Michigan University to host conference on “Armenians and Cold War”

PanARMENIAN.Net - To mark the 30th Anniversary of its founding, the Armenian Research Center at the University of Michigan-Dearborn is holding a multi-disciplinary academic conference on the theme “The Armenians and the Cold War,” Massis Post reports.

The global Cold War from around 1945 to 1991 inevitably affected the Armenians, not only in Soviet Armenia, but also in the many Armenian communities scattered across the world. Indeed, something resembling a cold war had already surfaced in the Armenian Diaspora not long after the establishment of Soviet rule in Armenia in late 1920. Political factions opposing Communism and those expressing readiness to cooperate with the Soviet Armenian government had developed in the Armenian Diaspora as early as the 1920s.

Moreover, the Cold War also affected relations between the Soviet government of Armenia and the many Armenian communities and pan-Diasporan Armenian political factions outside the USSR.

The conference will bring together the research already completed in this field. It would also identify existing gaps in scholarship and suggest new themes and approaches for future research. The organizers also welcome papers on the impact of the Cold War on migration to and from Soviet Armenia, Armenian spies in the Cold War era, as well as famous individual Armenian ‘Cold Warriors’ and their role in public life.

The conference will be held on the university’s campus in Dearborn, MI, on April 1-3, 2016.