[Bilimsel Haber] New Book: The Hemshin: History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey. Edited by Hovann Simonian, University of Southern California.

[Onur Inal]

Routledge are pleased to announce the publication of:

THE HEMSHIN
History, Society and Identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey. 
Edited by Hovann Simonian, University of Southern California.

Routledge, December 2006: 452pp
ISBN 978-0700706563


The Hemshin are without doubt one of the most enigmatic peoples of
Turkey and the Caucasus. As former Christians who converted to Islam
centuries ago yet did not assimilate into the culture of the surrounding
Muslim populations, as Turks who speak Armenian yet are often not aware
of it, as Muslims who continue to celebrate feasts that are part of the
calendar of the Armenian Church, and as descendants of Armenians who,
for the most part, have chosen to deny their Armenian origins in favour
of recently invented myths of Turkic ancestry, the Hemshin and the
seemingly irreconcilable differences within their group identity have
generated curiosity and often controversy.

The Hemshin is the first scholarly work to provide an in-depth study of
these people living in the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. This
groundbreaking volume brings together chapters written by an
international group of scholars that cover the history, language,
economy, culture and identity of the Hemshin. It is further enriched
with an unprecedented collection of maps, pictures and appendices of
up-to-date statistics. The Hemshin forms part of the Peoples of the
Caucasus series, an indispensable and yet accessible resource for all
those with an interest in the Caucasus.

Contents

Part I: History

1. Morale, cohesion and power in the first centuries of Amatuni Hamshen
- Anne Elizabeth Redgate 2. Hamshen before Hemshin: the prelude to
Islamicization - Hovann H. Simonian 3. The manuscript painting of
Hamshen - Christina Maranci 4. Hemshin from Islamicization to the end of
the nineteenth century - Hovann H. Simonian 5. Ottoman political and
religious élites among the Hemshin: the mid-nineteenth century to 1926 -
Alexandre Toumarkine 6. Interactions and mutual perceptions during the
1878-1923 period: Muslims of Armenian background and Armenians in the
Pontos - Hovann H. Simonian

Part II: Geography, economy and architecture

7. Notes on the historical geography and present territorial
distribution of the Hemshinli - Hagop Hachikian 8. Social and economic
structures of the Hemshin people in Çamlihemsin - Erhan Gürsel Ersoy 9.
Hemshin folk architecture in the Akbucak, Ortayol and Ugrak villages of
the county of Pazar in Rize - Gülsen Balikçi

Part III: Language

10. Homshetsma: the language of the Armenians of Hamshen - Bert Vaux 11.
Armenian in the vocabulary and culture of the Turkish Hemshinli - Uwe
Bläsing

Part IV: Identity, state and relations with neighbours

12. Some particulars of Hemshin identity - Hagop Hachikian
13. The Hemshin People: ethnic identity, beliefs and yayla festivals in
Çamlihemsin - Erhan Gürsel Ersoy 14. Hemshinli-Lazi relations in
northeast Turkey - Ildikó Bellér-Hann 15. Turks and Hemshinli:
manipulating ethnic origins and identity - Rüdiger Benninghaus


For further information, or to order this book, please see:
http://www.routledge.com/shopping_cart/products/product_detail.asp?sku=&
isbn=978070070656
3&pc=

Part of the Caucasus World: Peoples of the Caucasus series:
http://www.routledge.com/asianstudies/series_list.asp?series=6

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