Armenian American

In the four years since its publication, Peter Balakian's Black Dog of Fate has become standard reading for Peace Corps Armenia volunteers. Corresponding via email, the author discusses the experience of diaspora in the States and tells us how they feel about the homeland.

When you were in college, your father encouraged you in a letter "to visit the homeland one day." Have you?

Yes, I visited Armenia in 1987; it was a marvelous trip and a wonderful time there. I hope to go back soon.

Armenian officials would like to see diaspora return for good.

I don't think the diaspora will return to Armenia for good. It's unrealistic to expect people who have built lives for decades or a century or more to leave them. Also, the diaspora is a source of power and wealth, which is now important for Armenia's future. I think diaspora-Republic dynamics will be good for all.

Armenia ranks second, per capita, in aid from the United States and some here-including Armenians-believe that the republic has become something of a welfare state.

I think Armenia needs foreign aid. I have no problem with that. Developing countries and new countries need help from powerful countries with lots of resources. This helps growth to get started.

Is it the political state or the spirit of the nation that is most important to Armenian diaspora?

I think both are important; they fuel each other and are a part of each other. After the 1915 Genocide, the idea of an Armenian spirit-as an invisible nation-became inevitable.

What about your life experience makes you part of the diaspora?

I've written about this in my memoir Black Dog of Fate. Growing up with Armenian customs and rituals, growing up with an Armenian ethos and chemistry in the family and house; these are essential. Everything from cuisine to church to a general consciousness about Armenian issues and culture. Reading Armenian-American literature for me was crucial; it doesn't have to be in Armenian, although that would be great if one could read it, which I can't. But in the works of Saroyan, the paintings of Arshile Gorky, the sculpture of Rueben Nakian, one experiences Armenia too-and deeply. Being Armenian is very much then about consciousness and feeling and sensibility, but it is also about working for the causes that help the Republic, about working for humanitarian aid for Armenia, about telling the Armenian story to the general public.

Peter Balakian won the PEN/Martha Albrand Prize for Memoir in 1998. He currently teaches American Poetry and Genocide & War at Colgate University.