The USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies will host a day-long symposium titled Artsakh Uprooted: Aftermaths of Displacement, on Saturday, November 2, from 9 AM to 6 PM at USC’s iconic Bovard Auditorium, in Los Angeles, California.
This multidisciplinary event will bring together distinguished scholars, artists, and civil society leaders from across the globe to reflect on the devastating impact of Azerbaijan’s ethnic cleansing of the Armenian population from Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) and its aftermath, offering a platform for critical reflection and discourse on displacement, identity, and resilience.
The program will center the voices of people from Artsakh, who will share firsthand experiences of conflict, life under blockade, and the dispossession of their homeland. Notable participants include high-ranking officials such as former Artsakh State Minister Artak Beglaryan, who will discuss the realities of representing an unrecognized republic and how his role has evolved after the occupation of Artsakh by Azerbaijan. Citizen journalists Nina Shahverdyan and Ashot Gabrielyan, who provided vital information during the 9-month blockade of Artsakh, will offer raw and unfiltered accounts of the Armenian exodus following Azerbaijan’s military assault, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
Featuring panels, performances, and interactive sessions, the symposium will explore critical topics such as cultural erasure, resilience, and the psychological impact of displacement.
The symposium will open with remarks from Mohamed El-Naggar, Interim Dean of the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences, followed by an impactful lecture by Stephan Astourian, Director of the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at the American University of Armenia, on the geopolitical failures that led to Artsakh’s capitulation.
In a fireside chat, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Sympathizer and USC’s Aerol Arnold Chair of English, Viet Thanh Nguyen, will join filmmaker Eric Nazarian to discuss the power of narrative as a tool for the dispossessed. Meanwhile, investigative researcher Simon Maghakyan will present a visual account of the cycles of Armenian cultural erasure, highlighting strategies for safeguarding Artsakh’s heritage.
The program will include a conversation with historian Sebouh Aslanian, Richard Hovannisian Endowed Chair of Modern Armenian History at UCLA, and sociologist Artyom Tonoyan from Hamline University, who will examine the appropriation of history and Azerbaijan’s deployment of the Caucasian Albanian narrative.
Attendees will engage with a range of discussions, including a panel on the role of the Armenian dialects of Artsakh as witnesses to survival and dispossession, moderated by USC Institute Director Shushan Karapetian. The panel will feature linguist Hrach Martirosyan, who is currently writing a book on this topic, and journalist and Artsakh native Lika Zakaryan.
In addition to scholarly discussions, the event will feature significant cultural programming. Artsakh war veteran and rapper Lyoka will give a live rap performance, introduced by USC Vice Provost for the Arts and MacArthur “Genius Grant” recipient, Josh Kun. USC School of Architecture professor and media artist Aroussiak Gabrielian, alongside Hrag Vartanian, Editor-in-Chief of Hyperallergic, will offer a multimedia performance lecture told through the perspective of Artsakh’s ancient Tnjri plane tree.
Filmmaker Balin Schneider, a graduate of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism, will screen his documentary My Dearest Artsakh for the first time. This will be followed by a discussion moderated by USC professor Ted Braun, featuring filmmakers Emily Mkrtichian and Alexis Pazoumian, who will share insights into the complexities of documenting neglected conflicts.
Hrag Papazian, USC’s Turpanjian Early Career Chair in Contemporary Armenian Studies, will join former Institute Visiting Scholar Rober KoptaÅŸ to present research on Armenian perceptions of Turks and Turkey.
Director of the UCLA Promise Institute for Human Rights Hannah Garry and USC Associate Professor of the Practice of Human Rights Steve Swerdlow will delve deep into a discussion on human rights.
USC and UCLA researchers will reveal groundbreaking findings from a pioneering study on intergenerational trauma and resilience following the 2020 Artsakh War. This will further emphasize the symposium’s focus on the psychological and cultural impact of the war.
Guests will have the chance to participate in a community poetry project led by Raffi Wartanian, UCLA writing professor and Glendale’s Inaugural Poet Laureate. They will also experience a cooking demonstration by the local eatery Zhengyalov Hatz, preparing the herb-stuffed flatbread native to Artsakh.
This symposium, co-sponsored by Massis Kabob, USC Visions and Voices, NAASR, Armenian Film Society, USC Dornsife Divisional Dean for the Social Sciences, and the UCLA Promise Armenian Institute, will combine academia, art, and culture to reflect on this pivotal moment in Armenian history. By centering Armenian experiences, the event will contribute to the global conversation on displacement and cultural erasure.
The event is free of charge and open to the public, with lunch provided for all attendees.
RSVP is required. The symposium will not be live-streamed.
RSVP for this event here.
