Language Attitudes, Collective Memory and (Trans)National Identity Construction Among the Armenian Diaspora in Bulgaria

by Giustina Selvelli, Christian Voß (Editor)

Overview

This book examines the processes of symbolic cultivation of identity promoted by Armenian cultural elites in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, focusing on the transmission of positive language ideologies and emotional elements related to collective memory. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a range of primary materials, this work sheds light on the role of the Armenian alphabet in legitimizing collective visions of ‘distinctiveness’ and of the Armenian Genocide remembrance in shaping non-exclusive, transnational patterns of belonging. While contributing to the study of the complex dynamics and challenges of ‘Armenian survival’ across space and time, it situates the issue in the unique context of Bulgaria, analyzing, moreover, the impact of proximity to Turkey.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783631884461
Publisher:	Peter Lang GmbH, Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Publication date:	02/27/2024
Series:	Studies on Language and Culture in Central and Eastern Europe , #44
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x (d)

About the Author

Giustina Selvelli is a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology and sociolinguistics based at the University of Ljubljana. Her research interests focus on writing systems and ethnolinguistic minorities in the wide Southeast European space. She has conducted fieldwork in Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, and held research and teaching positions at the of the University of the Aegean in Mytilene, the University of Novi Sad, the University of Klagenfurt, Yildiz Technical University of Istanbul, the University of Nova Gorica and University Ca’ Foscari of Venice.

Table of Contents

Preface – Foreword by Boghos Levon Zekiyan – Acknowledgments – 1. Introduction: Symbols and Memory in the Armenian Diaspora – 2. History of the Armenian Diaspora of Plovdiv – 3. Language as an Idealized Space of Belonging – 4. The Symbolic Cultivation of Identity in Education – 5. The AGBU Initiatives in Support of Language and Memory – 6. The Genocide and the Lost Homeland in the Local Literature – 7. The Armenian Linguistic Landscapes of Plovdiv – 8. Conclusions: Multiple Belongings and New Diaspora Dynamics – Bibliography – Illustrations