Ethnography Department

The task of the Department is:

1. To deal with issues of material and non-material culture of the Armenian and neighboring (Transcaucasia, North Caucasus, West Asia, etc.) peoples (economic life, lifestyle, agriculture, crafts, entertainment, customs, occupations, traditional tools/objects, social relations, costume, cuisine, settlement, demography, beliefs, rituals, worship, etc.).
2. From the temporal perspective - to deal with all periods, particularly focusing on the 19th–21st centuries.
3. To develop ethnographic science in Armenia, contributing to the influx of relevant personnel and natural generational succession.
4. The Department carries out its work in the following forms of activity: field, museum, archive/library, and office.
5. The output of the Department is measured by quality scientific publications (monographs, collections, articles), which must be relevant and innovative, using modern methods and laboratory analyses, events participated in and organized (conferences, seminars, etc.), field and laboratory work, effective development of international relations (attraction of foreign resources, access to laboratories, participation in international scientific conferences), personnel inflow, defense of theses, provision of professional opinions.

 

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The past and present of the Department

Introduction

The origins of Armenian ethnography go back to ancient times. The materials obtained as a result of archaeological excavations are of primary importance for the economy, life and beliefs of the Armenian Highlands. Cuneiform sources contain rich ethnographic material, especially about the daily life, occupations and religious beliefs of the population of the Kingdom of Van. The data of folklore are extremely important for ethnography, where almost all aspects of the path taken by the people are reflected.

Among Armenian historians, notable ethnographic materials are reported by Agathangegos (5th century), Pavstos Buzand (5th century), Movses Khorenatsi (5th century), Ghazar Parpetsi (5th century), Hovhan Mandakuni (5th century), Movses Kaghankatvatsi (7th century), Hovhan Mamikonian (7-8th centuries), Aristakes Lastivertsi (XIth century), Tovma Artsruni (9-10th centuries), Kirakos Gandzaketsi (13th century), Stepanos Orbelyan (13-14th century), Grigor Tatevatsi (14-15th centuries), Arakel Davrizhetsi (16-17th centuries), Zakaria Kanakertsi (17th century) and many others. Hetum Patmich (13-14th centuries), Abraham of Crete (17-18th centuries) and others give valuable information about the way of life of the peoples of neighboring and other countries.

Ethnography as science was formed in the period from the second half of the 18th to the beginning of the 20th century. Until the middle of the 19th century, the materials were mainly recorded, and already in the 1870s and 1880s, the problem of analyzing the collected materials and the availability of professional questionnaires arose.

Сontribution of the academic fathers of the Mkhitarist Congregation in this area also deserves attention. Outstanding Armenologist Ghukas Inchichyan in his book "Ancient Geographical History of Armenia" (1835), presents medieval state-ministerial legal norms, court customs and customs of Armenians, martial art. He also provided remarkable information about Armenian marriage customs, everyday life, traditions, funeral rites, etc., and mentioned occupations, architecture and music, relations between paganism and Christianity, daily round of the clergy, costumes and rituals.

Minas Bzhshkyan collected materials about the everyday life and culture of Armenians and other nations. His extensive textbook "Seminary of science" («Ճեմարան գիտելեաց», 1815) is noteworthy, where Greco-Roman mythology, civilization features of different nations are presented, as well as the works "History of Pontos" (1819) and "Travel to Poland" (1830), in which the author presents an ethnographic picture of Armenians and neighboring nations.

Khachatur Abovyan's contribution to the field of ethnography is significant. In his extensive article in German, "A Survey of the Armenians Living in Tiflis, and Especially Their Wedding Customs," he presents the process of Europeanization of the city and the role of Armenians in this area. His article "The Structure of Village Houses" (1834, in German) is a purely ethnographic study. Their customs, everyday and ritual manifestations of religion are the subject of his work "Kurds and Yezidis" (1845, in German), and his famous work "Wounds of Armenia" (1841) is an inexhaustible ethnographic and folklore source.

The base of ethnographic science was laid in the middle of the 19th century, its standard-bearer was Garegin Srvandztiants. Thanks to his collaboration with Mkrtich Khrimyan (Hayots Hayrik), he traveled for decades, especially in Western Armenia and created valuable monographs. His notable works are "Manana" (1876), "Toros Aghbar" (1879-1884), "Hamov-hotov" (1884), and numerous articles in the press of the time, which present folk culture.

Ghevond Alishan's significant contribution to the field of Armenian historiography, and accordingly to the field of ethnography, based mainly on written sources, is significant. His work "Ancient Faith or Pagan Religion of the Armenians" («Հին հաւատք կամ հեթա­նոսական կրօնք հայոց», 1895) is a repository of Armenian pagan ideas, and his historical and cultural monographs devoted to a number of provinces of Greater Armenia and Cilician Armenia remain unsurpassed today.

Ghevond Alishan's considerable contribution to Armenian historiography, and thus also to the field of ethnography, is significant, mainly based on written sources. His (1895) compositions are a repository of Armenian pagan imagery, and his historical and cultural monographs dedicated to several provinces of Greater Armenia and Cilician Armenia remain unsurpassed even today.

In 1887, Grigor Khalatyan, a professor at the Lazarian Seminary in Moscow, published the first guide program-questionnaire, "Program of Armenian Ethnography and National Legal Customs" («Ծրագիր հայ ազգագրության և ազգային իրավաբանական սովորությունների») consisting of 500 questions.

Mkrtich Emin, one of the largest Armenian intellectuals of the 19th century, made an important contribution to the formation of Armenian ethnographic science. At the beginning of the 20th century, he founded the professional journal "Eminian Ethnographic Collection of works" («էմինեան ազգագրական ժողովածուն»), and its development was crowned at the end of the century by the appearance of the highly professional periodical "Ethnographic Journal" (Shushi-Tiflis, 1895/96-1916), the founder, editor and author of most of the publications was Yervand Lalayan, who received extensive professional training in Europe and is the founder of the Armenian ethnographic science.

"The Ethnological journal" was published in a certain system, each book mainly consisted of a large-scale and comprehensive description of particular provinces of Armenia or the Armenian-populated region of the Caucasus. It is noteworthy that Yervand Lalayan published 26 volumes in 20 years, including almost all the provinces of historical Armenia. Back in 1907, Yervand Lalayan dealt with the issue of creating the "Armenian Ethnographic Museum", in response to which Mkrtich the Catholicos of All Armenian ordered the Armenian Church Council of St. Petersburg to pay Yervand Lalayan an allowance of 100 rubles per month for 5 years to conduct archaeological and ethnographic research and collect materials for the Museum of Mother See of Holy Echmiadzin.

 

Armenian ethnography during the period of establishment of the Soviet system

After the establishment of Soviet power in Armenia, in the 1920s-1940s, ethnographic work was completely concentrated in the Museum of History of Armenia, where an ethnographic Department was also opened from the very beginning. The Central Cultural and Historical Museum of Armenia was founded in Yerevan in October 1921. In 1921-22, Yervand Lalayan, with the mediation and assistance of the Armenian government, moved the Museum of the "Armenian Ethnographic Society of the Caucasus" from Tiflis to Yerevan with all its property, as well as a library containing about 20,000 books. The new museum had archaeological and ethnographic sections and was supplemented with materials from the Echmiadzin and Novonakhichevan museums. In 1922, Yervand Lalayan became the director of the museum, and later - the head of the Ethnography Department. In 1928, he was replaced by Stepan Lisitsian (until the end of 1946), and then Vard Bdoyan (until the beginning of the 1960s).

Stepan Lisitsian's "Ethnographic survey" (1946) became an invaluable contribution to the development of Armenian ethnography, which had great theoretical and practical significance as an important methodical manual. The result of the works of the 1920s and 30s was the work of Stepan Lisitsian "Essays on the ethnography of pre-revolutionary Armenia" («Очерки этнографии дореволюционной Армении», 1955), devoted to Armenian pre-Soviet ethnography, which was the first attempt to give a complete ethnocultural picture of the Armenian people. The work of Stepan Lisitsian, dedicated to the pre-Soviet ethnography of the Armenian people (1955), was a summary of the works of the Armenian people. This was the first attempt. He also collected valuable ethnological materials in Syunik, Geharkunik, Lori, Tavush, Javakh and other provinces in 1931-46. In 1931-46, in unspeakably difficult conditions, he also collected valuable ethnographic materials in Syunik, Gegharkunik, Lori, Tavush, Javakhk and other provinces.

Khachik Samuelyan had a significant role in the field of Armenian ethnographic science. He took an active part in the creation of the Armenian ethnographic society, was a member of the editorial board of "Ethnological journal". His most important publications are "Blood Revenge and Salvation" («Արյան վրեժ և փրկանք», 1903), "Ancient Armenian Law and Method of Research" («Հայոց հին իրավունքը և նրա հետազոտության մեթոդը», 1904), "Marriage through Kidnapping and Redemption" («Առևանգմամբ և գնմամբ ամուսնություն» and “Armenian Family Worship” («Հայ ընտանեկան պաշտամունք», 1906). In his three-volume work "The Culture of Ancient Armenia" («Հին Հայաստանի կուլտուրան», 1931-1941), he was the first to describe the stages of the long-term development of Armenian material and spiritual cultures. He managed to solve a number of problems related to the family community, the extended family, holidays, and other areas of folk culture.

 

The creation of the Ethnography group at the Institute of History

The Department of Ethnography was created in the NAS system only in 1953, when, by the order of the Director of the Institute of History Suren Yeremyan on April 25 of the same year, in connection with the withdrawal of the Historical Museum from the NAS network, four junior researchers from the ethnographic sector of the museum were transferred to the Institute of History, among whom were: Emma Karapetyan (PhD in History), Amine Avdal (PhD in Philology), Derenik Vardumyan (PhD in History), Vardan Temurchyan.

The ethnography group of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences was headed by Emma Karapetyan in 1953-1955, and by Derenik Vardumyan in 1955-1959.

The task of Soviet ethnographers was to obtain preliminary field materials on the changes taking place in the peasants' lives due to socialist construction through scientific expeditions.

The meeting of the ethnography group of the Institute of History on March 18, 1959 is noteworthy, where the issue of revising the theme planned for the group's seventh anniversary was discussed in the light of the decisions of the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union.

Based on the principles of the 21st Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, it was decided to revise the thematic scope of the ethnography group so that it would directly stem from the regular tasks set by the party for Soviet scientists. In this regard, the following changes were made to the seven-year thematic plan:

 

- The theme of "Remnants of tribal relations among Armenians" carried out by Emma Karapetyan was removed from the program, and instead the topic "Modern life and culture of the peasantry of the Ijevan-Shamshadin ethnographic region of Soviet Armenia" was approved, which was to be performed jointly by Derenik Vardumyan and Emma Karapetyan.

- Vardan Temurchyan's topic "Armenians in France" was mainly preserved, becoming "Armenians in France and their connection with Soviet Armenia”.

- Amine Avdal's topic "Ethnic-ethnic relations among the Kurds" was changed to "The transformation of ethnic-ethnic relations among the Kurds under Soviet conditions."

- Asya Odabashyan's topic "The worship of the awakening of nature among the Armenians" was changed to "The worship of the awakening of nature among the Armenians and the process of eliminating its remnants under Soviet conditions."

Thus, in those years by order of the Institute of Ethnography in Moscow and the leadership of the Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR in 1951, Emma Karapetyan completed the topic “The life of Armenian workers before the Revolution and in the Soviet Period”, and in 1954, together with Derenik Vardumyan, “The Family of Collective Farm Peasants of Armenia and Family Life”.

During the Soviet years, a new side of ethnography, different from the previous period, became noticeable. Considering that in the past, ethnographic materials were mainly collected from the everyday life of the people to clarify the nature of the primitive communal system, the task of carefully studying the current state of the culture and life of the people on the basis of these materials and clarifying the changes that have occurred in them and the prospects for development in the new conditions comes to the fore. Based on all this, Soviet Armenian ethnographers make the collective farm and the working class the main subject of their research, continuing their work in the field of traditional ethnography as well. Over the years, topics devoted to the modern life and culture of the collective farm and the working class of Armenia are developed, and Derenik Vardumyan's work "The New Lifestyle of a Lori Resident" is published (1956).

These works were also aimed at completing the corresponding subsections of the general section "Armenians" in the volume "Peoples of the Caucasus" of the multi-volume series "Nations of the World" and the work "Family and family life of collective farmers of Armenia" in the collection "Family and family life of the peoples of the USSR". Thus, "Soviet-Armenian ethnography contributes to the solution of the important task of developing and perfecting the national forms of the socialist culture of the Armenian people, generalizing the achievements achieved during this time.

 

The creation and activities of the Ethnography Department at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography

In 1959, Babken Arakelyan, Sedrak Barkhudaryan, Harutyun Martirosyan, Sandro Sardaryan, Margarit Israelyan, Nikolay Harutyunyan, Grigor Gharakhanyan, Gevorg Tiratsyan, Zohrab Ghasabyan, Hayk Azizyan, Derenik Vardumyan, Amine Avdal, Vardan Temurchyan, Emma Karapetyan, Astghik Odabashyan were transferred from the Institute of History to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography with their positions. In October 1959, Vard Bdoyan was also transferred from the State Historical Museum to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography. In 1974, Srbuhi Lisitsyan and Zhenya Khachatryan were also transferred from the Institute of Arts of the Academy of Sciences to the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography.

During this period, the sphere of thematic preferences of Armenian ethnographers gradually emerged, specializing in the study of individual problems, making them the subject of long-term multifaceted research. Considering the fact that until this time, comparatively little attention had been paid to ethnographic studies of the Armenian people, efforts were concentrated mainly on them, but also giving due place to other areas.

In 1965, the Department of Archeology, Ethnography and Source Studies was opened at the Faculty of History of YSU, where about 10 ethnographic subjects were taught, which opened new perspectives for the expansion of ethnographic work in Armenia, the creation of an ethnographic research cell at the University.

On December 30, 1970, according to the decision of the Presidium of the Academy of Sciences of the Armenian SSR, one of the most important tasks of the Department of ethnography of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography was the compilation of the section "Armenian SSR" in the historical-ethnographic atlas of the Caucasus. For completion in the planning period (1969-1973) of four sections of the atlas (agriculture, animal husbandry, settlement-dwelling, national costume-ornaments) it was decided to carry out the following activities:

1. To designate the preparation of the atlas of the only scientific task of the Department of Ethnography in 1971-1972, involve all employees of the Department in this work.
2. For the purpose of operational collection, mapping and classification of materials on all topics of the atlas, create three working groups (a. Derenik Vardumyan, Asya Odabashyan, Nubar Papukhyan, Levon Petrosyan, Hasmik Margaryan; b. Vard Bdoyan, Yury Mkrtumyan, L. Petrosyan, R. Vardanyan; c. Emma Karapetyan, Liliya Vardanyan, Karlen Sehbosyan, N. Avagyan).
3. To confirm the thematic group of the Armenian section of the atlas in the following composition: agricultural culture (coordinator: Vard Bdoyan), culture of animal husbandry (coordinator: Yury Mkrtumyan), culture of the settlement – dwellingnational (coordinator: Derenik Vardumyan), culture of costume and ornaments (coordinator: Emma Karapetyan).
4. To appoint head of Department Derenik Vardumyan as the general head of the Atlas thematic group and working groups.

The scientific topics of individual researchers could change according to the decisions of higher-level union organizations. Thus, in 1956, the ethnographic section of the Coordination Council of the USSR Academy of Sciences considered it advisable to carry out a number of topics in a coordinated manner, in order to be able to compile atlases of individual areas of the culture of the peoples of the USSR. Based on the above, it was decided to make appropriate changes to the thematic plans of the ethnographic group for 1957.

- Derenik Vardumyan's topic "Interaction of Ethnographic Regions of Armenia and Formation of Armenian Culture", which was supposed to be done in 1957-1960, was excluded from the plan, instead he was assigned the topics "Armenian apartment" and "Pottery among Armenians".

- Instead of Emma Karapetyan's "Armenian little family" and "Armenian family in the Soviet Period", the topic "Armenian Traditional Costume" was assigned.

- The topic "Armenian agricultural implements" was entrusted to Vard Bdoyan.

- Vardan Temurchyan's topic "Folk forms and ways of processing agricultural products" was replaced by "Folk forms and ways of processing livestock products among Armenians".

In the 1960s-1990s, the Department thoroughly researched the main Armenian historical and cultural regions, occupations, agriculture, animal husbandry and spiritual culture. As a result of these studies, the books of Derenik Vardumyan " The new lifestyle of the people of Lori " («Լոռեցիների նոր կենցաղը», 1956), "The Armenians of Gamirk" (1970) of Vardan Temurchyan, as well as the fundamental work of Vard Bdoyan "Agricultural culture in Armenia" (1972), which presents Armenian agricultural tools and their development, as well as the book of Yury Mkrtumyan "Forms of pastoralism in eastern Armenia (second half of 19th-beginning of the 20^th century)” (1974) were published, where all forms of animal husbandry are comprehensively presented, including transhumance. A number of other works have also been published.

Due attention was also paid to the traditional topics of ethnography, such as the Armenian family community and ethnic relations, as well as the rural community. Transportation, crafts, and material culture were studied in detail: housing, traditional clothing, and food. Among the important works related to these problems are the following books: "Armenian folk vehicles: pedestrian and cart vehicles (Historical-ethnographic research)" («Հայ ժողովրդական փոխադրամիջոցներ. հետիոտն և գրաստային փոխադրամիջոցներ», 1974) by Levon Petrosyan, "Craft traditions and their manifestations in everyday life of the residents of Leninakan (Historical-ethnographic research)" («Արհեստավորական ավանդույթները և դրանց արտահայտությունները լենինականցիների կենցաղում, 1974) by Karlen Sehbosyan, and "The ornaments of Armenian national costume (ritual, color and symbolic systems)" («Հայ ժողովրդական տարազի զարդանախշերը (ծիսային, գունային և նշանային համակարգերը», 2007) by Armenuhi Stepanyan.

A number of issues of scientific importance related to Armenian pagan religion, folk holidays and beliefs, folk entertainment, dance, and theatrical performances have also become the subject of research.

Along with thematic studies, complex works representing separate ethnographic regions were published. Voluminous collections containing rich material on the history, ethnography and folklore of Western Armenians published by the efforts of patriotic associations in Armenian colonies have a similar character. " The Armenians of Nagorno-Karabakh" by Stepan Lisitsyan (1981), "The ethnography of the Armenians of Dersim" by Gevorg Halajyan (1973), "Archak" by Serine Avakyan (1978), "Kizlyar" by Gevorg Gevorgyan (1980) deserve mention.

Due space has been devoted to the issues of the theory and history of Armenian ethnography and the study of ethnographic heritage, the works of the honored authors have been republished, and the biographies of distinguished ethnographers Stepan Lisitsyan, Emma Karapetyan, Serik Davtyan, Artashes Nazinyan, and Zaven Kharatyan have been compiled.

An important step in the scientific presentation of the treasures of folk culture to the general public was the creation of the ethnographic book series “Armenian Ethnography and Folklore: Materials and Studies” in 1970, thus restoring the traditions of the “Ethnographic Journal” in a new form. To date, 26 volumes of the series have been published, and the next ones are in the process of publishing.

The Ethnography Department staff also actively participated in the work of the Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia, composing ethnocultural articles and acting as branch editors (Derenik Vardumyan, Lilia Petrosyan).

It should be noted that national minorities living in Armenia (Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks, Yezidis-Kurds) were also ethnographically studied.

On the basis of a large-scale study of Armenian inhabited places in the Republic of Armenia, as well as in the Diaspora, 4 pages of the "Armenian historical-ethnographic atlas" were compiled (topics: agricultural culture, cattle-breeding culture, settlement-dwelling, national costume-ornaments) by historical-ethnographic regions and ethnic groups of Armenia. Armenian specialists also prepared the section "Armenia" of the series "Countries and nations" (1984).

 

Current research areas of the Department

Current directions of studies of the Department include:

- Traditional economy and life of the Armenian people, folk ways and methods of processing agricultural products, traditional methods of viticulture and winemaking (carried out by Suren Hobosyan, head of the Department, PhD).

- Traditional crafts (blacksmithing, metalworking) and their transformations, urban everyday culture and social coexistence, problems related to the anthropology of Soviet industrialization and modernization (carried out by Agasi Tadevosyan, leading researcher, PhD).

- Culture of milk and dairy products in the traditional and modern life of Armenia (carried out by Hasmik Harutyunyan, researcher, PhD).

- Problems of Armenian identity, Artsakh and national-liberation rise (carried out by Artak Dabaghyan, researcher, PhD).

- Socio-cultural processes of the RA population, anthropology of war and ethnic conflicts, problems of the political history of the Caucasus and the ethnography of the peoples of the Caucasus (carried out by Mkhitar Gabrielyan, researcher, PhD).

- Contemporary trends in naming (personal names, toponyms, animal names, company names), cultural aspects of communication, theoretical problems of culture, cultural aspects of applied anthropology, globalization (carried out by Nikol Margaryan, researcher, PhD).

- Modern migration processes, problems of forced migration and social integration of refugees (carried out by Nona Shahnazaryan, researcher, PhD).

- The formation of both traditional cities of Eastern Armenia and those established during the Soviet years and their communities (carried out by Grigor Aghanyan, researcher, PhD).

- Research of intangible cultural heritage, ethnography of food, ethnography of memory (carried out by Ruzanna Tsaturyan, researcher).

- Armenian collecting culture of the post-Soviet period, the use of wild plants in cooking and folk medicine (carried out by Angela Amirkhanyan, researcher).

- Ethnographic information about the Armenian people in the works of historians (carried out by Kristine Papikyan, junior researcher).

- Traditional public culture of Armenians of Tavush in 19-20th centuries (carried out by Varditer Madatyan, senior laboratory assistant).