Armenian Enough: To Be Killed or Accepted? w/ Nana Shakhnazaryan

Nana Shakhnazaryan, a journalist interested in conflict studies, opens up about her very personal experiences in conversation with AI Director, Tatevik Ayvazyan. Escaping the pogroms in Baku left Nana’s family unable to settle in either Armenia or Moscow, and eventually ended up in New York. The pair discuss growing up Armenian in culturally diverse Brooklyn and Nana’s deep connection to Karabakh and Armenia, as well as the heartbreaking realities of discrimination both in Baku and Moscow, but also within Armenian communities.

Nana Shakhnazaryan is a researcher and writer working at the intersections of media literacy and conflict studies.

Zanazan Sounds is also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

Polors Menk w/ Hrag Papazian

Academic and activist Hrag Papazian speaks about his research which took place in the Republic of Turkey, and consisted of studying Armenian-identifying Muslims and Alevis. Together with AI’s Nik Matheou, the pair discuss the associated parameters within Armenianness, the diversity found through Hrag’s research and the interrelated activism between ethno-religious minorities within Turkey today.

Hrag Papazian recently received his DPhil in Anthropology from the University of Oxford, and is currently based at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan. His research examines the various Armenian factions living in contemporary Turkey: the traditional Christian Armenian community, the Muslim and Alevi Armenians who have publicly emerged only during the recent decades, and the migrants from neighbouring Armenia who started to arrive since the early 1990s. He studies the differing meanings, interpretations, productions and experiences of Armenianness among all three factions, revealing the diversity of Turkey’s Armenian population. He also analyses these three groups’ relations with the Turkish state and majority, their mutual conflictual relationships and intra-ethnic boundary making processes.

Zanazan Sounds is also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

Directing the Future w/ Oksana Mirzoyan

Our director, Tatevik Ayvazyan sits in conversation with Oksana Mirzoyan, screenwriter, producer and director. The two friends revisit Oksana’s childhood: fleeing her hometown, Baku, at the age of 4, to witnessing Armenia’s earthquake, Russia’s breadlines and discrimination from all sides. Arts, music and culture never ceased to amaze Oksana from a young age, and now after settling in Detroit, she encapsulates her lived experiences subtly, and so beautifully, in her range of incredibly touching films.

Oksana Mirzyoan (born in Azerbaijan, 1984) is an Armenian-American artist focused on narrative filmmaking as a writer/director/producer. Mirzoyan’s films have shown and been awarded internationally at festivals such as Clermont-Ferrand, Camerimage and Locarno. Her short “140 Drams" was an honoree of the Cinematographer’s Guild of America and won Best Short Film at Izmir Film Festival. Mirzoyan is based in Detroit where she is a Kresge Art Fellow and the Detroit Institute of Arts held a solo exhibition of her narrative shorts “140 Drams,” Sonnet” and “Susanna.” Currently she is working on her first feature, “Abysm" which explores the ongoing conflict in Nagorno-Karabagh in the South Caucasus.

Zanazan Sounds is also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

Literary Activism w/ Özlem Belçim Galip

This week our Programme Director, Dr. Nik Matheou, sat down in conversation with Dr. Özlem Belçim Galip, a Kurdish academic with experience studying Armenian and Kurdish identities, social movements and representations. Led into the field through her Armenian tattoo, Ozlem has published multiple books and continues to observe and document the range of relationships between politics and identity.

Comparing Kurdish and Armenian relationships in the present day have only made way for more understanding of how they became so, with reference to historical events used as divisive techniques that both communities have been able to overcome.

Zanazan Sounds is also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.

AI Directors w/ Susan Pattie and Tatevik Ayvazyan

In our very first episode of the series, Dr. Susan Pattie talks to Tatevik Ayvazyan about their shared role of 2020: Director of AI. For nearly twenty years, Susan has been working (unofficially and officially) as Director of the Armenian Institute since its founding in 2001. Fast-forward to 2020, the year that changed us all, and the role changed hands half-way through the year when Tatevik took over as AI’s Director.

Looking back on the aims and hopes for the institution when it was founded, Susan observes how far AI has come, and reveals what she is most excited about for the future. Looking forward, Tatevik reflects on the challenges of the past year to move into the future with big strides and a new and exciting team and program for AI bringing together poetry, film, cooking and academic worlds - and more!

Zanazan Sounds is also available on Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts.