George Bournoutian
George Bournoutian 
| |
|---|---|
| Birth name | George A. Bournoutian |
| Birthplace | Isfahan |
| Birth date | 25 September 1943 |
| Death place | New Jersey |
| Death date | 2021/08/22 |
| Death year | 2021 |
| Education | UCLA |
| Profession | Professor |
| Languages | Amenian, Farsi, English, Russian, Polish, Arabic |
| Ethnicities | Arrmenian |
| Dialects | Persian Armenian |
George A. Bournoutian (25 September 1943, Isfahan) is a Senior Professor of History at Iona College. He is the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo College, and Glendale Community College. He is currently the Visiting Professor of Armenian History at Columbia. George Bournoutian is also an avid world traveler. He is fluent in at least 5 languages including Arabic.
Books
At Iona College has been voted merit rank one—best teacher and scholar three years in a row at Iona College (as of 2000).
His ninth book, Armenians and Russia, 1626-1796, a documentary record Annotated translation, with commentary, biographical notes, appendix, glossary etc. (550 pages) in in press and will be available from Mazda Press. It contains documents on Ori, Emin, Armenian trade, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great and the Armenians, etc.
He conducted research in Armenia and Iran in the summer of 2000.
PRESS RELEASE
National Association for Armenian Studies and Research
395 Concord Avenue
Belmont, MA 02478
Phone: 617-489-1610
E-mail: hq@naasr.org
Contact: http://www.naasr.org
"THE ACADEMIC WAR OVER KARABAGH" IN BOURNOUTIAN SEMINAR AT NAASR
Historian Dr. George A. Bournoutian will offer a special afternoon seminar on "The Academic War Over Nagorno-Karabagh" on Saturday, March 5, at the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) Center, 395 Concord Avenue, Belmont, MA. The seminar will run from 12:30 p.m. until 3:00 p.m. with a period of question and answer and discussion to follow.
George Bournoutian is Senior Professor of History at Iona College. He is the author of numerous books on Armenian history and has taught Armenian history at Columbia University, Tufts University, New York University, Rutgers University, the University of Connecticut, Ramapo College, and Glendale Community College. He is currently Visiting Professor of Armenian History at Columbia.
Fighting War Turns Into Academic Battle
This seminar will explore the ongoing academic battle over the disputed area of Nagorno-Karabagh. Although a cease fire has kept the shooting war between Armenian and Azerbaijani forces quiet for over a decade, the scholarly skirmishes continue, with Azeri schol-ars presenting a version of history that purports to show that the region has always been Azeri territory. This academic battle has real political consequences as both sides stake their claim to a territory where much blood has already been shed.
Bournoutian recently published Two Chronicles on the History of Karabagh, with a major grant from NAASR and other funders, a revised and substantially expanded version of Bournoutian's earlier, out of print History of Qarabagh (1994). The two chronicles in question, Mirza Jamal Javanshir's Tarikh-e Karabagh and Mirza Adigözal Beg's Karabagh-name, provide a detailed picture of Karabagh in the 18th and early 19th centuries. The translation of the Tarikh-e Karabagh formed the basis of his earlier History of Qarabagh, while the Karabagh-name makes its first appearance in English in the new volume.
Historical Revisionism with Political Impact
Bournoutian writes that "Partisans of both [the Armenian and Azeri] sides produced polemical studies affirming their historical claims to the region.. A number of Azerbaijani his-tories, led by the late Ziya Buniatov, have gone beyond the bounds of scholarship and have ma-nipulated the original 19th century Persian texts written by Turkic Muslims, by expunging most references to Armenia and the Armenians in the new editions of these works."
In presenting these unexpurgated translations with substantial commentary and sup-plemented with material from three other sources, Bournoutian is providing a necessary corrective to such pseudo-scholarly behavior. "Statesmen shall ultimately decide the validity of Armenian and Azeri claims in Karabagh," he writes. "In the meantime, the work of these 19th-century local historians should aid unbiased historians to sort out the facts."
With Bournoutian serving as an expert guide, those attending the seminar will reach a greater understanding of the troubled history of Nagorno-Karabagh and how the writing of that history has an impact on the shaping of current and future events.
Bournoutian's book Two Chronicles on the History of Karabagh is available at the NAASR bookstore and will be on sale the day of the seminar and available for signing by the author.
The NAASR Center is located near Belmont Center and is directly opposite the First Armenian Church and next to the U.S. Post Office. Ample parking is available around the building and in adjacent areas.