1985_04 Hye Sharzhoom Newspaper April 1985

              Page 6
Hye Sharzhoom
April, 1985
Armenian American Contribution
in America
By Vahe Oshagan
It used to be said that "the sun never sets on the British Empire". The same can be
said of the Armenians since the 17th century, and even more now. They have been
a restless, centrifugal people, settling in ali five continents and contributing in some
way to all the host countries, from the Byzantine Empire in the 5th century AD to the
present time.
It is necessary to define the concept of "Contribution". From a strictly Armenian
point of view, the mere presence of survival of their nation constitutes in itself a
contribution to manking because the Armenians conceive of themselves as agents
of cultural and economic progress, a vision that has determined their entire history.
Hence the secret of their tradition of survival — to adapt to the world without
changing, or rather, to adapt all the while fully realizing that the basic realities of life
do not ever change. So that, historically, contribution means adaptation to the host
country and, given some of the characteristics of the Armenians — love of work,
talent for building, skill in manual labor, spirit of enterprise (I exclude the business
sense as that is a recent phenomenon and is true only for a very small class of
Armenians), sense of communal solidarity --it becomes obvious why Armenians
would always contribute something wherever they settle. Against this definition
we have the non-Armenian concept of contribution — a participation that makes a
difference, adds something that is meaningful, that enhances the donor and the
recipient at the same time.
There are in all 6,000,000 Armenians with the greatest concentrations in Soviet
Armenian (3,000,000) and North America (600,000). Although the first Armenian on
record to come to this country goes back to 1618 (one Martin the Armenian, a
gentleman's gentleman and later a planter in Virginia) the bulk came in three waves.
The first came in 1896-1913 and the second in 1920-1930, both as direct results of
Turkish genocidal attempts on the Armenian populations of the Ottoman Empire.
The third started in mid-70s as a result of the disruption of the political and
economic structures in the Arab Middle East and in Iran. The major contributions to
America are the work of the first two immigrations, while that of the last is still not
clearly perceptible.
By 1935, there were approximately 300,000 Armenians in this land, concentrated
mainly along the East Coast and the Fresno area, and they were, in the purest sense
of the word, men and women who had come to remake their lives, people in search
of dignity, security, and happiness. When we say "dignity", it should not be
understood to mean tnat they were morally desititute, uncivilized, illiterate
peasants. They had inherited an ancient culture, they had a language, a church and
an art of their own; they were Christians, and although most of them were peasants,
the rate of literacy in their native tongue was quite high, 92%, higher that in most
comparable communities. Very few of couse knew any English but they soon
learned it, reluctantly, to the point that within two generations, by 1972, only 10%
used Armenian at home! The dignity is the basic respect a human being needs to
make life worth living and which they lacked totally in the Ottoman Empire. The
same applies to security.
This brings us to the heart of the question of contribution. I think we can say that
the contribution of an ethnic group makes is largely a function of its culture. So,
what did the Armenians bring with them, what is the image of Man in traditional
Armenian culture? It is one characterized by the very high value placed on its ability
to survive, an almost total absolute priority. All else serves this purpose and hence
has less importance. These values are -- strong family and ethnic links, reliance on
emotions, ethics of hard work, of sacrifice, love of church and country, a strong
sense of ethnic uniqueness and difference from the rest of the world, attachment to
moral values. In the field of art, this attitude creates a pragmatic or rather utilitarian
approach to art, a submissive spirit vis a vis the Establishment, hostility to innovative
persons and movements of dissidence, in a word, for the Armenians, their art and
culture should be used as means of survivalrather than as expressions of personal
joy or despair. Such was the cultural idealogy of the immigrant communities.
Furthermore, Armenians came burdened with a crushing sense of inferiority. And
the unwritten law of the new land may have told them — keep a low profile, adapt or
perish. And adapt they did, as quickly and as reluctantly as they could, some
changing their names aping the local accent.
A passive, complexed, uprooted people in a highly competitive, showy,
aggressive, action-oriented society. So they were discriminated, persecuted, as in
Fresno in the 1910s. But one thing they could do better than anyone else -- work,
the basic ethical principle of the country. Hence no one thought of the future
because they had no option but the present, the fight for survival. No Armenian
schools were built while the law of survival made them construct walls around
themselves to keep the hostile world away until they gained respectability and were
accepted. From a different angle, we can say that the Armenian traditional identity
and culture were incompatible with the American identity and civilization.
Under these conditions, what contribution could Armenians make? Perhaps it is
ridiculous to think that a minority of 0.002% can make a difference. The fact is that it
has! I will consider the question from two angles — the popular culture and the elite
culture.
As a people, the Armenians have achieved prominence in almost every facet of
American life and the percentage of Armenians who have made their marks in the
various American professions, industries and trades is stunningly higher that the
percentage of 0.002% they represent of the total American demography. With an
estimated 10,000 physicians, 5,000 attorneys, over 2,000 university professors,
thousands of engineers, businessmen, over 100 millionaires and nationally
renowned individuals in almost every branch of human activity, the Armenians are
second to none among the nationalities. This popular culture includes the
entertainment industry and sports, politics, the business world, the military and
mass media. One outstanding example is the Armenian agricultural and
horticultural community in Fresno, California, in the 1930s. It is generally held that
these Armenian peasants played an important role in developing the melon and
wine industry of the region.
It is not my purpose to paint the Armenian Image in bright colors because, if you
read the Armenian papers and literature, you will get a very dark picture. All writers
day and night lament the fact that assimilation is taking a very heavy toll on the
community -- loss of traditions, loss of language, intermarriage with non-
Armenians, decline in interest toward the community, transformation of the church
into a social club, etc. In other words, contribution to a foreign culture or society
appears to be conditioned by a large degree of assimilation within that society.
Contribution has therefore its price, it's a double-edged sword which cuts both
ways. However, the Armenian Americans (they prefer to call themselves American
Armenian, making thus the former an adjective to the latter which remains a
noun...)maintain that assimilation has in no way diminished their feeling of
belonging to the Armenian nation nor their love for Armenia.
A second level of contribution is constituted by the artistic elite. Armenians pride
themselves on being an artistically gifted, creative people and there is some truth to
that The Saroyan phenomenon is world-famous but what is less well-known is that
Saroyan also forms part of the long line of Armenian provincial and rural writers
extending not only back into the 19th century Armenian provinces of Turkey but
also forward in this century and in this country in the person of writers like Levon
Surmelian, Hamasdegh, Peniamin Nourigian, Vahe Hayg, Aram Haigaz and others.
There is no doubt Saroyan is the most important Armenian American novelist, short
story writer and playwrite whose example gives substance to the chances of
survival of ethnic literatures in the United States. That is why a man of his stature
'for the Armenians, their art and
culture should be used as means
of survival, rather than as expressions of personal joy or despair."
can belong equally to two literatures at the same time, Armenian and American,
because contributions do often work both ways. The spontaneous, warm-hearted
characters, his humanism, his deep understanding of and sympathy for the
underprivileged, folksy classes of society come directly from the Armenian
historical experience and tie the two literatures together. By and large, Armenian
poets and prose-writers of some distinction numbering perhaps a hundred, have
not strayed too far from the ethnic themes, and maybe the model they used was
Saroyan. Poets like Diana der Hovannissian, prose-writers like Peter Sourian are
already accepted by the American literary establishment and that acceptance is the
major condition that validates the idea of Armenian contribution to America and
vice versa.
But few achievements highlight better the effort of the American Armenian
intelligentzia to serve both cultures than the two quarterlies The Armenian Review
and Ararat. The first, published in Boston since 1946, is devoted to historical, social
and literary scholarship centered on the Armenian cultural history, while Ararat,
published in New York since 1959, has been a forum for critical and creative writers
of Armenian descent, as well as non-Armenians. Both have acquired recognition
as first-class publications by English-speaking scholars and writers, and there is
no doubt that they can easily hold their own against anything comparable
published in the Armenian world. Unfortunately, their combined readership doesn't
exceed 2,000 and this fact reflects a serious crisis in the American Armenian
community.
Music is another area of valid Armenian contribution to the American cultural
scene. Composers like Alan Hovhannes and Richard Yardumian, musicians like
Cath Berberian, Varouhan Kodjian, Roupen Gregorian, Ani and Aida Kavafian,
Lucine Amara, Lili Chookasian and Dicran Atamian are astride both cultures. Again,
people like Hovhannes and Yardumian practice an art that draws inspiration from
both ethnic, national traditions and American sources. On the plan of scholarship,
the endowed chairs in Armenian Studies at UCLA and Harvard University, as well
as programs in Armenian language, history, art and letters at Columbia University,
at the Universities of Southern California, Fresno, Pennsylvania and Michigan have
made the United States second only to the Soviet Armenian Academy with respect
to research and teaching in Armenian culture. The entire Diaspora looks to the
United States for academic excellence and leadership. This, to my mind, is an
important contribution and it enhances both the Armenian community and the
American nation in the eyes of the Armenians ail over the world.
There is a third level, probably the most important at which Armenians have made
meaningful contributions to America. Far from being a question of elite, this
concerns the entire Armenian population. I'm talking about the ethnic temperament
and way of life, and what it means in the present context.
We have already seen some elements of this temperament. The fact is that
everything in this temperament rejects the Melting Pot model that some quarters try
to impose on America. The Armenians without exception fanatically believe that
their ethnic idenity should be preserved at all costs, short of denial of their American
loyalty. Furthermore, they are convinced that it can be preserved despite disturbing
evidence to the contrary. This stand, however irrational and emotional it may
appear, is shared by the entire nation and in fact supplies much of the spiritual
energy with which the American Armenians are fighting the whole world to liberate
their homeland from Turkish occupation. I mention this to give you some idea of the
kind of force that sustains the Armenians and their determination to survive. If the
See Contribution, Page 7