Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley and the Bay Area Armenian Community
Dzovinar Derderian, Professor
History
Open. Apprentices needed for the fall semester. Enter your application online beginning August 21st. The deadline to apply is Monday, August 31st, 4pm.
Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley and the Bay Area Community
Armenian Studies on the UC Berkeley campus has informally existed since the 1980s and more formally since the 1990s. This project is aimed at conducting research (oral and textual) on the history of Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley and histories of families in the Bay Area whose pasts have been intricately tied with UC Berkeley.
We will begin with creating a catalog for 10 boxes of Armenian books dating back to 1875 that were donated by a local Bay Area family. The collection of books will be the first step towards uncovering the history of the family that donated the collection. The next step will be to conduct interviews with the family members, especially those who are alumni of UC Berkeley, to learn about their family, and also about their experiences with Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley.
The project will continue with a greater focus on Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley that will involve both archival research and oral interviews. Eventually we will showcase the students' research on the Armenian Studies Program's website.
Some knowledge of Armenian would be useful but is not required.
Role: Creating a catalog of a specific collection of Armenian books, conducting oral history interviews with UC Berkeley alumni linked to Armenian Studies, conducting oral history interviews individuals who have taught in the field of Armenian Studies at UC Berkeley, researching undergraduate, MA and PhD thesis on Armenian topics completed at UC Berkeley.
Qualifications: Elementary knowledge of Armenian is preferred but not required. Students should be interested in the topic of research outlined in the project description.
Hours: 3-5 hrs
Related website: https://armenian.berkeley.edu