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The Nation Afloat
Abstract by Dr. Tsolin Nalbantian On Session 102  (Beyond the Nation-State?)

On Saturday, November 20 at 08:30 am

2010 Annual Meeting

Abstract
In 1946, thousands of Armenians boarded cargo ships from various ports in the Middle East, including Beirut and Alexandria, to "repatriate" to the homeland, the Soviet Republic of Armenia. Organized by both the USSR and local Armenian communist and nationalist parties, this was an attempt to collect the Armenian diaspora under the authority of both the Soviet Republic and the Soviet Union. Coordinators distributed romantic imagery via the Armenian press that depicted the republic as the genuine, fertile, and natural home for Armenians, distancing them from the local populations of Egyptians and Lebanese. In their quest to organize and gather the nation, however, these press outlets and organizers did not acknowledge that these "repatriates" did not hail from the geographic space of the Soviet Union, but rather, were from Southeastern Anatolia, part of Turkey. Just over fifty years later, hundreds of Armenians board a different type of ship, an Italian-owned Costa(R) cruise ship that departs from Ft. Lauderdale to sail around the Caribbean for seven days in January. Organized by the Armenian Dashnak political party, which also supported the repatriation efforts fifty years prior, "for the promotion of Armenian fellowship and awareness among the Armenian communities," these participants hail from over ten countries, including the now independent state of Armenia. There is an almost constant stream of "Armenian" activities, including language courses, dance classes, lectures, church services, and concerts. "Cruise ambassadors" are selected from different cities throughout the world that have Armenian populations, encouraging Armenians to further the "Armenian Cause" by boarding the ship. Armenian lobbying groups, in conjunction with the Dashnak party also utilize the nation on board to extend their national mission and "educate thousands." This paper juxtaposes these two floating experiences. In 1946, there was a concerted effort to create the nation through the Soviet Union. In 1998 (and every year since then), citizens of various countries, construct a "nation" that is only in existence for seven days every January, which moves about the Caribbean. Instead of the infrastructure of the Soviet Union to service the nation, hundreds of crewmembers, mostly from Southeast Asia, serve this transient one. How does this cruise-liner, which travels through international waters, docking at various international ports of call, served by hundreds of nationals from a multitude of nation-states, and whose residents aboard are temporary, and change yearly, act as space beyond the perimeters of the nationn
Discipline
History
Geographic Area
Arab States
Sub Area
Armenian