UPDATE: due to the COVID-19 crisis the 2020 Summer School has been cancelled. Please check back for  updates in Fall 2020. 

SUMMER SCHOOL IN LANGUAGES (ARMENIAN, PERSIAN, TURKISH) AND CONNECTED HISTORIES

Yerevan, Armenia
July 13 - August 14, 2020

The second annual intensive summer program will take place between July 13 and August 14, 2020, lasting five weeks. The program will consist of three parallel language courses – Armenian, Persian and Turkish – and a series of seminars devoted to topics in connected histories of Armenia, Iran and Anatolia. 

Language classes, held in separate groups five days a week four hours per day, will be conducted in respective languages. Seminars, held twice a week in the afternoons and conducted in English, will bring together students of all language groups. Additionally, one day a week will be devoted to poetry recitals, film screenings or musical performances. 

The program is primarily, though not exclusively, targeted at advanced undergraduate and graduate students with interests in relevant fields. While applicants of different levels will be considered, preference will be given to those who have already achieved the intermediate or advanced levels. Apart from learning in the classroom, students will be able to practice their language skills in conversations with native speakers.  

MA and PhD students engaged in research and interested in working on particular sources will also be given an opportunity to receive additional guidance on individual basis. 

Our aim is that by broadening their knowledge of historical connections between Anatolia, Armenia and Iran, and learning to see languages in a wide linguistic and cultural context, students would gain deeper insights into the topics of their study and discover new interests and new ways of thinking. Furthermore, we hope that the summer school will build lasting friendships and academic connections that could help breach cultural borders and borders between different scholarly traditions. 

Fees and deadlines 

The cost of participation in the program is 1400 USD, which covers course fees, class materials and the cost of one field trip outside of Yerevan. As a non-profit organization, Mejlis Institute only uses collected fees to cover operational costs of the program and reinvests any remaining surplus in its other educational programs. Participants are responsible for finding their own accommodation in Yerevan, which is a very safe and affordable city. Once the list of participants is finalized, we will put them in touch with one another, and those considering shared accommodation options will have a chance to connect with potential flatmates.

The deadline to apply is May 1, 2020. The fees must be paid as a donation to Mejlis Institute through an international bank transfer by May 15, 2020. Please fill out the application form here. Applications will be reviewed and accepted on a rolling basis, so we encourage all candidates to apply as early as possible.

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Financial aid 

Applications from students who are strongly motivated to participate in the program but might not have financial means to pay the program fees will be considered on individual basis. To qualify for a partial or full tuition waiver students will be required to submit a recommendation letter from an academic advisor testifying to the applicant’s merit and circumstances of financial need. Only a limited number of waivers will be issued. To be considered for financial aid please send a separate email to info@mejlisinstitute.org as soon as you fill out the application form. 

Applicants interested in studying Armenian should consider applying for the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation Short Term Grant for Armenian Studies.

Instructors

Persian

Maryam Torabi, MA, is a scholar of Medieval Armenian and Persian literary traditions. Having studied Armenian and Persian literature in Isfahan Ms. Torabi came to Armenia to work on her doctoral dissertation, which she is currently completing in the Department of Linguistics at Yerevan State University. She focuses on the language of the eighteenth-century poet Sayat-Nova exploring his engagement with Persian poetry. Apart from teaching Armenian to Iranians and Persian to Armenians she has formerly served as the librarian of the Blue Mosque in Yerevan. 

Turkish

Başak Deniz Özdoğan, MA, is a PhD Candidate in the Department of Turkish Language and Literature at Boğaziçi University in Istanbul. She specializes in late Ottoman and modern Turkish literature and holds a special interest in women readers and writers. Ms. Özdoğan has over ten years of experience teaching Turkish to both native speakers and foreigners, and in 2014-15 she held the position the instructor of Turkish for the Armenian scholars visiting Turkey as part of the Hrant Dink Foundation’s  Armenia-Turkey Normalisation Project Grant Programme.

Armenian 

Sarin Akbaş, MA, is a second year PhD student in Yerevan State University in the Faculty of Armenian Philology. Her doctoral research investigates the standardization problems of the Western Armenian Language. She completed a master’s thesis in Armenian Studies from Yerevan State University, in which she investigated Western Armenian Teaching methodology in the Armenian schools of Istanbul. She has also worked in those schools and also in language courses. In addition to her research activities, Ms. Akbaş devotes her time to literary translation working with Western Armenian, Turkish and English languages.