Resumo

The seminar deals with writings that are the most radical in contemporary Armenia, which question taboos that are difficult to address (authors like Violet Grigoryan, Karen Karslyan, Shushan Avagyan, among others). Their works are analysed against two central ideas: One that deforms existing language and the other one that renders it passive, i.e. idle.

Nota biográfica

Anna Blurtsyan is currently a post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Social Studies, Coimbra. Her BA and first MA degrees were in Psychology, at the Yerevan State University in Armenia. The MA included a dissertation on self-consciousness in ancient Greek tragedies (Sophocles, Oedipus the King and Antigone) and her study of ancient Greek culture was further developed in the MA programme she followed at the University of Exeter, on ancient drama in its social and intellectual context. This formed the basis for her PhD research, which was supported by a UK government Overseas Research Studentship grant. The research was on incest in Latin literature, focusing on Ovid's Metamorphoses and Seneca's tragedies, especially Phaedra. Subsequently, she has held academic appointments in Ifrane (Morocco) and Tuscania and Rome (Italy), following earlier undergraduate teaching at the University of Exeter (U.K.).

The research project (funded by Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation) she is currently conducting at CES Coimbra is on 'The aesthetics of praxis and of the idle', a study of 20th century Armenian culture, with current focus on literature. Her starting point is the shift from the industrialisation of Armenia in the Soviet era to its decline and the unemployment and economic uncertainties of the post-Soviet period. She proposes to approach this topic through the literature, art and other cultural models and symbols of the period. This offers a prospect of exploring this shift as one of culture and mentality as well as socio-economic activity.


Atividade no âmbito do Núcleo de Estudos sobre Humanidades, Migrações e Estudos para a Paz | NHUMEP