Language Attitudes, Collective Memory and (Trans)National Identity Construction Among the Armenian Diaspora in Bulgaria
This book examines the processes of symbolic cultivation of identity promoted by Armenian cultural elites in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, focusing on the transmission of positive language ideologies and emotional elements related to collective memory. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a range of primary materials, this work sheds light on the role of the Armenian alphabet in legitimizing collective visions of ‘distinctiveness’ and of the Armenian Genocide remembrance in shaping non-exclusive, transnational patterns of belonging. While contributing to the study of the complex dynamics and challenges of ‘Armenian survival’ across space and time, it situates the issue in the unique context of Bulgaria, analyzing, moreover, the impact of proximity to Turkey.
Giustina Selvelli is a postdoctoral researcher in anthropology and sociolinguistics based at the University of Ljubljana. Her research interests focus on writing systems and ethnolinguistic minorities in the wide Southeast European space. She has conducted fieldwork in Bulgaria, Turkey, Serbia, and held research and teaching positions at the of the University of the Aegean in Mytilene, the University of Novi Sad, the University of Klagenfurt, Yildiz Technical University of Istanbul, the University of Nova Gorica and University Ca’ Foscari of Venice.