Abstract
While the 20th century cultural production of the Armenian diaspora has been in the past decades subjected to studies from Foucauldian discourse analytical, psychoanalytic and Derrida-inspired post-structuralist approaches, little has been done to study the former from relational and new materialist perspectives inspired most notably the by work of Gilles Deleuze. This paper strives to close this gap by presenting an interpretation of the prominent diaspora Armenian poet, writer and intellectual Vahé Oshagan (1922-2000). Oshagan’s prolific archive and global life itinerary traversing Europe, the Middle East, North America, Australia and Armenia present a perfect opportunity to theorize the dynamics of the 20th century diaspora Armenian chronotopes from Deleuzian relational and new materialist perspectives. The latter will enrich the ways in which the Armenian diaspora has been studied so far as well as suggest innovative ways of thinking about diasporas in general. More specifically, I argue that a Deleuzian reading of the work of Oshagan allows us to theorize a specific kind of post-catastrophic affective temporality and materiality that text-centered interpretations may not necessarily register. It would be also particularly apt to present on Vahé Oshagan for the first time in the Sorbonne University. Oshagan lived in Paris from 1946 to 1952, studied in and obtained a doctorate in Comparative Literature from the Sorbonne in 1966.
Presenters
Karen JallatyanCalouste Gulbenkian Foundation Lecturer, Armenian Studies, Pázmány Péter Catholic University, Budapest, Hungary
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Diaspora Studies, Relational Ontology, New Materialism, Post-Catastrophic Affect
