ARMENIAN IDENTITIES
Ara: Hybrid Identities
Ara identifies his childhood identity as Greek Cypriot, aware of Armenian heritage. Notes that English school attendance and the 1953 coronation experience founded his British identity. Mentions distancing from Turkish children.
(Interviewed by Pete and Kersty, June 2024)
Ara: Languages
Description of use of languages within his family. Comments would speak Turkish with one uncle, but otherwise spoke Armenian; little opportunity to speak Arabic but can read and write. Remarks English and French important in educational settings. Knows many Turkish proverbs.
(Interviewed by Erica, November 2024)
Dalila: Grandfather and Father’s Passports
Description of items Dalila brought to the interview: her grandfather’s French-Armenian passport. Story of her grandfather’s silence about his bullet wounds. Description of his passport issued by the Armenian Republic, Cilicia; and stamps on it. Description of her father’s passport issued by the Republic of Turkey.
(Interviewed by Georgy, October 2024)
Dalila: About Traditional Armenian Dance
Description of the Armenian dance tradition that came long before Christianity. Soviet influence. Comparison of Armenia and England in terms of youngster’s (particularly boys’) interest in tradition. Recent revival of that tradition in Armenia.
(Interviewed by Georgy, October 2024)
Denis: From Alexandria to England
Denis recalls how his father, a British man, was warned in the 1920s by his company that marrying a foreigner (an Armenian woman) would cause being kicked out of the English Club. Dennis and his family grew up deeply embedded in the Armenian community. He was born in Alexandria, Egypt, and raised in Jerusalem until eight, when his family fled to England as refugees during the 1947 Arab–Israeli conflict. Upon arriving in England, Dennis found the climate unfamiliar. Describes first time meeting English people. Dennis carries on behaving like an Armenian. At home, Armenian remained the dominant language, especially with his grandmother who spoke no English. He only began feeling English after attending Oxford.
(Interviewed by Liv, February 2025 )
Eddie: Reflection about Race
Comments on racial dynamics in family; father had brown skin but spoke fluent Armenian, surprising other Armenians; reflects on social and racial implications of grandparents’ relationship (a young Armenian refugee and an older and wealthier dark-skinned Indian man), questioning whether it was a love match.
(Interviewed by Lisa and Nikolaos, July 2024)
Eddie: Armenian Identity
Description of Armenian cultural traditions in Lebanon and impact on upbringing. Description of Armenian cathedral and first encounter with history of Armenian genocide. Mentions stronger connection to mother’s culture over father’s. Remarks on father’s strong Armenian identity and lack of ties with Indian relatives. Comments on complexity of Armenian identity in diaspora, on contrast between those maintaining culture and those with weaker ties, compares diaspora experience to Armenians in Armenia, noting differences in food, language, and urban-rural life.
(Interviewed by Lisa and Nikolaos, July 2024 )
John: Questioning about Meaning of Armenian Identity
Discussion about the church and language. John comments on his parents not speaking Armenian and his regret at not speaking Armenian; remarks on difficulty of feeling connected to Armenian heritage without speaking the language. Mentions his mother being more conscious of Armenian heritage than his father. Mentions recognition of heritage through surname. Describes uncertainty yet pride, gratitude about Armenian identity; the meaning of being third-generation Armenian. Mentions Elif Shafak.
(Interviewed by Nyree, October 2024)
Justin: Loss of Armenian Heritage to Englishness
Justin’s grandfather sought to integrate and acquire Englishness. Ancestral lore was not passed down but Justin is on a journey to find it again.
(Interviewed by Max and Melanie, June 2024)
Justin: Imposter Syndrome
Justin acknowledges an initial imposter syndrome attached to his Armenian identity. Engaging with his heritage came with fears about ‘playing it up’ but his newfound community has given him confidence in his national identity and helped him overcome this conditioning. No heirlooms were passed down generationally.
(Interviewed by Max and Melanie, June 2024)
Karen: About Hybrid Identities and Being an Artist
Discusses impact of migration, making her more sensitive to people’s experiences. Describes ways of keeping her culture and heritage alive. Mentions that she shouldn’t self-describe as ‘half’, but rather wholly Armenian, British and Iranian. Remarks how having mixed cultural heritage made her value and try to retain her Armenian culture more. Discusses weaving culture with artistic vocation, different people’s ways of engaging with and passing on Armenian culture. Reflects on her and her dancer friend Shakeh’s work in visibly sharing Armenian culture with the wider world. Remarks on her mixed heritage allowing her to bridge cultures.
(Interviewed by Liv, January 2025)
Levon: Tchilingirian Quartet Repertoire
Levon is a professional musician, leader of the Tchilingirian Quartet. The quartet played a wide repertoire of music. They commissioned many new pieces, including by Tigran Mansurian, whom Levon considers the greatest living Armenian composer. Recorded pieces of music that were unknown. Quartet became well-known. Not much string quartet music by Armenian composers. Way to include Armenian music was by playing pieces during encores, including arrangements by Sarkis Aslamzian and making that music more widely known and played by others.
(Interviewed by Gabriella, February 2025)
Lilit: Meeting Husband
Relates details about meeting husband on a dating website for Armenians and the importance of that. Arrival in the United Kingdom, details of extended family in the USA.
(Interviewed by Erica, January 2025)
Michael: British Assimilation and Losing Sight of Armenian Heritage
Description of the process Michael went through in discovering his family heritage after his children were born. Discussion of his Armenian identity and his attitude towards it as a young boy growing up in the United Kingdom.
(Interviewed by Georgy and Amy, May 2024)
Muriel: Identity and Adaptation
Discusses maintaining Armenian culture while adapting to French and English cultures. Mentions maternal family in France, while paternal family in Australia/California. Comments on various Armenian communities, unique subcultures. Remarks on efforts to stay connected with extended family.
(Interviewed by Becca, December 2024)
Nouritza: Identity and Education
Discussion about identity and belonging: fully Cypriot, fully Armenian, knows 9 languages. School, university in England. Explains her desire to study abroad in England because of going to colonial school in Cyprus and her English and cosmopolitan friends there. Describes school as a haven.
(Interviewed by Sharo and Georgia, June 2024)
Nouritza: Arshile Gorky
Story of her encounter of painter Arshile Gorky, at a Tate exhibition. Her attraction to his paintings and her discovery that he was Armenian and had committed suicide. Her reaction to the exhibition catalogue. Trip to New York to see more paintings, and her reaction at seeing that he was presented as Russian or Georgian. Recalls being introduced to Gorky’s wife by chance by a friend. The wife encouraged her to write her husband’s biography. Briefly describes Gorky’s trajectory: his place of origin, Van in Turkey, an Armenian province. March to Etchmiadzin, then Constantinople, America. Change of name because of prejudice against poor Armenians there. Explains the significance of his name, link with Maxim Gorky.
(Interviewed by Sharo and Georgia, June 2024)
Nouritza: Armenianness of Arshile Gorky’s Art
Armenian character of Gorky’s paintings. Link with old Armenian religious manuscripts, architecture, sculpture, etc. Notion that what you visually absorb as a child constitutes your identity. Expresses what this research means to her: satisfying, a revenge on all that Armenians have been robbed of. Discusses identity v. influence. Gorky’s being Armenian as the key to understanding his work. Gorky never spoke of being Armenian, despite being otherwise very charismatic.
(Interviewed by Sharo and Georgia, June 2024)
Peter: Discovering Parents’ History
Peter led a tour for American-Armenians tracing their ancestors through Turkey. He recalls being very moved by a visit to his father’s town of origin. Peter’s mother had a happy childhood in Chalcedon (now Kadıköy). He notes Armenians do not celebrate their birthdays, but their name days. Peter was gracefully facilitated by a bishop and a mayor in tracing his parents’ history.
(Interviewed by Nikolaos, July 2024)
Richard: Keeping Heritage Alive
In NYC, language was not emphasized. At home he is referred to as Morad, not Richard. Emphasis on music and dance in the US. Assimilation is stronger in Western countries than in the Middle East. Elaboration on folk dances. Food: a cooking book referred to as “the Bible.” Emphasis on the church as well. Refers to home-cooked meals he gets in Cyprus. In the United Kingdom, he connects with his heritage mostly through getting involved with Armenian organisations.
(Interviewed by Max and Melanie, June 2024)
Tania: Pride in Being Armenian
Tania comments on Armenian identity: she describes the Armenians who deny their identity as upsetting and mentions that being in the United Kingdom does not erase her Armenian identity.
(Interviewed by Sonia, October 2024)
Tania: Armenian or British?
Comments on her sense of belonging, and on how the dispersed Armenian diaspora shapes her sense of self. Mentions contributing to British society by explaining who Armenians are.
(Interviewed by Sonia, October 2024)
Tania: Maintaining Armenian Culture in the United Kingdom
Story of how her family maintains their Armenian culture in the United Kingdom; opinion on the importance of the Christian faith to Armenian history and identity; mentions that her parents’ education in Britain eased the transition to life in the United Kingdom, coming from Iran. Aspects of different cultural influences on Tania’s upbringing and her identity: opinion on Iranian, Armenian and English influences; opinion on the significance of the Armenian church, music, food and community in the United Kingdom.
(Interviewed by Ben and Phoebe, October 2024)
Tatiana: Reflections Around Armenian Identity
Armenian identity today is inherently diasporic. Highlights differences across Armenian diasporas in different countries. Argues for right to claim heritage based on ancestry, rather than birthplace.
(Interviewed by Thomas, February 2025)
Tina: Places of Belonging
Thoughts on a future for her in Europe and the diaspora v. in Armenia. Describes feelings of being European politically and a mixture with Armenia, culturally. Her heart is Armenian. Talks about not living in Armenia but wanting to work with more Armenians.
(Interviewed by Arda and Nikolaos, June 2024)
Tina: Sensory Memories
Remembers stories of houses with fruit trees and her mother making hundreds of cakes for visitors. Bucket showers, hard toilet paper and the lack of electricity. Fond memory of her grandmother reciting lists of relatives and where they lived. The smell of Armenian candles and churches providing sensory memories and maps.
(Interviewed by Arda and Nikolaos, June 2024)
Vazken: Language and Identity
Remarks on multilingualism and daily code-switching between English, Armenian, Turkish, and Greek. Comments on experiences of speaking Western Armenian in Armenia with locals often responding in English. Mentions feeling foreign in Armenia, despite feeling fully Armenian anywhere else. Mentions viewing his identity—Armenian, Cypriot, and British—as harmonious, not conflicting.
(Interviewed by Max and Melanie, September 2024)
Vazken: Defining Armenian Identity
Description of his early experience in England at 18; difficulty explaining Armenian identity to others. Reflections on post-independence confusion between Armenian nationality and diaspora identity. Description of his Armenian identity as integral, linked to personal and academic interests. Family history shaped by genocide; each generation displaced. Mentions feeling empathy for other displaced people. Reflections on diasporic Armenian experience. Contrast with Armenians from Armenia who grew up as the majority.
(Interviewed by Max and Melanie, September 2024)
Victoria: Identity in Kansas
Reflections on Victoria’s sense of Armenian identity: story of her first visit to Kansas and comparison with her expectations of the United States; story of experiencing homesickness in Kansas and the importance of music and art to her Armenian identity.
(Interviewed by Becca and Kit, August 2024)
Victoria: Living the Armenian Identity
Story of her time studying filmmaking in New York at Columbia University; thoughts on the complexities of her Armenian identity having moved permanently to the United Kingdom; opinion on the importance of art and family to identity. Superficialness of cooking and listening to Aznavour in maintaining ties to Armenia and reestablishing the connection between diaspora and home.
(Interviewed by Becca and Kit, August 2024)
Madeleine: Digging for History
Madeleine has New Zealand and Lebanese/Palestinian/Armenian heritage. She talks about her limited exposure to Armenian culture growing up, and her efforts to find out about it later in life.
(Interviewed by Liv, August 2024)
Madeleine: Attitude to Hybrid Identities
Being part of different heritage backgrounds was stressful for her before, but now feels like having different playgrounds. Difficulty of answering people’s questions about identity. Feels British, doesn't feel a belonging to different communities. More grounded in identity after doing her artistic VR project. Diaspora imposter syndrome. Navigating bias in contested history.
(Interviewed by Liv, August 2024)
Elizabeth: Converting to the Armenian Church
Details her conversion from the English church to the Armenian church, in the context of the process of naturalisation as an Armenian, and her feelings toward it.
(Interviewed by Erica, January 2025)
Maral: Ethnic Diversity at School
Mara’s childhood memories of her private English school for girls. Ethnic roots were not discussed at that time but there were children from various minorities.
(Interviewed by Gabriella, July 2024)
Nyeiri: Sense of Armenian Identity
Aspects of her sense of Armenian identity: story of the impact of not having Armenian peers whilst growing up in Manchester; mention of not identifying with or seeing herself in the Armenian community; story of her experience of the Armenian school in Manchester; story of the significance of going through the Birthright programme including an internship in Armenia; story of how exposure to a wider group of Armenian peers enabled her to reconcile different parts of her identity.