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In 1924, the crown prince and future emperor of Ethiopia, Ras Täfäri, on a visit to Jerusalem, invited forty Armenian orphans who had survived the genocide of 1915-1916 to form his empire’s royal brass band. The Armenian conductor of this brass band would go on to compose the first official anthem of the Ethiopian state. Drawing on this highly symbolic event, Boris Adjemian explores the role of collective memory in the making of an Armenian diaspora community in Ethiopia during the colonial era, as the country was in the process of becoming a nation-state. His book investigates the agency of Armenian immigrants and their descendants, as they played with and undermined assigned identities, forging a place in society between “Ethiopian” and “foreign.”

This is part of an event series; Dr. Adjemian will present the lecture Writer and Witness: Aram Andonian and Early Narrative on the Armenian Genocide on Friday, March 7, 2025 at 5:00 pm in Bunche Hall 6275.

Boris Adjemian is the Director of the AGBU Nubar Library, Paris. He holds a PhD in history from EHESS and Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”. He is the co-editor of the academic journal Études arméniennes contemporaines and an affiliated researcher to the Centre de recherches historiques (CNRS, EHESS). His last book is La Bibliothèque et le survivant: un intellectuel arménien au siècle des génocides (Paris, Anamosa, 2025).