Vahe Sahakyan, PhD

Research and Information Resources Specialist Senior
Vahe Sahakyan
College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters
Armenian Research Center
313-593-5181

Research Areas:

Armenia / Armenian Studies, Armenian Diaspora Studies, Armenian History, Armenian-American Studies, Comparative Diaspora Studies, Cultural Studies / History, Immigrants / Immigration, Immigration Narratives, Race / Ethnicity

Biography and Education

Vahe Sahakyan is a Research Scholar and Senior Information Resources Specialist at the University of Michigan-Dearborn Armenian Research Center. He holds a Candidate of Sciences in Sociology degree from Yerevan State University (2003) and a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan (2015). 

Sahakyan has held various teaching, research, and administrative appointments at Yerevan State University (2000-2008), and at the University of Michigan (2008-2017). Since 2018, he has also served on the Armenian Diaspora Survey Academic Advisory Committee. The Armenian Diaspora Survey was a project sponsored by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and implemented under the auspices of the Armenian Institute, London between 2018 and 2022.

Sahakyan’s research interests include immigration, transnationalism and diaspora studies, history and sociology of the modern and contemporary Armenian diaspora.

Selected Publications

Books

2022    Սփյուռքագիտություն. քննական անթոլոգիա (Diaspora Studies: A Critical Anthology). Կազմող և խմբագիր՝ Վահե Սահակյան, Երևան, ԵՊՀ հրատարակչություն, 2022 (Compiler and Editor)

Articles, book chapters

2023      “Transnational Politics and Governmental Strategies in the Formative Years of the Post-Genocide Armenian Diaspora (1920s-1930s),” in Sossie Kasbarian, Talar Chahinian, Tsolin Nalbantian (eds.), The Armenian Diaspora and ‘Stateless Power’: Collective Identity in the Transnational 20th Century. London: I. B. Tauris, Bloomsbury Publishing, pp. 107-134.

2021    “Diaspora Conceptualizations and the Realities of the Armenian Diaspora: Some Preliminary Observations,” EVN Report, April 26, 2021.

2020    "Diaspora, Ethnicity, and the Concept of the "Armenian Transnation": Brief Notes on Diaspora Theory and Practice," in Armenia 2018: Realities and Perspectives, Vol. 2, eds. Ashot Voskanyan, Thomas Schrapel (Yerevan: Armenian Research Center in Humanities, 2020), 337-344. (English and Armenian bilingual publication)

2018    “Spaces of Difference, Spaces of Belonging: Negotiating Armenianness in Lebanon and France,” in An Armenian Mediterranean: Words and Worlds in Motion, eds. Kathryn Babayan, Michael Pifer ([S.I.]: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018), 247-267.

2018    “Rethinking the Discourse on Armenian Diaspora: Language(s), Culture(s), Affiliation(s),” EVN Report, January 20, 2018.

Turkish translation:  “Ermeni Diasporası Söylemini Tekrar Düşünmek: Dil(ler), Kültür(ler), İlişki(ler),” translated by Cafer Sarıkaya, Post Dergi. Kitap. Fikir. Eleştiri., May 25, 2018.

Eastern Armenian translation: “Վերաիմաստավորելով Հայաստան֊Սփյուռք քննախոսությունը. Լեզու(ներ), մշակույթ(ներ), փոխհարաբերություն(ներ)Հայ սոցիոլոգիական մտքի անթոլոգիա, (Երևան։ Երևանի պետական համալսարան, 2018), 528-537.

2006    “Democratization in Armenia: Some Trends of Political Culture and Behavior, Demokratizatsiya: The Journal of Post-Soviet Democratization 14, no. 3 (Summer 2006): 347-354. (Co-authored with Arthur Atanesyan).

 

Other research-based publications

2020    “Identity: Family, Language and Culture are Defining Constituents of Hyphenated Armenianness,” in Armenian Diaspora Public Opinion (1): Armenian Diaspora Survey, 2019, ed. Hratch Tchilingirian (London: Armenian Institute, 2020): 11-15.

2020    “Language and Culture: Majority of Armenians Keep Language and Culture Vital, high-Quality Armenian Schools are in Demand” in Armenian Diaspora Public Opinion (1), Armenian Diaspora Survey, 2019, ed. Hratch Tchilingirian (London: Armenian Institute, 2020): 23-27.

2019    “Community Engagement: Busy Lives Require More Interesting Activities, Visionary Leadership and Focus on the Younger Generation” in Armenian Diaspora Opinion: Armenian Diaspora Survey, Pilot Project, 2018, ed. Hratch Tchilingirian (London: Armenian Institute, 2019): 19-20.

2019    “Language and Culture: Armenian Schools and Cultural Education Continue to Play Important Roles in the Diaspora” in Armenian Diaspora Opinion: Armenian Diaspora Survey, Pilot Project, 2018, ed. Hratch Tchilingirian (London: Armenian Institute, 2019): 21-23.