News

Barev and welcome to the first issue of ԲամԲաս (BamBas): language un(dis)covered, where we take familiar Armenian words and expressions and look a little more closely. Whether Armenian is your native language, your heritage language, or a language you are encountering for the first time, there is always something hiding in plain sight.

That is the spirit behind BamBas: language un(dis)covered, a new monthly series from the USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies. Each newsletter begins small, with a word, an expression, a linguistic puzzle, and follows it down many possible threads: into history, migration, dialect, humor, family, or the wonderfully complicated ways Armenians actually speak.

The Institute sponsored Dr. Maria Polinsky from the University of Maryland to teach a week-long intensive course on the linguistics of bilingualism at the Yerevan Academy for Linguistics and Philosophy (YALP),

In developing  this strategic  plan, we  undertook  an extensive process of listening and reflection. More than 70 stakeholders—from students and faculty to members of our esteemed leadership council, cultural leaders, and global partners—contributed their insights. Through this process, one message rang clear: the Institute must continue to serve as a site of rigorous inquiry, cultural relevance, and possibility.

Through both his artistic vision and professionalism, he helped us communicate who we are with greater clarity and a deeper sense of humanity.

"The Armenian American Historic Context Statement is a welcome recognition of the significant role Armenian Americans have played in the making of modern Los Angeles,” said Los Angeles City Councilmember Adrin Nazarian.

The USC Dornsife Institute of Armenian Studies announces the debut of The Ones Who Stayed, a photography exhibition on the Armenian community of Istanbul.

I quickly realized Armenian Studies had less to do with Armenian history and far more to do with the Armenian story. I understood deeply why Dr. K valued guest speakers over textbooks. Lived history carries something no archive can preserve.

To be Armenian is to inherit a long habit of proof — of survival, of productivity, of worthiness — proof in the eyes of others. That habit has sustained communities, built long-lasting institutions, and engraved us into histories that might otherwise have erased us.