index - Les Arméniens dans le Bilad al-Sham: entre intégration et marginalisation? (Xème-XVème siècle) Access content directly

This International Colloquium is a common initiative of researchers from the French Institute of the Near East (Ifpo), Institute of Oriental Studies of the Academy of Sciences of Armenia and University Paul Valery Montpellier III. It tooked place in Aleppo, Syria, the 7th and 8th of october 2009.

Since 1940, the medievalist Claude Cahen has clarified the role of the Armenians in the XIth – XIIth centuries : « Les deux migrations les plus importantes étaient celle des Arméniens et des Turcs.», « Jamais peut être les Arméniens n'ont joué dans l'histoire du Proche-Orient un rôle aussi grand qu'à ce moment où sombre pour jamais (sauf en Cilicie) leur indépendance nationale. ». The lectures had treat a larger swath of time: the Xth – XVth centuries, which included the Byzantine, Crusader and Arabic periods. We focused on problems and successes of integration of new Armenians settlers in the Near East. Three research axes have guide the lectures and debates:

  1. Through others' eyes: Armenians and Muslims in the Medieval Near East
  2. Migrations and settlement of Armenians in medieval Syria
  3. Political and Military Relations between Armenains and Muslim States in the Bilâd al-Shâm

These two axes have allowed us to develop our understanding of the Armenian community which has conserved a strong identity and its customs, religion, and language. Is this identity a handicap to integration in the societies of the medieval Near East? In this particular framework, we will consider the fate of Armenian populations from the Xth to the XVth century. The societies of contemporary Near East have been shaped by the interpenetration of Christian and Muslim, Arabic, Armenian, Kurdish and Turkish cultures. We cannot understand a society without understanding mutual cultural interactions between the various communities composing it.

The Proceedings of the Colloquium will be publish in 2010. An introduction, a part of the debates and arabic, armenian, english and french summaries will be added to this publication.

Extracts of the Ifpo's gallery on www.flickr.com
Liens :
Website of Ifpo
Les Collections électroniques de l'Ifpo
Images from Ifpo on Flickr
For more information concerning this collection, contact Julien Gilet