USC Welcomes New Turpanjian Chair Dr. Hrag Papazian

The Dornsife College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences — USC’s largest college and the beating heart of the university — has welcomed Hrag Papazian as the Turpanjian Early Career Chair in Contemporary Armenian Studies and Assistant Professor of Anthropology.

Papazian received his DPhil in Anthropology and MPhil in Social Anthropology from the University of Oxford and his BA in Communication Arts from the Lebanese American University. He joins USC from the faculty at the American University of Armenia in Yerevan.

Papazian’s scholarship focuses on the diverse landscape of Armenian-ness in contemporary Turkey, studying Christian Armenian and Muslim Armenian citizens of Turkey and labor migrants from the Republic of Armenia. His research probes the official categorization of Armenian-ness and treatment of Armenians in post-genocide Turkey, and spans religion, racialization, intra-ethnic relations, and diasporicity, among other issues. Most recently, he has conducted research on evolving perceptions toward Turkey and Turks in Armenian society and politics following the Second Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) War.

The Institute is delighted to welcome a distinguished Armenian Studies colleague to Dornsife. Papazian’s appointment deepens the integration and visibility of Armenian Studies at USC and opens new avenues for collaboration across campus.

The Turpanjian family, through the Turpanjian Family Educational Foundation, endowed this Chair with the goal to expand and cultivate Armenian Studies curriculum at USC. Housed in the Department of Anthropology, the Chair provides an important social sciences lens for examining Armenian experiences worldwide. Papazian joins Manuel Pastor, Turpanjian Chair in Civil Society and Social Change, as a beneficiary of the Turpanjian family’s pioneering philanthropic vision.