Armenian Childhood(s): Histories and Theories of Childhood and Youth in Armenian Studies

Ninth Annual International Graduate Student Workshop

April 20-21, 2018

University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Armenian Studies Program
455 Weiser Hall
500 Church Street
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1042

Abstracts are due on November 15, 2017.

In recent years, the study of childhood and youth has gained increasing attention that has resulted in innovative interdisciplinary scholarship. The field of Childhood Studies of the last decade has concentrated on modern childhood(s) and youth, and has questioned the meanings that adults and governmental bodies attribute to children. For example universal characteristics, such as “innocence,” “incompetence,” and “vulnerability,” defining children and youth have been examined and challenged by scholars from a variety of fields, who insist that “childhood”, like ethnicity, gender, and class, is a constructed social category. Pushing methodological boundaries to explore political, historical, cultural, economic, and social formations, structures and contexts across time and place, scholars have begun to consider children and youth as agents in their political and social environment rather than passive members of society.

This workshop will initiate an inter-disciplinary conversation about Armenian childhood, children, and youth. The goal is to consider new perspectives, methodologies, and cross-disciplinary frameworks that will put Armenian Studies in conversation with Childhood Studies. We aim to bring together theoretical and methodological approaches along with empirical studies across disciplines that use childhood as a category of analysis and/or concentrate on children’s agencies and experiences in Armenian history, politics, society, economy, and culture. We see both childhood and youth as fluid categories and concepts that are subject to flexible interpretations and definitions.

We are inviting early-career scholars (graduate students or those who defended their dissertations in the last three years) who critically use the notion of childhood and children in their work on Armenian history, society, and culture. We are interested in bringing together a group of scholars from a broad range of disciplines. These include but are not limited to history, childhood studies, psychology, anthropology, literature, political science, education studies, sociology, art history, gender studies, film studies, and cultural studies. Scholars are invited to submit abstracts in these fields for their proposed papers

Specific areas of interest include but are not limited to the following:

• Childhood and youth in Armenian history and politics; voices and agencies of Armenian children in history and politics
• Experiences and memories of Armenian children and youth with war, violence, and trauma
• Representation and construction of Armenian children and childhood in modern political discourses
• Gender and sexuality in childhood
• Armenian Children and the body politic
• Representation of children and childhood in Armenian cinema, art, music, photography, and literature
• Children and emotions
• Studies of children’s literature past and present
• The role and significance of children in social movements and resistances
• Construction(s) and understandings of girlhood and boyhood in Armenian culture and politics
• The rural and urban experiences of Armenian children past and present
• Interpretations of consumption and youth culture past and present
• Cultural heritage and a sense of communal belonging for Armenian children in diaspora

Please send an abstract (approx. 250 words) along with a CV to asp.grad.workshop@umich.edu by November 15, 2017.

Successful applicants will need to submit a paper of no more than 8-10 double-spaced pages by April 1st, 2018 to be circulated among workshop participants.

Some funds are available to cover travel expenses. Per donor guidelines, preference will be given to those traveling from the Republic of Armenia

This workshop, sponsored by the University of Michigan’s Armenian Studies Program and funded by the Alex Manoogian Foundations is organized by Tugce Kayaal, PhD candidate in Near Eastern Studies Department, and Melanie S. Tanielian, Assistant Professor in History Department.