Grigoryan’s dissertation, The Socio-Political Situation in Van and Bitlis Provinces in 1912-1915 in the context of the Armenian Genocide, explores whether the regional problems and developments of events in the Van and Bitlis Provinces of the Ottoman Empire during this period had an impact on the final decision to carry out a genocide. The dissertation project will concentrate primarily on interaction between representatives of the Armenian community, Kurdish actors, and the Ottoman state, in order to explore why and how violent escalation took place in Van and Bitlis within the context of the negotiations over the Armenian Reform Question involving the Great Powers and the Ottoman Empire. Grigoryan will likewise examine the intra-ethnic interplay between the main Armenian political actors, the Orthodox Church, and notables within the Ottoman Empire (both in the center and periphery), as well as abroad in order to scrutinize which group was more interested, to what extent the Armenian reforms was perceived as a pan-Armenian project. International dynamics as well as the interplay between the politics of the center and the periphery are also essential to understanding the transition to genocide.
Advisor: Frances Tanzer
Education:
- B.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2008
- M.A., Yerevan State University, Department of Cultural Studies, 2010
Publications:
Fellowships:
- AGBU US graduate scholarship for 2021-2023
- Asbed B. Zakarian and Margaret M. Zakarian Research Award 2020-2021
- Richard Melik Simonian Charitable Trust Scholarship Fund, 2022
