Bibliothèque Nubar

UGAB FranceInternational Association of Armenian Librarians and Archivists-IAALAArménien à l'InalcoArmenian InstituteHoushamadyanEnssib
AGBU

[𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍𝐄𝐌𝐄𝐍𝐓]

🗓️​ Mardi 7 octobre à 18h, La Contemporaine organise une rencontre littéraire sur "La Bibliothèque et le survivant : Un intellectuel arménien au siècle des génocides" avec Anouche Der-Sarkissian, et l'historien-chercheur Boris Adjemian, auteur également de "La fanfare du négus. Les Arméniens en Éthiopie (XIXe-XXe siècles)".

La présentation de cet ouvrage à la Contemporaine est l’occasion de mettre en miroir deux bibliothèques et centres d’archives sur le 20e siècle...

L’histoire de la Bibliothèque Nubar, fondée en 1927 à Paris, se confond dans ce livre avec celle de son premier bibliothécaire Aram Andonian, ancien journaliste et auteur, déporté en 1915, qui en fut aussi le concepteur et la cheville ouvrière jusqu’à sa mort en 1951.

Dans le moment critique de l’après-génocide, la création de cette Bibliothèque arménienne apparaît comme une réponse à l’anéantissement. Comme s’il s’agissait de recréer une Arménie de papier, à travers le livre, l’archive et la littérature, alors que l’Arménie a été détruite et que son peuple est en exil. L’histoire de la Bibliothèque (avec une majuscule) se situe ainsi au croisement de l’histoire du national, de la diaspora, du génocide, du témoignage et de l’histoire matérielle des savoirs.

"𝑈𝑛 𝑙𝑖𝑣𝑟𝑒 𝑎̀ 𝑡𝑖𝑟𝑜𝑖𝑟𝑠 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑠 [...]. 𝑈𝑛𝑒 𝑒𝑛𝑞𝑢𝑒̂𝑡𝑒 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑜𝑢̀ 𝑙’𝑎𝑟𝑐ℎ𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑎𝑐𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑒𝑟𝑡 𝑢𝑛𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑝𝑙𝑒 : 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑖𝑣𝑒, 𝑠𝑒𝑛𝑠𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑒, 𝑠𝑦𝑚𝑏𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑒, 𝑒́𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒." France Arménie

"𝐴𝑢 𝑓𝑖𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑠, 𝑐'𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑖 𝑙'𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑒́𝑟𝑎𝑖𝑟𝑒 𝑑'𝑢𝑛 ℎ𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑟 𝑞𝑢𝑖 𝑠𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑒́𝑐𝑖𝑠𝑒, 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑒𝑙 𝑝𝑎𝑠𝑠𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑛𝑒́, 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒𝑢𝑥, 𝑔𝑒́𝑛𝑒́𝑟𝑒𝑢𝑥. [...] 𝐿𝑒𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑚𝑏𝑟𝑒𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑒𝑡 𝑛𝑜𝑡𝑎𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑠 𝑝ℎ𝑜𝑡𝑜𝑔𝑟𝑎𝑝ℎ𝑖𝑒𝑠 𝑑𝑒 𝑙𝑎 𝑏𝑖𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑡ℎ𝑒̀𝑞𝑢𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑒𝑠 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑒𝑥𝑝𝑟𝑒̀𝑠 𝑝𝑎𝑟 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑡𝑖𝑛 𝐴𝑟𝑔𝑦𝑟𝑜𝑔𝑙𝑜, 𝑓𝑜𝑛𝑡 𝑒𝑛𝑓𝑖𝑛 𝑑𝑒 𝑐𝑒𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑣𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑𝑒 𝑢𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑙 𝑜𝑏𝑗𝑒𝑡." R***e L'Histoire.

"𝐼𝑡 𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑢𝑠𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑠 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑐𝑘-𝑎𝑛𝑑-𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑡𝑎𝑟 𝑙𝑖𝑏𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑦 ℎ𝑜𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑎𝑙 𝑏𝑢𝑖𝑙𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑎𝑛 𝑎𝑓𝑓𝑙𝑢𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑛𝑒𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑏𝑜𝑟ℎ𝑜𝑜𝑑 𝑛𝑒𝑎𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝐸𝑖𝑓𝑓𝑒𝑙 𝑇𝑜𝑤𝑒𝑟, 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑡𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑟𝑎𝑟𝑒 𝑏𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑎 𝑙𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑢𝑎𝑔𝑒 𝑠𝑝𝑜𝑘𝑒𝑛 𝑏𝑦 𝑓𝑒𝑤 𝑝𝑒𝑜𝑝𝑙𝑒, 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑠𝑝𝑖𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑎 𝑚𝑢𝑙𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑢𝑑𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑔𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑠, 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑚𝑜𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛𝑎𝑙 𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑢𝑔𝑒, 𝑎 𝑐𝑙𝑜𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 𝑐𝑟𝑜𝑠𝑠𝑟𝑜𝑎𝑑𝑠, 𝑎 𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑤𝑐𝑎𝑠𝑒 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑖𝑑𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑙𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑟𝑐𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡." Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies

🗓️ Mardi 7 octobre 2025
⏰ 18h
📍 La Contemporaine, 184 Cr Nicole Dreyfus, Nanterre

AnamosaUGAB FranceCentre Du Patrimoine ArménienArménien à l'InalcoAssociation pour la recherche et l'archivage de la mémoire arménienne ARAMMusée national de l'histoire de l'immigration

Boris Adjemyan et Pascale Gostanian sur Radio Arménie.
À ne pas manquer!🎙️👉https://radioarmenie.com/armenie/3980-boris-adjemian-directeur-de-la-bibliotheque-nubar-de-l-ugab

If you are interested, please contact the organizers of the event at [email protected]
Les personnes intéressées peuvent contacter le Schaeffer Center, organisateur de cette rencontre : [email protected]

Book Launch with Boris Adjemian The George and Irina Schaeffer Center for the Study of Genocide, Human Rights and Conflict Prevention warmly welcomes Boris Adjemian to discuss his new book, The Library and the Survivor: An Armenian Intellectual in the Century of Genocides.

PoSoCoMeS Yerevan 2026 Post-Socialist Memory in Times of Crises and Speculation 3rd PoSoCoMeS – MSA Working Group conference 22-24 January, 2026 — Yerevan State University — Yerevan, Armenia Call for papers The Post-Socialist and Comparative Memory Studies (PoSoCoMeS) working group is part of the Memory Studies Ass...

𝐏𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐑𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐄

𝐁𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐬 𝐀𝐝𝐣𝐞𝐦𝐢𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚 𝐩𝐮𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐞𝐝

LONDON/NEW YORK—I. B.Tauris, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing, has announced the publication of Dr. Boris Adjemian’s book The Brass Band of the King: Armenians in Ethiopia. The book is part of the series Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World edited by Bedross Der Matossian (University of Nebraska, Lincoln).

𝐃𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐩𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧:

In 1924, the crown prince and future emperor of Ethiopia, Ras Täfäri, on a visit to Jerusalem, called on forty Armenian orphans who had survived the genocide of 1915-1916 to form his empire's royal brass band. The conductor, who was also Armenian, composed the first official anthem of the Ethiopian state.

Drawing on this highly symbolic event, and following the history of the small Armenian community in Ethiopia, in this book Boris Adjemian shows how it operated on the margins of political society, hiding in its interstices, preferring intimacy and discreet loyalty to the glitter of open politics. The astonishing role of the Armenians in their host country was embodied in the friendship that the kings and queens of Ethiopia extended to them, a theme that is echoed in the life stories collected from their descendants.

Bringing to light the political and cultural importance of a community that has long been ignored and has almost vanished, this study draws on the collective memory of Armenian immigration and the centuries-long history of proximity between the Armenian and Ethiopian Churches. The author argues for a sedentary approach to the diaspora, for a socio-history of this collective rootedness, which dates back to the 19th century and builds on historical representations of otherness from the early modern period up to the colonial era. Highlighting stateless immigrants halfway between the national and the foreign, this history reveals the agency of stateless immigrants and their descendants, their ability to play with identities and undermine assigned belongings.

The Brass Band of the King is an original exploration of the social making of nationhood and foreignness in Africa and elsewhere.
Adjemian commented on the book saying: “I am delighted that my book on the history of the Armenians in Ethiopia, published in France in 2013 after field research that began in 1997, has been published in English. Thanks to the admirable translation by M. G. Goshgarian, this text is enjoying a second life and will finally be accessible to many readers in Ethiopia, North America and elsewhere, including many Ethiopian-Armenian families. The story of this small community in Ethiopia is by far the most original I have come across in the Armenian diaspora and diaspora literature. I hope that readers will be drawn in, as I was, by the epic dimension of this story, teeming with characters and anecdotes that are both improbable and delightful, and that say much about the making of collective identities and the way in which the history of peoples and nation-states is written.”
“This is a fascinating study of a unique diasporic community which began by orphans of the Armenian Genocide from Jerusalem,” said Der Matossian, the editor of the series. “Through using theories of collective memory and diaspora studies with in-depth historical research, Adjemian has successfully weaved together the sophisticated history of the Armenian community of Ethiopia. This book is a major contribution to our understanding of the formation of the Armenian Diaspora communities in the post-genocide period. The book will have a significant impact on Armenian Diaspora Studies and other Diasporic communities around the globe,” he concluded.

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐈𝐄𝐖𝐒

"This magnificent work is now available in an excellent English translation. Boris Adjemian’s engaging and comprehensive book on Ethiopian­Armenians offers a captivating exploration into the emergence and development of diasporic communities, accompanied by a rich theoretical debate. It is a work that excels in both depth and innovation."

Vahé Tachjian, Chief Editor, Houshamadyan, Germany

"I knew Edward Said well for decades... I won’t hesitate to say that he would have particularly applauded the exploration of Orientalism in Boris’s book."
Khachig Tölölyan, Professor, Wesleyan University, USA
Boris Adjemian is the Director of the AGBU Nubar Library, France. He holds a PhD in history from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), France, and Università degli Studi di Napoli “L’Orientale”, Italy. He is the co­editor of the academic journal Études arméniennes contemporaines.

𝐂𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐬 𝐁𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐊𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐀𝐫𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐨𝐩𝐢𝐚 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐩𝐮𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐛𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞. 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐝𝐞 𝐆𝐋𝐑 𝐀𝐓𝟖 𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐦𝐬𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐲.𝐜𝐨𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝟑𝟓% 𝐨𝐟𝐟!
If you have projects or ideas for the series, please do not hesitate to contact Der Matossian