This Colloquium is an annual international conference for graduate students in the Humanities/Social Sciences to present research pertaining to all aspects of Armenian studies, including but not limited to language, literature, history, gender studies, sociology, anthropology, economics, and art history.
Saturday, February 21, 2026 to Saturday, March 21, 2026
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM (Pacific Time)
Session 1: February 21, 2026
Opening Remarks
Nora Bairamian
Co-Director of the 2026 Graduate Student Colloquium in Armenian Studies
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA
Dr. S. Peter Cowe
Narekatsi Professor of Armenian Studies
Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA
Medieval Art and Scribal Praxis
Moderator: TBD
“Cryptographic Traditions in Medieval Manuscripts: Cultural Secrecy and Intercultural Comparisons” Ovsanna Khachatryan (Mashtots Matenadaran Institute of Manuscripts, Yerevan)
“The Iconography of Armenian Art and its Relationship with Increased Figural Representation in Two Islamic Traditions” Michael Blomquist (East Illinois University)
Armenian Activities in the Ottoman and Russian Empires in the 19th and early 20th Centuries
Moderator: Nora Bairamian (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)
“Extractivism and Rural Labor in Bardizag: Charcoal Production and the Armenian Peasantry (1790-1890s)” Sahika Karatepe (Binghampton University SUNY)
“Spaces of Confinement, States of Becoming: Armenian Political Prisoners in the Late Ottoman Empire” Mete Ulatas (Pennsylvania State University)
“Tiflis in the Second Half of the 19th Century: Armenological Perspectives and Comparative Analysis within the Context of Imperial and National Projects” Irina Badalyan (Yerevan State University)
Session 2: March 7, 2026
Prehistoric Archaeology of the Armenian Plateau
Moderator: TBD
“Beliefs and Lifestyle of Early Bronze Age People in Armenia Based on Clay Figurines”
Mariam Saribekyan (Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Armenian Academy of Sciences, Yerevan)
“Modelling the Bronze and Iron Age Archaeological Landscape of the Tavush Region through GIS Analysis” Artyom Ananyan (Yerevan State University)
Ethnonational Imaginary and Culture
Moderator: Aram Ghoogasian (History, UCLA)
“Copying Zvart‘noc‘: Architectural Models between Medieval Memory and Modern Heritage” Cassandre Lejosne (University of Lausanne)
“Hidden Soviet Ideology: The Construction of the Armenian Capital” Margarita Khakhanova (Masaryk University)
“Listening to Armenian Baku: History and Memory in Digital Diaspora” Jonathan Hollis (East Illinois University)
Session 3: March 14, 2026
Armenian Media in a Modern and Contemporary Timeframe
Moderator: Alexia Hatun, (Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA)
“Armenian Women Between Empires: the Earliest Contributions to Print Media” Armenuhi Muradyan (University of Halle-Wittenberg)
“Mediating in the Empire(s): The Krikorian Studio and Armenian Social Agency through Visual Culture in Ottoman and Mandate Jerusalem” Diana Ghazaryan (Pázmeny Peter Catholic University, Budapest)
“Language, Power, and Gendered Disinformation in Contemporary Armenian Public Discourse” Ani Kojoyan, (Yerevan State University)
Sponsor(s): UCLA Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures, UCLA Promise Armenian Institute, Society for Armenian Studies, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)