LANGUAGE ATTITUDES, COLLECTIVE MEMORY AND (TRANS)NATIONAL IDENTITY CONSTRUCTION AMONG THE ARMENIAN DIASPORA IN BULGARIA

By: Giustina Selvelli,

Berlin, Peter Lang Verlag, 2024, 184 p.

This book examines the processes of symbolic cultivation of identity promoted by Armenian cultural elites in the Bulgarian city of Plovdiv, focusing on the transmission of positive language ideologies and emotional elements related to collective memory. Drawing on extensive ethnographic fieldwork, interviews, and a range of primary materials, this work sheds light on the role of the Armenian alphabet in legitimizing collective visions of ‘distinctiveness’ and of the Armenian Genocide remembrance in shaping non-exclusive, transnational patterns of belonging. While contributing to the study of the complex dynamics and challenges of ‘Armenian survival’ across space and time, it situates the issue in the unique context of Bulgaria, analyzing, moreover, the impact of proximity to Turkey.