Homeland, diaspora and nationalism: The reimagination of American-Armenian identity since Gorbachev (Mikhail Gorbachev)

This thesis discusses the evolution of modern Armenian territorial nationalism, beginning with the annexation of Eastern Armenia by Russia in 1828. It focuses on the impact of the homeland and of the diaspora-homeland relationship on Armenian diasporan identity. In particular, it analyses the response of the American-Armenian community to recent events in Armenia, and the impact of these events on that community.; Although there has been a profound shift in the diaspora-homeland relationship throughout the past two centuries, (the idea of) the homeland continues to be fundamental to the imagination of Armenian ethnic identity in the diaspora. For example, among Armenians in the United States, the diaspora-homeland relationship has been increasingly shaped by notions of diasporan permanency and symbolic as opposed to traditional ethnicity. Yet the various American-Armenian institutions and discourses continue to derive their legitimacy from their policy towards the homeland, and American-Armenian identity continues to be shaped by the diaspora's relationship with the homeland.; Recent events in the Armenian homeland have had a profound impact on the diaspora. The Karabagh Movement of 1987, the Armenian earthquake of December 1988, the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the subsequent re-establishment of an independent Armenian nation-state, threw diasporan life into confusion by demanding an urgent response to a whole new set of circumstances. The American-Armenian community was forced to re-think the nature of the diaspora-homeland relationship, and to engage in a renewed debate over the role of the homeland in shaping diasporan political identity. Serious questions were raised about the future of traditional American-Armenian organisations and the discourse(s) of diaspora-homeland relations to which they adhere. As a result, there was renewed impetus for the reimagination of American-Armenian identity and the diaspora-homeland relationship. Such a development was not entirely new, but had its source in long-term trends of modern American-Armenian life. The changing homeland-diaspora dynamic both highlighted and accelerated these trends.