Dr. Simon Maghakyan to Give Second Lecture on Armenian Cultural Heritage at Fresno State

FRESNO — Dr. Simon Maghakyan, the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor of Armenian Studies at Fresno State, will speak on “The Present of the Past: The State of Armenian Heritage in Turkey” at 7:00PM on Friday, October 11, 2024, in the University Business Center (5245 N Backer Ave.), Alice Peters Auditorium, on the Fresno State campus.

The lecture will address the official and unofficial treatment of Armenian heritage sites – active and “abandoned” alike – in Turkey since the early 2000s, tracking the transformation of Erdogan’s history-related politics, and exploring the ongoing mass looting of Armenian properties. Seeking preservation prospects, the lecture will assess the agency of state and non-state stakeholders alike, from Armenian pilgrims to Kurdish stewards and looters.

Dr. Simon Maghakyan is a political scientist who researches heritage and security. He is the 20th Kazan Visiting Professor in Armenian Studies at California State University, Fresno, a Community Scholar at the University of Denver’s Korbel School of International Studies, and a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Oxford. Previously, he was affiliated with Tufts University, the University of Colorado, Denver, and Cranfield University, where he earned a PhD in Defense and Security, focusing on heritage crime. His publications include a Hyperallergic exposé of Nakhichevan’s cultural erasure, acclaimed as “groundbreaking” by Forbes and “rock-solid” by The Guardian. His analyses have been featured by the BBC, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Time. His forthcoming book, Sovereign Heritage Crime: Security, Autocracy, and the Material Past, is a critical heritage studies element of Cambridge University Press.

The screening and reception are free and open to the public. Free parking is available in Fresno State Lot P6, near the University Business Center. Permits are not required on Friday nights.

The presentation will also be live-streamed on YouTube at: https://bit.ly/armenianstudiesyoutube.