Now, why was I Armenian again...?
I was abroad for a couple of months, mostly in Poland, but I also travelled around in the region a bit. Of course, everywhere I went, I ran into our compatriots. I would often look personally, asking locals, "So, do you know any Armenians who live around here ?", and sometimes I would just happen to run into some of meronts.
Now, I was there on a project that brought together a lot of young people from many countries, and explaining who an Armenian is to them was something of a task, especially when it came to the Diaspora. I would tell them Cher is Armenian, Andre Agassi is Armenian, and the guy from Brazil would say, to paraphrase, "What are you talking about ? I was born in Rio, that makes me Brazilian. It doesn't matter that my grandpa came from Portugal and the other grandpa was from Africa. These guys you mention are born and bred Americans", and I would respond, "Yes, well, they have Armenian blood..." etc., etc. And then I would be like, "All right, so they are maybe more American than Armenian, but are you trying to tell me the System of a Down chaps are not Armenian ?", and so on, and so forth...
This issue of the Armenian Identity is often brought up, especially in Diasporan circles. I know I have thought long and hard about it, and I am sure every Armenian has their own take on it (some probably have two or three opinions), but those many weeks with odars, constantly telling them so-and-so is Armenian, such-and-such thing was invented by an Armenian - really, they were quite sick of me by the end... well, much before the end, to be frank - all of this was lovely for me, re-asserting that I am Armenian, re-asserting who Armenians are...
Yesterday was April 24th, and I kept a special eye out on the international media. I can say we got almost zero coverage. Not even EuroNews, nothing on BBC or CNN, of course, and the people at Al Jazeera had more important things on their mind. The Russians were good to us, though, and this at a time when their journalists are super-busy covering the death of Boris Yeltsin.
Now, I've gotten to thinking again, as every good Armenian gets to thinking... I've answered the question to myself on a number of occasions, in a number of different ways, how it is that I am Armenian, disregarding place of birth, languages spoken, passports held, and all that sort of thing, but now I am asking myself why I am Armenian.
If you think about it, as yesterday's media attention shows, we Armenians aren't exactly the most happening nation on the planet. No-one in particular cares about us, unless we are of some use to them. Sure, this can be said of any nation in the world, the smaller ones in particular. We are living in an age, however, when identities can be changed with some ease, much more than ever before. I can move to the States, Canada, any New World country, really, even Australia, New Zealand or Western Europe. I can say that I'm French or German or even Russian without any major legal or other qualms from Paris, Berlin or Moscow and, indeed, many choose to do so, Armenians or otherwise.
And many don't. I can't tell you how touched I feel when I meet a compatriot who is, say, a fourth generation Diasporan, and yet he comes to Armenia to do something, there is a calling in that person. This sentimentality, this ideology that we have, even though it very often comes to nothing in the end in real terms, is very... well, it's just so amazing sometimes. I know my ancestors come from a place nowhere near the modern Republic of Armenia, but this is where I want to live and work. I get this from my parents, and they got it from their parents. I remember meeting a barsgahay once. He said, "Chors hariur tari e Hayastanoum chem yeghel" (an Armenian from Iran, saying he hadn't been to Armenia for four hundred years). Really, "touching" is just the word I like to use for such cases. Houzich.
But the question is, Why ?
Do we have some sort of secret deal with some infinite powers ? Maybe we are going to inherit the Earth as long as we remain Armenian. We have a long history and rich culture, but so do so many others. Why aren't we abandoning this identity and shedding the sad load that accompanies it ? It is often difficult to be Armenian, you know...
Well, I realise I've opened a big can of worms here, but it's just something to think about.
Now, I was there on a project that brought together a lot of young people from many countries, and explaining who an Armenian is to them was something of a task, especially when it came to the Diaspora. I would tell them Cher is Armenian, Andre Agassi is Armenian, and the guy from Brazil would say, to paraphrase, "What are you talking about ? I was born in Rio, that makes me Brazilian. It doesn't matter that my grandpa came from Portugal and the other grandpa was from Africa. These guys you mention are born and bred Americans", and I would respond, "Yes, well, they have Armenian blood..." etc., etc. And then I would be like, "All right, so they are maybe more American than Armenian, but are you trying to tell me the System of a Down chaps are not Armenian ?", and so on, and so forth...
This issue of the Armenian Identity is often brought up, especially in Diasporan circles. I know I have thought long and hard about it, and I am sure every Armenian has their own take on it (some probably have two or three opinions), but those many weeks with odars, constantly telling them so-and-so is Armenian, such-and-such thing was invented by an Armenian - really, they were quite sick of me by the end... well, much before the end, to be frank - all of this was lovely for me, re-asserting that I am Armenian, re-asserting who Armenians are...
Yesterday was April 24th, and I kept a special eye out on the international media. I can say we got almost zero coverage. Not even EuroNews, nothing on BBC or CNN, of course, and the people at Al Jazeera had more important things on their mind. The Russians were good to us, though, and this at a time when their journalists are super-busy covering the death of Boris Yeltsin.
Now, I've gotten to thinking again, as every good Armenian gets to thinking... I've answered the question to myself on a number of occasions, in a number of different ways, how it is that I am Armenian, disregarding place of birth, languages spoken, passports held, and all that sort of thing, but now I am asking myself why I am Armenian.
If you think about it, as yesterday's media attention shows, we Armenians aren't exactly the most happening nation on the planet. No-one in particular cares about us, unless we are of some use to them. Sure, this can be said of any nation in the world, the smaller ones in particular. We are living in an age, however, when identities can be changed with some ease, much more than ever before. I can move to the States, Canada, any New World country, really, even Australia, New Zealand or Western Europe. I can say that I'm French or German or even Russian without any major legal or other qualms from Paris, Berlin or Moscow and, indeed, many choose to do so, Armenians or otherwise.
And many don't. I can't tell you how touched I feel when I meet a compatriot who is, say, a fourth generation Diasporan, and yet he comes to Armenia to do something, there is a calling in that person. This sentimentality, this ideology that we have, even though it very often comes to nothing in the end in real terms, is very... well, it's just so amazing sometimes. I know my ancestors come from a place nowhere near the modern Republic of Armenia, but this is where I want to live and work. I get this from my parents, and they got it from their parents. I remember meeting a barsgahay once. He said, "Chors hariur tari e Hayastanoum chem yeghel" (an Armenian from Iran, saying he hadn't been to Armenia for four hundred years). Really, "touching" is just the word I like to use for such cases. Houzich.
But the question is, Why ?
Do we have some sort of secret deal with some infinite powers ? Maybe we are going to inherit the Earth as long as we remain Armenian. We have a long history and rich culture, but so do so many others. Why aren't we abandoning this identity and shedding the sad load that accompanies it ? It is often difficult to be Armenian, you know...
Well, I realise I've opened a big can of worms here, but it's just something to think about.
posted by Nareg at 11:50 AM
7 Comments:
There was some international coverage - take a look at these newspapers and TV stations.
San Gabriel Tribune
Radio Free Europe
ABC News in Los Angeles
NBC News 1
NBC News 2
CBS News
Massachusetts newspaper "The Republican"
The Daily Californian
Deseret News from Utah
The Palm Beach Post
St. Petersburg Times
Chicago Public Radio
The Detroit Free Press
The Washington Times reporting on George Bush's commemoration of the event
Reuters in the United Kingdom
Radio Netherlands
Middle East Times
The Herald Sun from Australia
The Hindu News from India
The Budapest Sun in Hungary
Philippine News in the Philippines
Personally, I have never believed the country you are born in necesarily makes up your identity.
I have also argued this point with countless Brazilians who generally have the opinion that your Brazilian counterpart mentioned.
I live in Canada for example. But when I see people, even second and third generation, I rarely say these are a bunch of Canadians. I say this is an Anglo-Canadian, over there is a French-Canadian, there is an Indo-Canadian, Italian-Canadian, etc...
The "Canadian" part is largely superficial, more of a style than anything (or lack there of in the Canadian case). And if you live outside of Quebec, it is mostly Anglo in feel.
To me, people's origin is the core. Canada is a multicultural mix under the Anglo system of doing things. (Mainly because the English were here first, and established the system and status quo)
But in the end, it comes down to personal choice and feeling.
I also believe that to keep a real national identity in our age, you still need a homeland, a nation-state. A real, physical central point for the nation that all its members can refer to.
And don't forget that your argument about the ease of changing identity these days also works vice versa. Just as it is easy for an Armenian to move to France and change his identity to French, it is now easier than ever for a Diasporan to be in touch with Armenia: move there, work there, travel there yearly, tune in to TV/Radio/Newspapers/Magazines over the internet.
In the past, to keep my culture meant I had to go to some agoump with a bunch of old people and hear countless tales of suffering in the genocide.
Now I can watch, say, Armenian Idol, relate to the characters since they are not too different than me, and speak modern, current Armenian better than those old people. I can interact with Hayastantsis live off the internet.
All I have to do is make a personal choice to do so. In the global village, geography is becoming somewhat less important while personal choice is expanding.
Nareg, I agree with every point you have written. It is great to see someone thinking about this stuff.
It often puzzles me. Why are we here? Is being Armenian really the god given wonderful thing we all seem to think it is?
(begin cheese....)
How would I feel if I was Italian, or Greek, or whatever...Is there that same calling? I don't know
Is it something we have invented? Created so that we can hold on to small snippets of an identity that has constantly been under threat by outside powers.
I too was disgusted at the lack of international media attention. I can't help but think "someone" has pressured the organisations into avoiding this. 25,000 people appearing on a street anywhere usually gets some attention.
Why not this year? "Famous" Armenians don't even seem to lobby for this... or maybe they do, and I am too ignorant to notice.
Either way, being Armenian comes with so muchmore to think about I think..... The constant need to justify ourselves as an intelligent and hard working people, just because we have been hidden away for so long, the constant need to make sure everyone I know knows about what happened to our forefathers, and that constant need to bring up anyone who is remotely Armenian, and then search for "yans" on the film credits.....
Can you imagine not being able to appreciate Komitas' music? Or know what our alphabet means? Romantic ideas, but these are the things I love.
I don't think I'd have it any other way. :)
I have to comment on the subject you just have brought up what makes me Armenian. Some times one forgets what makes me Armenian , it a people whit a 4000 year history , its own religion , its own language , alphabet and has sustained unimaginable persecution ( War , Genocide) . To have this discussion about identity whit for example a American or Latin American is totally different to a discussion whit a Jew. Latin America is a colonized continent, its indigenes people has been exterminated their culture language and so on , this done by the European conquerors. Its easy to call your self Brazilian , they don’t have their own language they speak Portuguese they don’t have their own religion its controlled by THE pope in the Vatican. That’s why you have to have this in mined when speaking to people of other culture. Try to have this discussion whit a Greek or Jewish I am sure its going to be totally different.
Why doesn’t the world media like CNN cover the Armenian Genocide ? Well first of all most important is the active propaganda by the Turkish Government. Remember that it’s the Diaspora pushing for recognition and its not actively supported by the Armenian government. So it’s the Diaspora against the Turkish government apparatus. And the Turks usually win whit threats. Just a example was the pressure that the Turkish government put on Microsoft so that the computer would not be able to use the word Armenian Genocide on Windows program together. Of course this was not approved because it would be crazy to do so by Microsoft. Its easy to get media attention you just pick up the phone and ring as the president of Armenian to discuss Darfur Genocide and its connection whit the Armenian genocide ? The world didn’t care for the Palestinians , it was Arafat that was god in manipulating the world media so the attention would be directed to Palestine.
And for you Armenians that have repatriated to Armenia , remember its easy to call your self American or Brazilian. But more difficult to call your self Armenian and get the recognition from your own people , but when you do it much sweeter then anything else.
I’m Armenian born in Iran raised up in Sweden. The first time I was in Armenia I said this is my first and last time I come hear. This April I was in Armenia the forth time and leaving Armenia was very heartbreaking , my eyes filled whit tears , and I had hard breading ………. How thought I would feel this way!
Hi Nareg,
I know exactly how you feel, I have been asking myself the same questions for years.
Why do we feel we have to tell people about the famous Armenians when we first meet them? No one else does this, and it feels like we are justifying and legitimizing our own existence (and that's sad and weird).
First of all it's unnecessary, secondly it's ineffective. when meeting someone, you are assessed as a person primarily. So I have tried to put aside this super strong identification with being Armenian and try to come across as the person I am. Oh, and I just happen to be Armenian, and it happens to be very important to me, but it's not more important that the person. This is how I try to deal with this, and shed the "sad load" and the inferiority complex that is undeniably part of the collective Armenian concsciousness.
Being Armenian is the greatest gift and the greatest curse....
And like you said, any questions with identity open up a huge can of worms. If you go down really deep, everything that we identify with as ourselves is an illusion. It a label we stick onto ourselves. All we gotta do is remember that, and stop feeling the burden and limitations that come with these labels. You know...
"Free you mind" ...and...
"There is no spoon"
Quoting "The Matrix"
I love that movie.
Thank you for bringing up this important topic.
By the way, I may be going to Poland too this summer (my company uses a translation vendor there, and I may go there to train). I would like any traveler's advice.
Thanks,
Meri Grigoryan
meriko1214@yahoo.com
I don't understand why you would want to abandon your Armenian identity. There is nothing wrong with being an Armenian.
I do not see myself as a representative of a long suffering nation. Yes, we have suffered a lot in the past but so what? A lot of nations have suffered a lot, too. I do not chain myself to the image of a perpetual victim; you gotta move on. Past is not a guarantee for the future. You learn from the past mistakes and try to build a better future. That's why I don't understand the obsession of a lot of Armenians about the Metz Yeghern. It happened, some of my ancestors fell victim to it but it is not something that shapes my identity. The Artsakh victory, building of an independent nation are what shape my identity as an Armenian instead.
--end so that not to bore the reader--
You know, this reminded me of something that happened to me during a volunteers project in Kalmikia where young people from different countries were brought together. During one of the outdoor evening parties the representatives of each country were to introduce something characteristic to their country. And I being the only representative from Armenia sang the song “Kilikia”. After several seconds lasting silence before they applauded, they asked me to sing more, and I sang “Chinari Yar” by Komitas. After how I left the stage and the event was about to finish, most of the participants along with the public who gathered to see us, surrounded me and started to ask questions (even the guy from Tansania). It was the song, the music that enchanted them, not me ;) I realized that they wanted to know more about a nation who has such melodies and it was where I started telling them about Komitas, Aznavour, Aram Khachatryan, Babajanyan, Ayvazovski, because when you speak of a nation first of all you mention the giants of that nation and I was so proud to be representative of that Armenian identity. Yes, at least I do have that identity, but nonetheless, with all my respect to Edgar Poe, what is the identity of ‘Americans’, a melting pot, a salad bawl? My audience was more than interested and didn’t stop asking questions about Armenia (and incidentally as I got most of them didn’t know where and what it was) and I went on with pleasure.
And sure, when as if a smart foreigner holding a conversation with you and as if accidentally asking whether Armenians are Muslims and whether they wear yashmaks, it gives you a ground to start talking about famous Armenians with the hope that it will ring the bell for them as to who Armenians are. And I don’t really think that it’s a justification…probably ignorance is their problem, but anyways, doesn’t cost me anything to enlighten them…
Armenian identity is not the Genocide. Armenian identity is the artist, the poet, the actor, the scientist - Komitas, Tumanyan, Zohrap, Hovhannes Hambardzumyan, Mher Mkrtchyan- and many other suchlike gifted people who were butchered during the Genocide (not them I mean). And with all the shortcoming of that identity, which I deeply admit and lament for, I’m proud to be of the same background as those geniuses, who are much too much for such a small nation, and which is what, methinks, makes us different from the others who have Shakespeare or Beethoven or Dostoyevsky.
Just don’t think that I preach nationalism, for God’s sake, just felt I wanted to say it. Oh, that was long ;)
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