“You exist without existing”
“When I arrived in Geneva in 1993,” explains the professor, “I discovered that Armenian was not an official discipline – only an optional branch, attached to Russian. I went to see an academic advisor and asked her if it was an oversight. She replied: “Madame, you exist without existing.” She obviously wasn’t talking about me, but about Armenian. I understood that to give real existence to Armenian, it was necessary to make it a discipline in its own right. I therefore developed and proposed to the competent authorities a study plan, which was adopted at the start of the 1994 school year.
In 2007, the Armenian Section experienced a decisive turning point by becoming a university chair, thus paving the way for a recognized and structured academic program which encompasses Armenian language, literature, history and culture, from Antiquity to ‘in contemporary times. Today, the Center offers training ranging from bachelor’s to doctoral degrees with a dual mission: to train specialists in the armenological field and to allow students from other disciplines to discover this centuries-old culture. Courses are now integrated into programs in comparative literature, general history, history of religions, gender studies, medieval studies, as well as the Global Studies Institute, in order to offer a transversal vision that enriches academic perspectives. “Some of these courses, which have become compulsory, demonstrate the growing interest in Armenian,” rejoices Valentina Calzolari.
The Center also aims to be a bridge with the City, because “the University cannot and must not remain in its ivory tower”, according to its director who insists on the importance of continuing to explore this “very rich, but so little known” and to make it accessible to as many people as possible, by offering public courses and conferences.
International influence
If the Armenian Unit strives to develop within UNIGE, it also strives to promote its chair internationally by collaborating with numerous institutions, such as Inalco in Paris, the University of Oxford and the International Association of Armenian Studies.
Among the significant research projects led by the Center is work around the transmission of ancient Greek texts into Armenian. Many Greek philosophical manuscripts, notably those of Aristotle, have in fact been translated into Armenian. However, their understanding remains complex, even for researchers who master both languages due to a lack of in-depth knowledge of Aristotelian philosophy. The Armenian Unit thus played a key role in bringing together professors of the history of ancient philosophy, in particular Jonathan Barnes, and specialists in Armenian literature to decipher these texts. This interdisciplinary collaboration, also carried out with the Institute of Ancient Manuscripts of Armenia, illustrates the Center’s desire to bring Armenian beyond the sole fold of Armenian studies.
-Cultural resilience
During its half-century of existence, the UNIGE Center for Armenological Research has affirmed its central role in the preservation and transmission of Armenian culture, while being part of an international academic dynamic. Valentina Calzolari also hopes to awaken vocations, having herself discovered her passion for Armenian during her university studies in Bologna. It underlines the incredible capacity of this people to maintain their identity and enrich their heritage despite migrations and persecution. “While being scattered across five continents,” she notes, “the Armenians have managed to preserve a language, a literature, a culture. Not only to preserve them, but also to nourish them through exchanges with other civilizations.”
Anchored in an interdisciplinary approach, the Center aims to make Armenian studies accessible and attractive to as many people as possible by highlighting their relevance for understanding current global issues. Fifty years after its creation, the Armenian Unit demonstrates that the study of a specific culture can offer another way of thinking about history, languages and current affairs.
The next conference organized by the UNIGE Center for Armenological Research will be held in spring 2025. It will focus on the Armenian heritage of former Nagorno-Karabakh and, more broadly, on the preservation of heritage in contexts of war and conflict. ‘post-war.
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