The Society for Armenian Studies has awarded its Der Mugrdechian SAS Outstanding Book Award for 2018-2019 to Houri Berberian, Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in Armenian Studies in UCI’s Department of History, for her book, Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and the Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman Worlds (University of California Press, 2019). The SAS bestows this award to a book that best advances knowledge and scholarship on Armenian society, culture and history from ancient times to present. Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh, a professor in UC Davis’ Department of Art History, is co-recipient of this award for her book, The Missing Pages: The Modern Life of a Medieval Manuscript, from Genocide to Justice (Stanford University Press, 2019).
Through a connected histories method, Berberian’s book illustrates how Armenian revolutionaries moved physically and ideologically through the 1905 Russian, 1905-11 Iranian and 1908 Ottoman revolutions. In their press release, SAS notes that the book “provides a novel approach to our understanding of revolutions and revolutionary movements.”
“I am doubly delighted and honored that I share the recognition bestowed by the Society for Armenian Studies with UC colleague Heghnar Zeitlian Watenpaugh. The award acknowledges the significance of studying Armenians within a broader regional and global context and of engaging with theoretical approaches such as connected histories,” said Berberian.
Berberian is director of UCI’s Armenian Studies Program, which provides students with a range of Armenian history and language courses and offers the public a variety of free lectures. The program launched a minor in the fall.
To learn more about Berberian’s book, click here. Photo Credit: Steven Zylius/UCI