Georgia: the Making of a National Culture
An International Conference in the Series "Armenia and its Neighbors"
The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan May 15-18, 2008
Organized by the Armenian Studies Program,
Co-sponsored by Department of History, the Department of Near Eastern Studies, the Rackham Graduate School, the International Institute, the Center for Russian and East European Studies, the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies, and the Eisenberg Institute for Historical Studies at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor; and by the American Research Institute of the South Caucasus (ARISC, based at the University of Chicago)
THURSDAY, MAY 15, 2008
Opening Reception.
FRIDAY, MAY 16, 2008
SESSION I
9:00 - 12:00 pm - Christian Georgia: Culture and Identity in the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period.
Chair: Kevork Bardakjian, University of Michigan
Stephen H. Rapp, Jr., Georgia State University
"'The Land of Heroes and Giants': Recovering the Iranian Heritage of Medieval Georgia"
Armen Kazaryan, State Institute for Art Study, Moscow
"Early Medieval Architecture in Georgia: Its Historiography and its Place in East-Christian Tradition"
Tamila Mgaloblishvili, Center for Exploration of Georgian Antiquities
"Georgians in the Holy Land"
Dean Sakel, Bogazici University)
"Eighteenth-Century Reflections of Moves Towards a Georgian National Consciousness: The Element of Historiography"
SESSION II
1:00 - 3:30 pm - The Emergence of Modern Georgian Nationalism.
Chair: Ronald Grigor Suny,University of Michigan
Hirotake Maeda, Hokaido
"Identity in Aleksandre Orbeliani (1802-1869)"
Paul Manning, Trent University
"Georgians, that is, Readers of droeba"
Oliver Reisner, Delegation of the European Commission to Georgia
"The Beginnings of Georgian National Historiography: Ivane Javakhishvili's kartveli eris istoria"
SESSION III
4:00 - 5:30 pm - Kalaki: Tbilisi/ Tiflis - Culture and Politics.
Chair: Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan
David Khoshtaria, National Research Center for Georgian Art History
"Tbilisi in the Nineteenth Century: Cultural Diversity and Urban Identity"
Mzia Chikhradze, National Center for Georgian Art History, Tbilisi
"Cultural Life of Tbilisi, 1910-1920s"
SATURDAY, MAY 17, 2008
SESSION IV
9:00 - 12:00 pm - Diversity and Unity in the South Caucasus, I: Discourses of Division.
Chair: Katherine Babayan, University of Michigan
Medea Badashvili, Center for Social Sciences, Tbilisi
"Muslim Women's Identity in Post-Soviet Georgia"
Paul Crego, Library of Congress
"Georgian-Abkhaz Relations in the Context of Language Policy in the Twentieth Century"
Silvia Serrano, CNRS/CERCEC, Paris
"Religion in Contemporary National Discourse"
Kevin Tuite, Université de Montréal
"Sacred Sites of the Northeast Georgian Highlands and Representations of Georgianness in the Post-Soviet Period"
SESSION V
1:00 - 4:00 pm - Diversity and Unity in the South Caucasus, II: Armenians and the
Georgian Nation.
Chair: Jirair Libaridian, University of Michigan
Thornike Gordadze, Paris Institute of Political Studies
"Historical Sociology of the Formation of Identity Boundaries in Georgia: The Case of the 'Georgian'/'Armenian' Cleavage"
Mariam Chkhartishvili, Tbilisi State University
"Armenians in the Process of Georgian Identity Forging"
Tamara Vardanyan, Noravank Foundation, Erevan
"Armenian-Georgian Interethnic Relations in Tbilisi:Â Mutual Stereotypes and Perceptions"
Asbed Kochikian, Florida State University
"Neither Enemies, Nor Friends: Georgian-Armenian Relations Between Old and New"
SESSION VI
4:30 - 6:00 pm - Expressing the National, Performing the Nation.
Chair: Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan
Harsha Ram, University of California, Berkeley
"National Mythopoesis: Georgian Modernism, the National Question, and Socialist Realism"
Clinton J. Buhler, Ohio State University
"Redefining a Georgian National identity: Issues of Collective Trauma in Tengiz Abuladze's Repentence"
Nino Tsitsishvili, Monash University
"From Folk to Hip-Hop: Tradition and Globalization in the Music of Post-Socialist Georgia"
SUNDAY, MAY 18, 2008
SESSION VII
9:00 - 12:00 pm - Evolution and Revolution in Georgian Political Development.
Chair: Ronald Grigor Suny, University of Michigan
Jeremy Smith, Birmingham University
"Beria, Stalin, Khrushchev, and Georgian Nationalism: The 1956 Riots in Context"
Stephen F. Jones, Mount Holyoke College
"The Role of Non-Violence in the Rose Revolution"
Vicken Cheterian, CIMERA
"Georgia's Rose Revolution: Democratization? State-Building? Or Permanent Revolution?"
Alexandre Kukhianidze, Transnational Crime and Corruption Center, Tbilisi
"Corruption, Transnational Crime and Smuggling in Georgia: Comparing the Shevardnadze and Saakashvili Periods"
SESSION VIII
1:00 - 4:00 pm - Challenges of the Modern Moment: Georgia in the Globalizing World.
Chair: Jirair Libaridian, University of Michigan
Jonathan Kulick, Georgian Foundation for Strategic and International Studies
"Georgian Political Culture in Light of the 2008 Elections"
David Darchiashvili, Open Society Georgia Foundation
"Modern National Interests and Post-Modern Threats: The Georgian Case"
David Soumbadze, Independent Expert
"Democracy, State Building and Security in Post-Rose Revolution Georgia"
Sergei Markedonov, Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Moscow
"Russian-Georgian Relations: Contemporary Challenges and Tendencies"
General Discussion
