Μάθημα : 70745 Ιστορία των Αρμενίων στην Οθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία (Εαρινό εξάμηνο 2025-2026)

Purist Pursuits: Language, Global Ideas, and the Creation of Western Armenian in the Ottoman Empire

Manoogian Postdoctoral Lecture

Jennifer Manoukian (University of Michigan)

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | 4:30-6:00 PM

Weiser Hall 555

500 Church St, Ann Arbor, MI 48108

Zoom: 965 0886 6848

https://umich.zoom.us/j/96508866848

This lecture follows Armenians in the Ottoman Empire through a dramatic linguistic transformation, the aftershocks of which are still being felt today throughout the Armenian diaspora. It chronicles how and why Armenians in the Ottoman Empire fashioned a new language called Western Armenian in the eighteenth, nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and explores the evolution of an ever-changing ideology that undergirded all phases of the language's formation: linguistic purism. Manoukian will examine the power of global intellectual movements in crafting new language ideologies in the Ottoman Empire and reimagines what language histories can be for Ottoman-era language communities.

Jennifer Manoukian is a historian of language. Her work explores the language practices and ideologies of Armenians in the Ottoman Empire and post-genocide diaspora. She earned her PhD in Near Eastern Languages and Cultures from the University of California, Los Angeles; her MA in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies from Columbia University; and her BA in French and Middle Eastern Studies from Rutgers University. She is the author of Purist Pursuits: Language, Global Ideas, and the Creation of Western Armenian in the Ottoman Empire and two book-length literary translations from Western Armenian: The Gardens of Silihdar by Zabel Yessayan and The Candidate by Zareh Vorpouni. She is also the author of a number of articles and the co-founder of Gesaria Armenian Research and Academic Services.

This event is free & open to the public.

Co-sponsors:

Department of Anthropology (U-M)

Department of Linguistics (U-M)

Department of Middle East Studies (U-M)
Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies (U-M)

National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)