Home

Reconceptualization of National Identity in Diasporic Literature

Session 3 - Saturday 1:15-2:45pm
Henry Hall 203
Presiding Officer: 
Lilit Manucharyan
  1. Refiguring Cultural Consciousness: Repression, Assimilation and Identity in Nancy Kricorian's Zabelle. Andzhela Keshishyan, California State University, Northridge

    In the last two decades, Armenian-American literature has evolved to include explicit references to the Armenian Genocide of 1915. This paper will argue that these references serve to coalesce the worldwide Armenian community’s sense of national identity.

  2. Johnny Cash and Orange Peels: Negotiating Female Armenian American and Turkish Identities in The Bastard of Istanbul. Joan Conwell, East Carolina University

    This paper argues that female ethnic identity is negotiated not determined. Exploring the fictional model of female Armenian American and Turkish identity presented by Elif Shafak in her novel, The Bastard of Istanbul, it contends the novel’s fluid concept of identity combats ultranationalism.

  3. The Armenian Family Redefined: Intergenerational Transmission in the Diaspora. Ariel Strichartz, St. Olaf College

    This paper examines two plays which treat the devastating effects on families of the Armenian Genocide and diasporic scattering. Both works affirm the transmission of Armenian collective memory, but the family emerges shaken and redefined by the localized circumstances in which the protagonists find themselves.

  4. Constructing Russian-Jewish National Identity through Language: A Case of Ivan Elagin. Takayuki Yokota-Murakami, Osaka University

    This paper explores the way Russian immigrants, constituted by superbly hybrid groups (Russians, Jews, Ukrainians, Red Russians, White Russians, etc.) managed (or failed) to construct national identity as a linguistic group.

Session Type: 
Special Session
Session Status: 
Closed