2015 Diasporic Identities Workshop

The focus of this workshop is to examine identity formation among three fairly well established, but quite diverse Diasporas: the original one from the Jewish homeland, but updated and modernized for the contemporary era; the Armenian diaspora through commerce and expulsion, and the African diaspora in its more modern form.

Full schedule below:

9 a.m. Registration

9:15 a.m. Welcome and Introduction: John Thornton and Linda Heywood, Boston University

9:30 a.m. Primo Levi and the Politics of Displacement, Nancy Harrowitz, Boston University

10 a.m. Reconsidering “Diaspora”, Jonathan Boyarin, Cornell University

10:30 a.m. Commentary, Frank Korom, Boston University

10:45 a.m. Break

11:15 a.m. Physics of Blackness: Theorizing Identity in the Postwar African Diaspora, Michelle Wright, Northwestern University

11:45 a.m. Defining France and Defending Israel:Romantic Nationalism and the Paradoxes of French Jewish Diasporic Identity and Belonging, Kimberly Arkin, Boston University

12:15 p.m. Commentary, Rady Roldan-Figueroa, Boston University

12:30 p.m. Lunch Break

1:30 p.m. The Armenian Community in the United States and the Construction of Armenian Cultural Congruence, Simon Payaslian, Boston University

2 p.m. Armenian identities: Between ideology and experience, Khachig Tololyan, Wesleyan University

2:30 p.m. Panel Discussion and Q&A

2:55 p.m. Closing Remarks, Linda Heywood, Boston University

Attendees are not required to stay for the entire workshop. Please drop in as your schedule allows.