08/21/2026
Earlier this week we enjoyed a presentation as part of our Research Grants and Fellowships Summer Colloquia showcasing the research of 2026 Billie M. Levy Fellow, Haley Zovickian, PhD candidate in Sociology, University of Southern California.
Zovickian gave an informal presentation on her research in Sociology, Middle Eastern-Armenian studies, and literature on race and ethnicity in the Dodd Center Public Lounge.
Here is a brief description from Zovickian's fellowship proposal:
Using the University’s oral history archives, I will examine the self-perception of Ottoman-born Armenian Americans, particularly how the logics of Ottoman ethno-social organization may persist transnationally in a diasporic context.
Additionally, I will examine Nonny Hogrogian’s work through frameworks of Armenian joy, Armenian futurity, and intergenerational knowledge transmission. I am especially interested in how Hogrogian’s storytelling imparts culturally specific moral lessons, particularly in the backdrop of denied mass violence.
I see both projects as crucial for drawing out the enduring legacies of mass violence on communities and the ability of intergenerational knowledge to reimagine and uplift descendants’ futures.
