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University of Michigan holds Conference on Georgia

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  • University of Michigan holds Conference on Georgia

    PRESS RELEASE
    Armenian Studies Program
    Ms. Gloria Caudill, Administrator
    University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
    Tel: (734) 763-0622
    Email: [email protected]

    University of Michigan holds Conference on Georgia

    Ronald Grigor Suny

    Caught between Russia and the Middle East, for
    centuries the passage from East to West, the small republic of Georgia
    has seldom in recent years had the spotlight of scholarship turned
    full force on its fascinating history and current troubles. The
    Armenian Studies Program of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor
    sponsored the first international conference in mid-May to look at the
    "making of a national culture" in that South Caucasian country. More
    than thirty scholars from Europe, Asia, the United States, Canada, and
    Georgia itself gathered to hear and discuss papers on such far-flung
    topics as Iranian influences in medieval Georgia, the appeal of rap
    music among Georgian young people today, Russian-Georgian conflicts,
    and the precarious future of Armenians in Georgia. Discussions swung
    from enthusiasm for the multicultural nature of Georgian society and
    the complex harmony of life in old Tiflis (currently the capital of
    Georgia, Tbilisi), to tales of
    nationalist hostility and savage conflict.
    Georgians pride themselves on tolerance of foreigners and visitors and
    the hospitality of their famous supra, the lavish feast that travelers
    to Georgia have praised for centuries. But Georgian culture has also
    been defensive and insecure about its future when threatened by the
    empires to the north and south. At the present time the republic has
    good relations with all its neighbors, except for Russia, which is
    supporting Abkhaz and South Ossetian separatists who want their
    regions to be independent of Georgia. Armenians in Georgia experience
    a sense of displacement and disillusionment in a city and country,
    which many of them consider their real homeland. Yet Georgia has
    managed, despite civil war and ethnic conflict, to emerge as the most
    promising democracy in Caucasia and an ally of the United States.
    There are plans to publish many of the papers in a
    volume edited by the principal organizer of the conference, Ronald
    Grigor Suny, and his friend and colleague, historian of Georgia Oliver
    Reisner, currently working with the European Commission in Georgia.
    Suny is the author of The Making of the Georgian Nation (Indiana
    University Press, 1994), and Reisner's major publication is Die Schule
    der Georgischen Nation [The School of the Georgian Nation] (Wiesbaden,
    2004). Among other presenters at the conference were: Stephen Rapp of
    Georgia State University (Atlanta), Armen Kazaryan (State Institute
    for Art Study, Moscow), Tamila Mgaloblishvili (Center for Exploration
    of Georgian Antiquities, Tbilisi), and Dean Sakel (Bogazici
    University, Istanbul), Hirotake Maeda (Hokaido Univeristy), Paul
    Manning (Trent University), David Khoshtaria and Mzia Chikhrade (art
    historians from Tbilisi), Medea Badashvili (Tbilisi), Paul Crego
    (Library of Congress), Silvia Serrano (Paris), Kevin Tuite (Montreal),
    Thornike Gordadze (Paris, Baku), Mariam Chkhartishvili and
    Alexandre Kukianidze (Tbilisi State University), Tamara Vardanyan
    (Erevan, Armenia), Harsha Ram (Berkeley), Clinton Buhler (Ohio State),
    Jeremy Smith (Birmingham University, UK), Stephen Jones (Mount
    Holyoke), Vicken Cheterian (Geneva), Jonathan Kulick (Tbilisi), David
    Soumbadze (Washington, DC), and Sergei Markedonov (Moscow).
    Georgian culture was vividly represented by Nino
    Tsitsishvili (Monash University), Soso Jordania (University of
    Melbourne), and Alan Gasser (Toronto), who sang traditional folk songs
    at two of the dinners that tried valiantly to emulate a Georgian
    supra.
    The proceedings of the conference were webcast live on
    the internet, making it possible for a large number of viewers around
    the world to follow the presentations and lively discussions.
    The conference was supported by the Manoogian Simone
    Foundation gift to the Armenian Studies Program and by a number of
    departments and regional studies centers at the University of
    Michigan, Ann Arbor.
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