Dr. Vahagn Vardanyan is a forward-looking academic. He is a political
geographer by training and teaches at Han Academy, Hong Kong. On 6
January, 2022 - on Armenian Christmas - he gave a presentation to a
mixed audience of professionals in education, finance, trade, and
others. His 25-minute presentation was based around his new book,
"National Identity, Diaspora, and Space of Belonging: An Armenian
Perspective" (London: Gomidas Institute, 2021). His delivery was
organized, cutting-edge, and theoretically informed. It was also
practical and addressed concrete issues concerning Armenians as a
"classical" diaspora nation. The event took place in the library of Han
Academy in Hong Kong.
Dr. Vardanyan held his audience well, with an eye-opening presentation
that led to a lively question and answer session. Dr. Vardanyan was
asked about the challenge of managing national identity problems in a
turbulent world. He responded by focusing on the understanding of
"identity" as a complex of pillars with examples from the Armenian case.
Another issue that arose concerned the concept of "space of belonging."
Giving the case of Armenians again, Dr. Vardanyan responded by stressing
the emotional attachments that shaped the Armenian sense of belonging to
a homeland. Other topics that were covered included the revival of
national identity among "third-generation" diasporans, problems of
diaspora-homeland relations (with particular reference to "contested
leadership"), as well as the importance of establishing trust in
diaspora-Armenia relations.
The presentation ended in a celebratory tone marking Armenian Christmas,
2022.
by Anoush Melkonian
NOTE: Vahagn Vardanyan is a native of Armenia and has been living in
East/South-East Asia for nearly two decades. He has a PhD in political
geography from NUS (Singapore) and his main areas of interest are
national identity, nation/place branding, and homeland-diaspora
relations.
