Seta Kabranian-Melkonian (Armenian: Սեդա Գպրանյան-Մելքոնյան; b. 1963) is an Armenian-American writer and refugee rights activist. Born in Lebanon, Kabranian moved to Yerevan to study Armenian literature. She met and married Monte Melkonian, who died fighting in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. She established a non-governmental organization in his name, to provide aid to families of Armenian soldiers and refugees. She later moved to Alaska, where she studied creative nonfiction, contributed to research on refugees and worked as a faculty member of the University of Alaska Anchorage.
Seta Kabranian-Melkonian | |
---|---|
Սեդա Գպրանյան-Մելքոնյան | |
Born | Seta Kabranian 26 June 1963 Anjar, Lebanon |
Education | Yerevan State University (MA; PhD) University of Alaska Anchorage (MFA) |
Occupation | Writer |
Employer | University of Alaska Anchorage |
Spouse |
Biography
editSeta Kabranian was born in the Lebanese Armenian town of Anjar,[1] in 1963. One of six daughters,[2] Kabranian was born into a family that had survived the Armenian genocide.[3]
When she was fifteen, Kabranian met Monte Melkonian, who at the time was fighting in the Lebanese Civil War as a member of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia (ASALA). In 1981, Kabranian moved to Yerevan, in the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (ASSR),[2] where she studied Armenian literature at Yerevan State University.[4] After spending 1983–1985 in hiding with Melkonian in Europe, and staying in Lebanon and the United States for a short period, Kabranian returned to Armenia to stay.[2] She graduated as a Master of Arts during the time of the ASSR, and later graduated as a Doctor of Philosophy after the restoration of the Armenian Republic.[5]
Following the Armenian declaration of independence, in 1991, Kabranian and Melkonian married at the monastery of Geghard. Melkonian died two years later, while fighting in the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. After the war's conclusion, Kabranian established the Monte Melkonian Fund, to aid the families of soldiers that were wounded or killed in action.[2] Kabranian began to express distaste with the social stratification that had taken place in Armenia after the war, noting the stark divide between the Armenians living in poverty and the rich members of the diaspora, the latter of whom had brought with them a culture of luxury cars and casinos. American journalist Thomas Goltz noted that Kabranian sympathised more with Azeri victims of the First Nagorno-Karabakh War than those that had come to dominate the economy of Armenia.[6]
After her work for a refugee aid NGO, Kabranian moved to the United States.[3] There she began studying creative nonfiction at the University of Alaska Anchorage (UAA),[7] graduating as a Master of Fine Arts.[8] She continues to work at UAA as a teacher,[3] and is an affiliate editor for The Alaska Quarterly Review.[9] She has also continued her activism in refugee aid, as president of the Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief in Anchorage.[10]
Academic work
editIn her academic research, Kabranian has pursued her interest in refugee rights and social justice.[3] Together with Monte's brother Markar Melkonian, Kabranian co-authored My Brother's Road,[11] a book about Monte Melkonian which was published in 2005 by I. B. Tauris.[12] In 2017, Kabranian herself published The Consecrated Ones, a book about the life of Garlen Ananian written in the Armenian language. She has also published works in the magazine Hetq and the literary magazines Iknagir and Atticus Review.[13]
In 2015, Kabranian published an article on "Ethical Concerns with Refugee Research".[14] Defining a "refugee" as a person that has been forcibly displaced from their country of origin due to natural disasters, persecution or war, Kabranian found that the total number of refugees experienced an exponential growth during the first two decades of the 21st century.[15] In her research, Kabranian employed a methodological pluralism, which combined quantitative and qualitative research on the subject.[16] She demonstrated that obtaining refugee status provides many opportunities, including the improvement of living conditions and the recognition of their fundamental rights, irrespective of different laws on refugee status in different countries of destination.[17]
In the wake of the displacement of Armenians from Nagorno-Karabakh in 2023, Kabranian was among dozens of Armenian academics that called for the international community to aid the displaced refugees and take action against what they described as an act of ethnic cleansing by Azerbaijan.[18]
Selected work
edit- Books
- Melkonian, Markar; Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (2005). My Brother's Road: An American's Fateful Journey to Armenia. I. B. Tauris. ISBN 1-85043-635-5.
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (2017). Նուիրեալները: Կառլէն Անանեանի Անցած Ճամբով [The Consecrated Ones: Garlen Ananian's Path]. Los Angeles: Abril Books. ISBN 978-0979684210. OCLC 1004672778.
- Journal articles
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (2015). "Ethical Concerns With Refugee Research". Journal of Human Behavior in the Social Environment. 25 (7): 714–722. doi:10.1080/10911359.2015.1032634.
- Kabranian, Seta; Wasko, Paul (2021). "Sequencing Instruction and Student Learning through the e-Portfolio". CSHSE Bulletin. University of Alaska Anchorage: 6–7.
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (2022). "Գէթ". Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies. 29 (1): 133–134. doi:10.1163/26670038-12342776.
- Web articles
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (23 May 2019). "A Bottle of Dirt". Atticus Review.
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (17 April 2023). "Artsakh and the Truth About the Legend of Monte Melkonian". The Markaz Review.
- Kabranian-Melkonian, Seta (16 October 2023). "Forging Peace for Artsakh—The Debacle of Nagorno Karabagh". The Markaz Review.
References
edit- ^ Krikorian 2000; Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief 2020.
- ^ a b c d Krikorian 2000.
- ^ a b c d The Markaz Review 2023; University of Alaska Anchorage 2023.
- ^ Krikorian 2000; The Markaz Review 2023; Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief 2020.
- ^ University of Alaska Anchorage 2023.
- ^ Goltz 2000, p. 73.
- ^ Atticus Review 2019; Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief 2020.
- ^ Atticus Review 2019; The Markaz Review 2023; Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief 2020; University of Alaska Anchorage 2023.
- ^ The Markaz Review 2023.
- ^ Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief 2020.
- ^ Atticus Review 2019; The Markaz Review 2023; Dechev 2019, p. 100; Nalbantian 2018, pp. 285n49, 413.
- ^ Atticus Review 2019; The Markaz Review 2023; Nalbantian 2018, pp. 285n49, 413.
- ^ Atticus Review 2019; The Markaz Review 2023.
- ^ Martínez Sanesteban 2020, p. 21.
- ^ Martínez Sanesteban 2020, pp. 1–2.
- ^ Martínez Sanesteban 2020, p. 6.
- ^ Martínez Sanesteban 2020, p. 9.
- ^ Armenian Weekly 2023.
Bibliography
edit- Dechev, Teodor (2019). ""The black January" in Baku – 1990, the Karabakh conflict and the dissolution of the USSR". Politics & Security (in Russian). 3 (4): 71–100.
- Goltz, Thomas (2000). "Remembering a winter of discontent: Letter from the south Caucasus". The Washington Quarterly. 23 (3): 69–76. doi:10.1162/016366000561187.
- Krikorian, Onnik (4 March 2000). "A Conversation with Seta Melkonian". onnik-krikorian.com. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Martínez Sanesteban, Irene (30 September 2020). Refugiats i refugiades ambientals: una revisió sistemàtica (PDF) (Thesis) (in Catalan). Autonomous University of Barcelona.
- Nalbantian, Tsolin (2018). "Armenians in the Middle East: From marginalization to the everyday". In Rowe, Paul S. (ed.). Routledge Handbook of Minorities in the Middle East. Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315626031-20. ISBN 9781315626031.
- "Where is the international will to respond to the ethnic cleansing taking place in Artsakh?". Armenian Weekly. 14 November 2023. ISSN 0004-2374. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- "Seta Kabranian-Melkonian". Atticus Review. 2019. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- "Author: Seta Kabranian-Melkonian". The Markaz Review. 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- "SOAR-Anchorage Chapter". Society for Orphaned Armenian Relief. 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- "Seta Kabranian Ph.D." University of Alaska Anchorage. 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
Further reading
edit- Alexander, Benjamin F. (2005). Armenian and American: The Changing Face of Ethnic Identity and Diasporic Nationalism, 1915–1955 (PhD). City University of New York.
- Foss, Frida; Gibbes, Cerian; Skop, Emily (2024). "Cultivating Integration via Placemaking: an ArcGIS StoryMap and Inventory of Refugee‑Centered Farming Organizations in the USA". Journal of International Migration and Integration. 25 (25): 133–154. doi:10.1007/s12134-023-01059-z. PMC 10244079. PMID 37360638.
- Ghalechyan, Narine (9 May 2015). "Սեդա Մելքոնյան․ «Ազատամարտիկները չպետք է պահանջեն, որ իրենց հարգեն»" [Seta Melkonian: "Freedom fighters should not demand to be respected"]. Azatutyun (in Armenian). Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Ghalechyan, Narine (28 June 2016). "«Մանվել Գրիգորյանն ինձ համար հերոս չէ». Սեդա Մելքոնյան" ["Manvel Grigoryan is not a hero for me." Seta Melkonian]. Azatutyun (in Armenian). Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Khojoyan, Lia (8 May 2015). "Սեդա Մելքոնյան. Մոնթեապատ հուշեր. Շուշիի ազատագրման, կարոտի ու որդու մասին" [Seta Melkonian. Mounted memoirs. About Shushi's liberation, longing and her son]. Aysor (in Armenian). Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Margousian, Armen (2016). Geographic Analysis of Armenian Immigration Patterns in the United States: Evidence from Armenian Apostolic Churches (PDF) (MA). California State University, Northridge.
- Michaud, Alexandra H.; Fortier, Véronique; Amireault, Valérie (2022). ""Do I Have to Sign My Real Name?" Ethical and Methodological Challenges in Multilingual Research with Adult SLIFE Learning French as a Second Language". Languages. 7 (2). Université du Québec à Montréal: 126. doi:10.3390/languages7020126.
- Trvants, Anush (12 June 2017). "Մոնթեի եւ Սեդայի հավերժ սերը" [The Eternal Love of Monte and Seta]. Arevelk (in Armenian). Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Tuliao, Minerva (2016). "Refugee Women, HRD, and Transitions to Employment: A Summary of Methodological Approaches". Educational Administration: Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research (287).
- Vorbach, Joseph E. (1994). "Monte Melkonian: Armenian revolutionary leader". Terrorism and Political Violence. 6 (2): 178–195. doi:10.1080/09546559408427253.
- Vosbigian, Nora (15 December 2010). "Remembering Monte Melkonian: Armenian Revolutionary and Karabagh Commander". MassisPost. Retrieved 3 April 2024.
- Zablotsky, Veronika (2019). Governing Armenia: The Politics of Development and the Making of Global Diaspora (PhD). University of California, Santa Cruz. ProQuest 13881970.