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Houri Berberian awarded outstanding book prize from the Society for Armenian Studies

Congratulations to Professor Houri Berberian Meghrouni Family Presidential Chair in History and affiliated faculty of UCI Jordan Center for Persian Studies for winning the book prize from the Society for Armenian Studies. Her book is entitled: "Roving Revolutionaries: Armenians and the Connected Revolutions in the Russian, Iranian, and Ottoman Worlds".

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