On Wednesday, August 31, 2022, Dr. Carlos Antaramian of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM) gave an interesting talk on the Armenians of Cuba and Mexico.
As a cultural anthropologist Dr. Antaramian has diligently and consistently collected various sorts of documents, paper clippings, photos, eye witness accounts, registered songs and other tangible materials related to the history of the said communities.
Based on digitized material of the registers of the municipalities in different cities of Cuba and Mexico, Dr. Antaramian reconstructed the story of these communities validated through a power point presentation of a rich collection of photographs.
Dr. Antaramian noted that though Armenian traces went back to the late 17th century, he argued that Armenians were active during the 1920s. Indeed, an Armenian school functioned, as well as theater performances, field trips, community activities, party chapters etc. throughout the 1920s.
Dr. Antaramian explained the reasons why the Armenians came to Cuba and Mexico and why they settled in these countries.
Indeed, his lecture transformed the ‘imagined communities” of Cuba and Mexico into tangible Armenian realities.