• II. Armenology > Amenology in foreign countries > UCLA Armenian Studies Conferences > Musa Dagh, Kessab, Dort-Yol

MUSA DAGH, KESSAB, DORT-YOL TO BE FEATURED IN UCLA CONFERENCE
February 29- March 1, 2008

• Los Angeles —A leap-year international conference on the Armenian communities of the Northeastern Mediterranean will take place on the weekend of February 29- March 1, 2008 . The seventeenth in the UCLA AEF Chair’s conference series “ Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,” the two-day gathering will focus on region extending from Dort-Yol (Chork-Marzban) to Musa Dagh and Kessab. Serving as co-sponsors are the Mousa Ler Association of California and the Kessab Educational Association of Los Angeles, along with the UCLA Centers for Near Eastern Studies and European-Eurasian Studies, International Institute, and Department of History.
  
  
• Participants include scholars from Armenia , France , Great Britain , Netherlands , Syria , and several institutions in the United States . The opening session in Armenian will take place on Friday evening, February 29, from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in the Kalaydjian Hall of the Armenian Church Western Diocese at 3325 N. Glenoaks Boulevard in Burbank (Buena Visa exit from the 5 Golden State Freeway).
  
  
• Following an introduction by Professor Richard Hovannisian, AEF Chair at UCLA, Dr. Hagop Tcholakian of Aleppo , the author of a three-volume history of Kessab, will give an overview of the Armenian communities from Beylan to Antioch and Latakia. He will be joined by Dr. Verjine Svazlian of the Armenian Institute of Archeology and Ethnography, who will discuss the oral tradition of Musa Dagh, and by Ms. Isabel Mavian, both of Paris and of Yerevan , who will examine how the people of Kessab responded to calamitous situations between 1909 and 1947.
  
  
• The all day sessions on the UCLA campus on Saturday, March 1, from 10 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. , will be in English and take place in the refurbished Broad (formerly Dickson) Auditorium. The morning program will include an illustrated presentation by Ms. Ruth Thomasian of the Project SAVE Archives, Watertown , Massachusetts . Dr. Minas Kojoyan of the AGBU High School in Canoga Park will examine the repeated self-defense of Chork-Marzban (Dort-Yol) from 1896 to 1921, with Mr. Aram Arkun of New York City making additional comments in writing. Dr. Vahram Shemmassian of CSU Northridge will offer an overview of the history of Musa Dagh in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
  
  
• The second morning session will feature Dr. Susan Pattie of University College London who has chosen the title, “ Even Paradise Isn't Perfect: Memories of Kessab.” Ms. Seda Altug, Ph.D. candidate at Utrecht University in the Netherlands , will compare the making of community identities in the Jazira and Kessab areas of Syria , while Hagop Tcholakian will speak on Kessab after becoming a diasporan community.
  
  
• During the lunchtime intermission on March 1, brief readings and explanations of the Musa Dagh and Kessab Armenian dialects will be given by Dr. Hagop Panossian of the Mousa Ler Association and Dr. Hrair Atikian of the Kessab Educational Association.
  
  
• In the afternoon sessions, Mrs. Sona Zeitlian will present the findings of her study on the oral tradition of Musa Dagh. Mr. Ara Soghomonian, Ph.D. student at UCLA who has investigated primary source materials on the projected filming of “The Forty Days of Musa Dagh” will reveal little known aspects of this case of Hollywood censorship. Dr. Keith Watenpaugh of UC Davis will focus on the Armenian and Alwaite responses to the Alexandretta crisis in the 1930s.
  
  
• During the final afternoon session, Dr. Herant Katchadourian of Stanford University will speak on culture and personality, based on his field research in Anjar after the relocation there of most of the natives of Musa Dagh. Dr. Shemmassian will conclude the program with a sketch of Vakef or Samandagh, the only remaining Armenian village in Musa Dagh and in all of Turkey . As in most previous conferences in this series, Mr. Richard and Mrs. Anne Elizabeth Elbrecht of Davis , California , will mount a related photographic exhibit.
  
  
• The conference is open to the public without charge. Parking on the UCLA campus will be in Structure 3, entrance from Hilgard Avenue near Sunset Boulevard. Daily parking fee: $8.00.
  
  
• For further information, please e-mail Professor Hovannisian at Hovannis@history.ucla.edu