A Crack in the Iron Curtain: Armenia-diaspora Relations and Soviet Armenian Migration to Los Angeles County, 1988–2000s
Iskandaryan, Gayane · 2023
Examines how the First Nagorno-Karabakh War (1988–1994), the 1988 Spitak earthquake, and the collapse of the USSR triggered a mass wave of Soviet Armenian refugees and migrants into the diaspora, especially Los Angeles County. Argues these crises 'broached the Iron Curtain,' reconnecting a polarized diaspora with the homeland while simultaneously driving a mass exodus out of it. Explores the nuanced, sometimes tense relationship between long-settled Armenian-Americans and newly arrived Soviet Armenians. Places Artsakh and homeland crises at the center of modern diaspora-homeland dynamics.
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Iskandaryan, Gayane 2023. A Crack in the Iron Curtain: Armenia-diaspora Relations and Soviet Armenian Migration to Los Angeles County, 1988–2000s. MA thesis, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); eScholarship.
What this offers a reader
Free full-text MA thesis; a strong local-history model for anyone studying the Los Angeles Armenian community.
UCLA History thesis with archival and oral-history sourcing; useful for diaspora-formation and migration scholars.
Explains how our own Los Angeles community was reshaped by the post-1988 waves: directly relevant to Glendale/LA institutions.
Tells the story of how Karabakh, the earthquake, and Soviet collapse built the LA Armenian community we know today.
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