Levon Abrahamian

Abrahamian was born in Yerevan, Soviet Armenia on January 2, 1947. He graduated from Yerevan State University (YSU) with M.S. in biophysics in 1970 and from the Institute of Anthropology and Ethnography of the Soviet Academy of Sciences in 1978 as Candidate of Sciences in Cultural and Social Anthropology. He joined the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography at the Academy of Sciences of Soviet Armenia in 1978, initially working as a junior researcher until 1988 and then as senior researcher. In 2005 he headed the Institute's Department of Contemporary Anthropological Studies.

Abrahamian has taught at YSU since 1990.{{cite web |title=Levon H. Abrahamyan |url=http://ysu.am/science/en/Levon-Abrahamyan |website=ysu.am |publisher=Yerevan State University |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521173348/http://ysu.am/science/en/Levon-Abrahamyan |archive-date=21 May 2020}} He has also taught as a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh (1994), Columbia University (2001), University of California, Los Angeles (2008), and University of California, Berkeley (1997 and 2015).

In November 2018 Abrahamian was elected president of the Board of Trustees of the Matenadaran.{{cite news |title=Matenadaran Foundation has new president of board of trustees |url=https://armenpress.am/eng/news/953472.html |agency=Armenpress |date=6 November 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521180413/https://armenpress.am/eng/news/953472.html |archive-date=21 May 2020}}

Abrahamian is a corresponding member of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (2006). In 2009 Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan awarded him the title of an Honored Worker of Culture.{{cite web |title=Decrees of the President of RA |url=https://www.president.am/en/decrees/item/190 |website=president.am |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521180152/https://www.president.am/en/decrees/item/190 |archive-date=21 May 2020 |language=hy |date=26 May 2009 |quote=Մշակույթի վաստակավոր գործչի` Լեւոն Հմայակի ԱԲՐԱՀԱՄՅԱՆԻՆ ազգագրագետ, ՀՀ ԳԱԱ հնագիտության եւ ազգագրության ինստիտուտի արդի ազգաբանության բաժնի վարիչ}}

Abrahamian's anthropological research focuses on ancient and modern Armenia and Armenians, including Armenian identity, comparative mythology, rituals, urban anthropology and the cultures of Australia and Oceania. He has authored five books and numerous papers.

His two English-language books, Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity (2001){{cite journal |last1=Astourian |first1=Stephan |title=Reviewed Work: Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity by Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy, Sam Sweezy |journal=Traditional Dwellings and Settlements Review |date=Spring 2002 |volume=13 |issue=2 |pages=75–76 |jstor=41757899 |quote=This beautifully produced volume broadens significantly the scope of Armenology in the West, all too often preoccu- pied only with medieval literary, theological, and historical texts, and with the issue of Greek or Persian influence. It will be of interest to Indo-Europeanists, students of the Caucasus, anthropologists, and all those interested in tradi- tional cultures and environments.}}{{cite journal |last1=Firkatian |first1=Mari A. |title=Reviewed Work: Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity by Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy |journal=The Russian Review |date=January 2003 |volume=62 |issue=1 |page=150 |jstor=3664563 |quote=...tographer, the book is extremely accessible to Western readers yet would satisfy Armenians as well.}}{{cite journal |last1=Birkalan |first1=Hande A. |title=Reviewed Work: Armenian FolkArts, Culture, and Identity by Levon Abrahamian, Nancy Sweezy |journal=The Journal of American Folklore |date=Spring 2004 |volume=117 |issue=464 |pages=202–203 |doi=10.1353/jaf.2004.0029 |jstor=4137827 |s2cid=161962094 |quote=Nevertheless, the jargon-free language, style, and conceptual organization of Abrahamian and Sweezy's book make it an important contribution to the study of art, culture, and history, and it establishes a good dialogue with its readers. Especially for those who are interested in a general knowledge of the Armenian people, this book is certain to become an important source.}} and Armenian Identity in a Changing World (2006){{cite journal |last1=Kotchikian |first1=Asbed |title=Reviewed Work: Armenian Identity in a Changing World by Levon Abrahamian |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |date=May 2008 |volume=40 |issue=2 |pages=315–316 |doi=10.1017/S0020743808080562 |jstor=30069615 |s2cid=162980194 |quote=This book is strongly recommended to anyone dealing with issues of changing identity in the post-Soviet space. The simple language of the author makes his research accessible to nonacademics and experts alike and gives the reader a chance to explore the process of post-Soviet transition. Overall, this is a great book that also lays the groundwork for further research on a little explored topic.}} received positive reviews.

• Abrahamian, Levon. Primitive Festival and Mythology (1983). Yerevan: Academy of Sciences of Armenian SSR Press (in Russian)
• Abrahamian, Levon, and Nancy Sweezy, eds. Armenian Folk Arts, Culture, and Identity (2001). Indiana University Press
• Conversations Near a Tree. Moscow: Languages of Slavonic Cultures, 2005, in Russian
• Abrahamian, Levon. Armenian Identity in a Changing World (2006). Mazda Publishers {{ISBN|1-56859-185-3}}
• Kharatyan, Hranush; Shagoyan, Gayane; Marutyan, Harutyun; Abrahamian, Levon. Stalinist Repressions in Armenia: History, Memory [Ստալինյան բռնաճնշումները Հայաստանում. պատմություն, հիշողություն, առօրյա] (2015). "Gitutyun" Publishing of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia (in Armenian)

• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/2741717 On Schneider's Symbolic Culture Theory]", Current Anthropology, Vol. 21, No. 2 (Apr., 1980), pp. 255–256
• "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/RSS1061-1428350381 The secret police as a secret society: fear and faith in the USSR]" Russian Social Science Review 35, no. 3 (1994), pp. 81–95.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/24674558 Typology of Aggressiveness and National Violence in the Former USSR]", International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Vol. 4, No. 3/4, (1996/97), pp. 263–278
• "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/AAE1061-195938028 Lenin as a trickster]" Anthropology & archeology of Eurasia 38, no. 2 (1999), pp. 8–26.
• "[https://www.jstor.org/stable/25597317 The Chained Hero: The Cave and the Labyrinth]", Iran & the Caucasus, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2007), pp. 89–99
• "[https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.2753/AAE1061-1959500301 From Carnival Civil Society Toward a Real Civil Society: Democracy Trends in Post-Soviet Armenia]" Anthropology & archeology of Eurasia 50, no. 3 (2012): pp. 11–50.
• "[https://muse.jhu.edu/article/707884 Velvet Revolution, Armenian Style]", Demokratizatsiya, vol. 26, n. 4, Fall 2018

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |title=Աբրահամյան Լևոն Հմայակի [Levon H. Abrahamyan] |url=https://www.sci.am/membersview.php?id=307&d=0&l=1&langid=1 |website=sci.am |publisher=National Academy of Sciences of Armenia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521171501/https://www.sci.am/membersview.php?id=307&d=0&l=1&langid=1 |archive-date=21 May 2020 |language=hy}}

{{cite web |title=Levon Abrahamian |url=http://iae.am/en/users/levon-abrahamian |publisher=Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521171759/http://iae.am/en/users/levon-abrahamian |archive-date=21 May 2020}}

{{cite web |title=Levon Abrahamian |url=http://www.academhistory.am/images/Patmabanasirakan_handes/Levon-Abrahamyan.pdf |publisher=Institute of History, National Academy of Sciences of Armenia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200521173513/http://www.academhistory.am/images/Patmabanasirakan_handes/Levon-Abrahamyan.pdf |archive-date=21 May 2020}}

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Category:1947 births

Category:Living people

Category:Armenian anthropologists

Category:Armenian ethnographers