When Individuals leave their homeland and come together to form communities that foster their cultural and ethnic heritage in a new country, this constitutes a Diaspora. Usually, there is a specific event that causes the displacement of an ethnic group; for example, the Armenian genocide or the African slave trade which forced millions of people to be displaced from their homeland.
The Armenian diaspora has been forming since the 16th century when thousands of Armenians were moved to Isfahan, Iran when there was military conflict between the Ottoman and Safavid empires on Armenian land. Since then, Armenians established schools and other institutions where they could socialize and practice Armenian culture.
Some cultures experience multiple counts of displacement. For example, Glendale California is home to millions of Armenians, many of which did not come directly from Armenia. Some come from Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and more. Despite these multiple counts displacement, these individuals often identify themselves as Armenian. Thus, Diasporas function as a structure that maintains cultural identity trans-generationally so that even though one might say my great-great grandparents were born in Iran, I still feel as though I am Armenian.
The stories of migration our parents, grandparents, or great grand parents experienced are very valuable histories that makeup part of our identity. It is important to tell these stories, to archive them, and preserve our family's experiences so that they don't get lost.
In the story below we follow Vaheh's journey of migration from Iran and to the United States. Around 200,000+ Armenian-Iranians emigrated from Iran after the 1979 revolution. The revolution contested Iranian identity and the Armenians who carried a long, multi-generational lineage in Iran, faced backlash from the new Islamic Regime.
Below is the story of Vaheh, my father, who traveled from Iran to the United States. The storymap that I made contains information from conversations we had together. Look through the complex path of migration that Vaheh faced and think about using the storymap tool to tell your own story or a story that you think is important.
*This media was created using Knightlab's Storymap feature*