Ilona Schulze / Wolfgang Schulze A Handbook of the Minorities of Armenia

About this book

The „Handbook of the Minorities of Armenia“ presents the results of a project funded by the German VolkswagenStiftung in the years 2012-2016. The Handbook aims at a comprehensive sociocultural and sociolinguistic survey of the minorities in the Republic of Armenia. Even though Armenia is generally considered to be marked for a rather homogenous ethnic composition, ethnic minorities are nevertheless a relevant expression of cultural and linguistic diversity in Armenia, whereby the Armenian traditions function as a canopy for most of the members of these minorities. Due to their seemingly marginal role, minorities in Armenia have found little attention in the description of ethnic patterns present in this country. The Handbook aims at filling this gap by introducing a pronounced interdisciplinary perspective that relates cultural studies to sociology and linguistics. The study concentrates on the eleven officially recognized minorities (Assyrians, Belorussian, Georgians, Germans, Greeks, Jews, Kurds, Poles, Russians, Ukrainians, Yezidis). However, it also includes data on new ‘para-minotarian’ groups (Udis, Armenian Tats, Syrian Armenians, Persians) that have emerged from more recent political events (Armenian-Azerbaijani conflict, civil war in Syria etc.). In addition, the Handbook also covers residues of the former Azeri population that once had constituted a major ethnic component on the territory of present-day Armenia.