My name is Nora Bairamian and I am a PhD student at UCLA in the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Cultures. I also hold Master’s degrees in Middle Eastern studies and history from Columbia University and UCI, respectively.
The reason I started this blog is because I love Armenian history and literature and believe that there is a wealth of unexplored information that should be known, understood and discussed. Outside of Armenian history and literature, my interests are film, fashion, print culture, and American and art history.
My first foray into blogging was about my experiences living in Armenia in 2014.
What is the Eaglet?
The name of this blog is an homage inspired by the periodicals published by Mkrtich Khrimian Hayrik. The first periodical, “The Eagle of Vaspurakan,” was published primarily in Van in the 19th century. It was dedicated to both educating the rural population of the eastern borderlands of the Ottoman Empire and to enlightening urban Armenian elites about what was happening in these same regions. An offshoot of this publication was the “Eaglet of Taron,” which was published in Mush, again by Khrimian. The periodical included educational articles ranging from reprinting a piece by French author Alphonse de LaMartine to discussing the Armenian National Constitution.
What will I be writing about?
Posts on The Eaglet of UCLA will mostly fit within the following two categories:
1) Reviews, summaries and short lessons.
Many people are interested in learning about Armenian history, culture and literature but either do not have the time to read all of the available material or don’t know where to start. I hope to help anyone who is interested in exploring these themes by giving them that starting point.
2) General thoughts on history or current affairs which I find relevant to this blog.
I hope this is helpful and enjoyable for those who visit the blog.
Contact
If you have any comments or questions, I would love to hear from you. Please feel free to write to me at nora@eagletofucla.com.