Other Armenias Podcast

Episode 35! Coffee Cups and the Collective Unconscious w/Elizabeth Avetisian

We talk to Dr. Elizabeth Avetisian, a transpersonal scholar, about her fascinating research on coffee cup reading (tasseography) in the Armenian tradition, the Jungian collective unconscious, synchronicity, and archetypes. Can coffee cups allow us to tap into the creativity of the collective unconscious and do coffee cup readers have this special ability? Dr. Avetisian's research suggests so. Here are some of the articles (and the dissertation) of Dr. Avetisian's that we discuss in this conversation: "Tasseography from Jung's Perspective": https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/conscjournal/vol6/iss6/1/ [https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/conscjournal/vol6/iss6/1/] "How Perception Meets Hermeneutics: An Empirical Investigation of Tasseography": https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol41/iss2/9/ [https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/ijts-transpersonalstudies/vol41/iss2/9/] "What’s Brewing in the Cup? A Qualitative Study of Embodied Perception within Armenian Tasseography" https://www.proquest.com/openview/09e0469f7eff4401fe799f983df8723c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y [https://www.proquest.com/openview/09e0469f7eff4401fe799f983df8723c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=18750&diss=y]

Episode 34! The Genocide and Embodied Archives w/Elyse Semerdjian

We talk to Dr. Elyse Semerdjian about her book Remnants and her readings of alternative, embodied archives. These archives include tattoos on women's bodies; experiences and narratives of sexual assault, kidnappings and marriages to other communities as well as the rescue missions and their effects on the rescued; the ways in which women's bodies represented genocide survival and victimization; and the meanings of bones scattered across the desert. We get into critical questions of what it means for women to have to do the labor of (re)inventing Armenianness after the events of the genocide and the trauma that those experiences must have meant in and of themselves.

Episode 33! Coffee Cup Reading as Feminist Practice w/Zeynep Korkman

Zeynep Korkman tells us about her research on divination cafes in Turkey and we really get into coffee cup readings - what they mean, what they offer, how we love them and also how we have sometimes not loved them. Coffee cup reading is a feminine practice - and more, it also has potentials of being a feminist practice - "feminist visioning work" as Korman describes it in her beautiful book Gendered Fortunes (Duke University Press, 2023). For (feminist) fun, check out the YouTube video for this episode (at https://www.youtube.com/@OtherArmenias [https://www.youtube.com/@OtherArmenias]) to look at our cups and give us readings in the comments! Or tell us about your own experiences reading or having your cup read.

Episode 32! "Wild Children" 30-րդ Ամենամյա Ալտերնատիվ Արվեստի փառատոնը ՆՓԱԿ-ում:

Temporary Autonomous Zones, արվեստ, և քաղաքական պոտենցյալ․ "Wild Children" 30-րդ Ամենամյա Ալտերնատիվ Արվեստի փառատոնը ՆՓԱԿ-ում: With Grigor, Narek H., Maggie, and Narek Arushanyan Զրուցում ենք «Վայրի երիտասարտություն» վերնագրով 30-րդ ամենամյա ալտերնատիվ արվեստի փառատոնի կազմակերպիչներից և արվեստագետներից մի քանիսի հետ: «Վայրի երիտասարդություն»-ը այլընտրանքային ցուցահանդես է, որը կազմակերպվել է արվեստագետների հետ զրույցների և հանդիպումների արդյունքում։ Արվետագետների հետաքրքրությունը ցուցահանդեսի հիմնական գաղափարների ու հայեցակարգերի շուրջ մեծ դեր ունի ներգրավված արվետսագետների մասնակցության մեջ: Խոսում ենք ցուցահանդեսի ազդեցության մասին, ներառյալ Ժամանակավոր ինքնավար գոտու (Temporary Autonomous Zones) ներուժի (անարխիստ փիլիսոփա Հաքիմ Բեյից) և քաղաքականության կենտրոնական դերի մասին այսօրվա արվեստում։ Wild Children concept and other information: https://www.accea.info/30th-annual-festival-of-alternative-art-april-may-2026/ [https://www.accea.info/30th-annual-festival-of-alternative-art-april-may-2026/]

Episode 31! Grief: Genocide, Memorialization, and the Discipline of Rage

Grief, and especially around the genocide, is something that all Armenians experience or feel they must experience. What are the politics of this grief? What are its proper and improper forms and in what way is the proper formation of it through the ritualization of memorialization disciplining our emotions? What might these emotions, undisciplined, do? Where might they wander and what new objects and perpetrators might they find? This is our April 24 edition of Other Armenias.