatures
About
Professor Kevork B. Bardakjian was born in Beirut, Lebanon. He received his first degrees in Armenian studies from the University of Yerevan and his D.Phil. from Oxford University, England. As a Senior Lecturer and Armenian Bibliographer he taught Armenian literature, language, culture and history at Harvard University and at the Harvard Extension from 1974 to 1987. In 1987, he became the first holder of the newly-established Marie Manoogian Chair of Armenian Language and Literature at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and founded, directed, and taught at, the University of Michigan Summer Armenian Institute in Yerevan, Armenia (1988-2009). From 1995 to 2007, he was Director of the Armenian Studies Program at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Professor Bardakjian has been active in the Society for Armenian Studies and a number of other professional societies, has served on the editorial boards of some Armenian studies journals, has published many books and articles and has lectured extensively in the US and abroad. Professor Bardakjian is a Fellow of the Armenian National Academy of Sciences and is currently President of the Society for Armenian Studies.
Publications - Books
Bardakjian, K., The Mekhitarist Contributions to Armenian Culture and Scholarship. Cambridge, MA.: Middle Eastern Department, Harvard College Library, [1976].
Bardakjian, K. and Thomson, R., A Textbook of Modern Western Armenian. New York: Caravan Books, 1977. (With a grant from the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare).
Bardakjian, K., The Historical Figures and Events in Some of Hagop Baronian's Allegorical Works. Boston: Baikar Press, 1980. (In Armenian).
Bardakjian, K., Hitler and the Armenian Genocide. Cambridge, MA.: The Zoryan Institute, 1986.
Translated and published in Armenian: Hitlere ev hayeri c‘elaspanut‘yune, Yerevan,
Armenia, 1991.
New translation: Hitlere ev hayeri c‘elaspanut‘yune, Yerevan, Armenia, 2005
Translated into Turkish, Hitler ve Ermeni Soykirimi, Istanbul: Peri Yayinlari, 2006.
Tr. by Ali Gelen
Bardakjian, K. and Vaux, B., Eastern Armenian, A Textbook. New York: Caravan Books, 1999.
Bardakjian, K., A Reference Guide to Modern Armenian Literature, 1500-1920, with an introductory history. Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 2000. (With a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities).
Translated into Turkish, Modern Ermeni Edebiyati. Istanbul: Aras, 2013.
Publications - Journals
Bardakjian, K., 1984, "Baronian's Debt to Molière," The Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, v. 1, 89-100.
Translated into Turkish, “Baronyanin Molièr’e Borcu,” Mimesis, Tiyatro/çeviri –Arastirma
Dergisi, v 17, 159-185.
Bardakjian, K., 1986, "Baronian's Tiyatro," Klatzor, Annual of the American Armenian International College, v. 2, 57-64.
Translated into Turkish, “Baronyan’in Tiyatro’su, Mimesis, Tiyatro/çeviri –Arastirma Dergisi,
v 17,187-203.
Bardakjian, K., 1990, "The Turkish Evidence," Armenian International Magazine, July, 3-14.
Bardakjian, K., 1991, "Looking Death in the Eye," The World & I, March, 423-29.
Bardakjian, K., 2003, “The Role of the University Chairs,” Journal of Armenian Studies v. vii, no. 2 (2003), 8-11; a special issue devoted to “Rethinking Armenian Studies.”
Bardakjian, K., 2003, “Relations Between Armenian Studies in the United States and Armenia,” Journal of Armenian Studies, v. vii, no. 2 (2003), 109-112; a special issue devoted to “Rethinking Armenian Studies.”
Publications - Book Chapters
Bardakjian, K., 1981, "Armenia and the Armenians Through the Eyes of English Travellers of the Nineteenth Century," The Armenian Image in History and Literature, ed. R. G. Hovannisian, pp. 139-53. U. C. L. A.
Bardakjian, K., 1982, "The Rise of the Armenian Patriarchate of Constantinople," Christians and Jews in the Ottoman Empire, eds. B. Braude and B. Lewis, vol. 1, pp. 89-100. New York: Holmes and Meier.
Bardakjian, K., 1988, "Armenian Literature," The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the Middle East and North Africa, pp. 211-13. Cambridge University Press.
Bardakjian, K. 2014, “Kostandin Erznkac‘i’s Vision-Poem: Who bestow poetic grace and how,” Mélanges Jean-Pierre Mahé, édités par Aram Mardirossian, Agnès Ouzounian, Constantin Zuckerman, pp. 95-104. (Collège de France – CNRS, Centre de recherche d’histoire et civilization de Byzance, Travaux et Mémoires, 18), Paris, 2014.
Publications – Edited Books
Bardakjian, K. 2011, Armenian-Ukrainian Historical Contacts; Papers of the international conference held in Lviv, 29-31 May 2008. Edited by Kevork Bardakjian, Frank Sysyn and Andrii Yasinovskyi. Lviv, 2011. (Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv and the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta).
Bardakjian, K. 2014, The Armenian Apocalyptic Tradition: A Comparative Perspective: Essays presented in honor of Professor Robert W. Thomson on the occasion of his eightieth birthday. Edited by Kevork B. Bardakjian and Sergio La Porta. Leiden: Boston: Brill [2014]. (Studia in Veteris Testamenti Pseudepigrapha, 25).
Affiliation(s)
- Middle East Studies
- Armenian Studies Program
- Slavic Languages and Literatures
- Russian, East European, and Eurasian Studies
- Middle Eastern and North African Studies
Award(s)
- "Arthur H. Dadian Armenian Heritage Award," New York, NY, 2000.
- The Writers’ Union of Armenia, “In recognition of fruitful literary activities and accomplishments,” 7 July, 2008.
- Presidential Recognition for long-standing contributions to Armenian studies, identity and language, proclaimed by Serge Sargsyan, President of the Republic of Armenia, 21 February, 2009.
- “The Ellis Island Medal of Honor,” 07 May, 2011.
- “The Hakob Meghapart Medal” for contributions to Armenian studies, 03 October, 2014.
Language(s) and Proficiency Level(s):
- Armenian (all major, and numerous secondary, dialects)
- Arabic (classical and modern and a few regional dialects)
- Azeri Turkish
- English
- French
- Russian
- Turkish (Ottoman and modern)
- Basic knowledge: Greek, Latin, Persian, Syriac
