ThesisOpen Access
Tavitian, Nicolas, 2025
PhD thesis, The Open University (UK), Open Research Online
Based on 72 in-depth narrative interviews in Berlin and Strasbourg, examines how Armenians with differing migration histories engage with diaspora communities and institutions, identifying three distinct routes of engagement and developing the concept of 'diaspora dynamics': engagement as conditional and negotiated rather than automatic.
Journal ArticleOpen Access
Melkonyan, Nvard · Melkumyan, Yuliana, 2025
Journal of Political Science: Bulletin of Yerevan University, Vol. 4, No. 3(12), pp. 87–106 (Yerevan State University); DOI 10.46991/JOPS/2025.4.12.087
Examines both push and pull factors shaping Armenian repatriation in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. Drawing on secondary analysis of statistics, sociological research, in-depth interviews, and focus groups, it identifies the political, social, and economic push factors driving Armenians out of Russia and Ukraine: fear of war, uncertainty, instability, deteriorating economic conditions. It then maps the pull factors drawing Armenians to the homeland: safety, cultural and social ties, a sense of belonging, a more comfortable lifestyle, and a desire to contribute to the country's development. It also documents the counter-pressures inside Armenia itself: an underdeveloped repatriation system, persistent security concerns, weak infrastructure, and low wages.
ThesisOpen Access
Iskandaryan, Gayane, 2023
MA thesis, Department of History, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); eScholarship
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.
