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Email: ucsasao@ucl.ac.uk
Year of start: 2010
Subject: Social Anthropology
Research Topic
Armenians between Istanbul and Armenia: An Ethnography of Communal Identity in Transnational Contexts
Supervisor(s)
Dr. Ruth Mandel
Dr. Susan Paul Pattie
Introduction
At the moment, I am conducting an ethnographic research with the aim of understanding the everyday dynamics of communal identity formations among Armenians in contemporary Istanbul, Turkey. It is estimated that 20,000 Armenians from the Republic of Armenia (henceforth the RoA) illegally live and work in Istanbul, where a native Armenian community of 70,000 people already exists. People from the RoA started to come to Turkey after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the number has slowly increased since then. I investigate how the relationships between the Armenian natives and migrants/sojourners from the RoA influence the ways Armenians formulate their communal identities.
Immigration from post-Soviet Armenia to Turkey has expanded – and transformed – the already existing networks that have connected the various Armenian communities which were dispersed as a result of centuries of migration through diasporizations (and re-diasporizations) and overseas trading. The emergence of Armenia as an independent nation-state located the new country as a materialized ‘homeland’ within these networks. Although this initially identified citizens of RoA as “homelanders,” the native community of Istanbul still believes that they are connected to their homeland within the boundaries of Turkey despite their political and social status in the country. For this reason, during my fieldwork I observe the relationships between these communities, their narratives about these relationships, and the transmission of these narratives through global networks of Armenians.
Research interests
- Diaspora Studies
- Community Formations
- Migration
- Trade Networks
- Post-Soviet Anthropology
- Linguistic Anthropology
Academic Background/Education
Phd in Anthropology. UCL Anthropology Department, Current (Expected 2014)
MA in Migration Diaspora Studies. SOAS Anthropology & Sociology Department, 2010
MA in Political Science and International Relations. Bogazici University Political Science and International Relations Department, Istanbul, Turkey, 2009
BA in Political Science and International Relations. Bogazici University Political Science and International Relations Department, Istanbul, Turkey, 2007
Funding
Frederick Bonnart
Braunthal Scholarship. 2010- 2013
Koc University
Research Centre for Anatolian Studies Scholarship 2010-2011
European Union
Jean Monnet Scholarship 2009-2010
