Unpacking Armenian Studies with Dr. Shushan Karapetian

Language and identity— but this time also about belonging and anxiety (or guilt) – Dr. Shushan Karapetian researches these issues in the framework of heritage languages in a diasporic context. In conversation with Salpi Ghazarian, director of the Institute of Armenian Studies, they discuss the trajectory of bilingual education, and the link between the Armenian language and expressions of Armenianness.

To learn more about the USC Institute of Armenian Studies, visit http://armenian.usc.edu.

References:

"Out of the box: Challenging approaches to language transmission in the Diaspora." Innovate Armenia. University of Southern California. Los Angeles, CA, April 2. https://bit.ly/21AKgSK

Karapetian, S. (2014) "How Do I Teach My Kids My Broken Armenian?": A Study of Eastern Armenian Heritage Language Speakers in Los Angeles (Doctoral dissertation). https://bit.ly/2VM7Oal

Karapetian, S. (2019). "Eastern Armenian speakers as potential Western Armenian learners: Reflections on second dialect acquisition." B. Der Matossian & B. Der Mugrdechian (Eds.), Western Armenian in the 21st Century: Challenges and New Approaches. Fresno, CA: The Press at Fresno State. https://bit.ly/2VZycNS

Karapetian, S. (2018). "The evolving role of language in the construction of Armenian identity in the diaspora." In H. Berberian & T. Daryaee (Eds.), Armenian Identity Through the Ages. Mazda Publishers.

Karapetian, S. (2018). "Defective Armenian: The destructive impact of heritage language anxiety." In S. Kresin & S. Bauckus (Eds.), Connecting across Languages and Cultures: A Heritage Language Festschrift in Honor of Olga E. Kagan. Bloomington, IN: Slavica.

Karapetian, S. (2017). "Challenges with institutionalizing a pluricentric diasporic language: The case of Armenian in Los Angeles." In O. Kagan, M. Carreira, & C. Chick (Eds.), A Handbook on Heritage Language Education: From Innovation to Program Building. New York and London: Routledge.