The project ArmEn seeks to position the Armenian plateau and the area around, stretching south of the Caucasus, east of Anatolia and north of Mesopotamia (CAM) as a a space of cultural entanglements and a vital node for understanding the history of medieval Eurasia. Between the 9th and 14th centuries the CAM region was inhabited by a great variety of ethno-linguistic and religious groups, rarely under one centralized, hegemonic cultural, political or religious control. We aim to test the hypothesis whether such polycentrism and concentration of diversity, at times under extreme political instability, enhanced or, on the contrary, prevented cross-pollination and boundary-crossing. Was there inter-communal violence and how was it contained? Can we trace the formation of multiple identities and shared social and religious practices? Or was there a strong crystallization of differences and imposition of homogenous identities? We answer these question by looking at 1). medieval texts: especially those that have been little studied, such as apocalyptic tales, sermons, hagiographies, monastic or waqf documents, and folkloric narratives; and 2). Material culture: artistic and architectural representations, finds from archaeological excavations, and numismatics.
The experience of living in complex and multi-cultural societies, the anxieties created by the so-called Globalization and a search for answers within ‘local’ contexts has accelerated in unprecedented ways in the last few decades. Members of host societies and migrant groups are often engaged in the challenging task of accepting each other, questioning long-held assumptions, and rethinking their identities. Violence is anything but unknown, as are different means of containing it. These experiences have always characterized human history, albeit with varying degrees of intensity and speed. Studying the history of such phenomena in the past is vital for contextualizing current concerns and opportunities. Doing so we gain new perspective on the interaction of human population groups in different contexts. ArmEn project seeks to advance our knowledge in these domains, that are felt to be vital to contemporary sensitivities, identities, and insecurities, by focusing on one specific region and placing it against a Eurasian continental background. A tension between the evidence of close interactions and entanglements on the one hand, and a concomitant tendency to draw group boundaries in a pre-modern context reverberates in many of our post-modern societies. Thus, the results of research carried out in the ArmEn project are sure to raise important questions of contemporary relevance and perhaps provide some answers to dilemmas we face today.
