Project description
Handcrafted textiles in the post-genocidal Armenian diaspora
Handcrafted textiles made by Armenian genocide survivors have become important cultural symbols. Often seen as mere crafts, they help transnational Armenians reconnect with their heritage and challenge traditional gender roles. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the THREADS project will explore the significance of handcrafted textiles as enduring artefacts in the post-genocidal Armenian diaspora, focusing on France, Lebanon, and the US. It will examine how these textiles represent memories of violence, loss, and resilience, while challenging denialist narratives. By combining archival research with multimodal ethnographic studies, the project aims to deepen understanding of material memory and knowledge production related to displacement in the diaspora.
Objective
This study investigates the role of handcrafted textiles as surviving objects in the post-genocidal Armenian diaspora and focuses on their significance in France, Lebanon, and the US. Initially crafted by women survivors in refugee camps following the massacres in Anatolia, these textiles have evolved from symbols of survival to pivotal elements of cultural preservation and political identity in global contexts. Practices like needlework, are often dismissed in high art as domestic crafts but celebrated for empowerment in development, humanitarianism, and craftivism, serving as tangible manifestations of cultural memory and adaptation, allowing transnational Armenians to reconnect with their heritage while renegotiating gender roles and hybrid identities. Despite extensive scholarship on memorial materiality, personal objects often remain underexplored in discussions of war and displacement within new materialism literature. Similarly, the role of gender in the intergenerational transmission of memories, particularly in diasporic communities and transatlantic migration contexts, is often overlooked. In a context where research on the Armenian Genocide highlights restricted access to official archives, such as the Turkish state's control over historical records, this study explores how textiles can function as everyday and embodied archives, focusing on their sensory information and affective significance. THREADS examines the memorial materiality of textile artefacts, where memories of violence, loss, and resilience intertwine beyond mere symbolic representation to challenge denialist narratives. By employing an innovative methodological approach that integrates archives with multi-modal and multi-sited ethnographic research, this study aspires to enrich the social scientific understanding of material memories and knowledge production related to displacement in the diaspora.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
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CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
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Keywords
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Topic(s)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-EF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - European Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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WC1H OXG London
United Kingdom
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