Dr. Harutyun Marutyan

Professional Background

Harutyun Marutyan is Leading Researcher at the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. He received a D.Sc. (History) in social anthropology from the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia, and a Ph.D. in cultural anthropology from the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. For his Diane and Howard Wohl Fellowship, Dr. Marutyan conducted research for his project “Memory Based on Politics: Comparative Study of Jewish and Armenian Experience.”

Dr. Marutyan is the author, co-author, or editor of several books, including, Iconography of Armenian Identity. Volume I: The Memory of Genocide and the Karabagh Movement (Gitutyun Publishing House, 2009), which will appear in both Armenian and English; Stories on Poverty: Book 2 (The Hazarashen Armenian Center for Ethnological Studies, 2007); and The Role of Memory in the Structure of Identity: Theoretical Questions (Noravank, 2006). The latter two volumes are published only in Armenian. The recipient of many awards, Dr. Marutyan was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the recipient of an IREX Regional Scholar Exchange Fellowship at the University of Michigan. He received a Red Diploma for academic excellence from Yerevan State University and the award for Best Young Anthropologist of the Institute of Ethnography, Academy of Sciences of the USSR. He is a native speaker of Armenian and Russian and is fluent in English.

Fellowship Research

During his tenure at the Center, Dr. Marutyan compared the memory of the Armenian Genocide (Mets Yeghern) with that of the Holocaust. He argued that the official and unofficial remembrance of the Armenian Genocide and the Holocaust differ in several ways, including the amount of time spent memorializing the events, the levels of justice and recognition that have been achieved, and the ways in which the two genocides have been portrayed by historical narrative. Dr. Marutyan compared how the memory of the genocides is preserved and applied, and how this affects the identity of Armenians and Jews as well as the politics of Armenia and Israel. Dr. Marutyan utilized the Museum’s oral history and memoir collections, and met with Holocaust survivors to delve into the living memory of the Holocaust. He also explored resources at local universities and the Library of Congress.

Dr. Marutyan was in residence at the Mandel Center from September 1, 2009 to March 30, 2010.