Organized by the Armenian Studies Program
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
May 10 and 11, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Session I
9:30-10:00 - Introductory Remarks
Kevork Bardakjian, Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian Languages & Literatures, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
Kathryn Babayan, Near Eastern Studies & History, University of Michigan
10:00-12:00 – Early Encounters
Chair: Gerard Libaridian, Director, Program in Armenian Studies, Alex Manoogian Visiting Professor of Modern Armenian History
Discussant: Ryan Szpiech, Romance Languages & Literatures Judaic Studies, University of Michigan
Alison Vacca, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
“Religious Polemic in the Early ‘Abbāsid Period: The Correspondence between Leo III and ‘Umar II”
Session II
2:00-4:30 - Religious Sites of Exchange
Chair: Ronald Suny, Department of History, University of Michigan
Discussant: Kevork Bardakjian, Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian language & Literatures, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
Claudia Matoda, Department Casa-Città, Second Faculty of Architecture, Politecnico di Torino, Italy
“Armeno-Muslim Cultural Encounters at the Castle of Hromklay”
Lilit Harutyunyan, Department of Arab Countries, Institute of Oriental Studies Yerevan, Armenia
“The Creation of Armenian Catholic Monastery in Bzummar/Zmmar/”
Roman Smbatyan, Department of Iranian Studies, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
“Nadir Shah’s Religious Policy towards Armenians”
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
Session III
9:30-12:00 - Armenian Subjectivities: Exile & Migration in the Seventeenth Century
Chair: Kevork Bardakjian, Marie Manoogian Professor of Armenian Languages & Literatures, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
Discussant: Kathryn Babayan, Near Eastern Studies & History, University of Michigan
Michael Pifer, Comparative Literature, University of Michigan
“Speaking Strangeness; Exile and the Formation of Early Modern Persian and Armenian Selves”
Sona Tajirian, Department of Arabic Studies, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
“The Image of the Armenian Merchants: Safavid Iran, Ottoman Empire, 16th -18th Centuries”
Vahe Sahakyan, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
“Meaning of Azg, “Nation?” in Arakel’s Book of History”
Session IV
1:15-3:15 - Eremya Chelebi Komurcuyan: A Lens onto 17th Century Istanbul
Chair: Kathryn Babayan, Near Eastern Studies & History, University of Michigan
Discussant: Gottfried Hagen, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
Semi Ertan, Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan
“Urbanity and Politics of Coexistence in Eremya Chelebi Komurcuyan (1637-1694)”
Gayane Ayvazyan, Armenian History, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
“The Historiographical Heritage of Yeremia Qyomurchian”
4:00-5:00 - Concluding Remarks & Discussion
Chair: Michael Bonner, Department of Near Eastern Studies, University of Michigan