Lecture at Tufts to Focus on the Politics of Early Armenian Migration to America

MEDFORD, MA — Dr. David E. Gutman, Associate Professor of History at Manhattanville College, will present his newly published book The Politics of Armenian Migration to North America, 1885-1915 (Edinburgh Univ. Press) at the Tufts Alumnae Lounge, 40 Talbot Ave, Medford, MA, on Thursday, October 10, 2019, at 7:30 p.m. The program is the second annual Prof. Charles B. Garabedian Lecture and is sponsored by the National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR), the Darakjian Jafarian Chair in Armenian History, and the Tufts Armenian Club.

The Politics of Armenian Migration to North America, 1885-1915 tells the story of Armenian migration to North America in the late Ottoman period, and Istanbul’s efforts to prevent it. It shows how, just as in the present, migrants in the late 19th and early 20th centuries were forced to travel through clandestine smuggling networks, frustrating the enforcement of the ban on migration. Further, migrants who attempted to return home from sojourns in North America risked debarment at the border and deportation, while the return of migrants who had naturalized as US citizens generated friction between the United States and Ottoman governments.

Gutman sheds light on the relationship between the imperial state and its Armenian populations in the decades leading up to the Armenian Genocide. He also places the Ottoman Empire squarely in the middle of global debates on migration, border control, and restriction in this period, adding to our understanding of the global historical origins of contemporary immigration politics and other issues of relevance today in the Middle East region, such borders and frontiers, migrants and refugees, and ethno-religious minorities.

Professor Charles B. Garabedian (1917-1991) was born in Everett, Mass., and graduated magna cum laude from Everett High School and Tufts University (A.B. English and History). He attended Harvard Law School and graduated magna cum laude from Boston University Law School. During World War II he served in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), and in the late 1940s he began his teaching career at Suffolk University Law School. His expertise was tort litigation and damages, courses which he continuously taught at Suffolk University Law School for over 40 years. At the time of his death, Professor Garabedian was the Senior Faculty Professor at Suffolk University Law School. The annual lecture in his memory has been established at NAASR by Prof. Garabedian’s niece, NAASR Board Member Joan E. Kolligian.

This event is free and open to the public. A reception and refreshments will immediately follow the program and question-and-answer session.

For more information about this program, contact NAASR at 617-489-1610 or hq@naasr.org.