ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8595-7044
Scopus Author ID: 57202206448
Researcher ID: AAS-2447-2021
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=AlEjMwUAAAAJ&hl=en&authuser=2
ResearchGate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Naira-Sahakyan-4?
Dr. Naira Sahakyan is Associate Professor of History and Armenian History Course Coordinator at the American University of Armenia. Her research focuses on the modern history of the Caucasus, the Russian and Ottoman Empires, nationalism, revolution, education, and intellectual history. She earned her Ph.D. in Humanities from the University of Amsterdam and has held visiting research appointments at the University of Cambridge, the University of Washington, and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her research has appeared in leading international journals. She is currently completing a monograph on Armenian intellectuals during the 1917 Russian Revolution under contract with Amsterdam University Press (CEU Press imprint).
Education
- PhD in Humanities, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 2021
- Dissertation Project: Muslim Reformism in Daghestan: Islamic Politics and Muslim
- MA in Islamic Studies, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia, 2013
- BA in Arabic Studies, Yerevan State University, Yerevan, Armenia
Research Interests
The modern history of the Caucasus and the Russian and Ottoman Empires, particularly nationalism, revolution, and intellectual history.
Current Research Activities
Research Projects
- Principal Investigator. Being or Becoming: Imperial Nation-Building and Subjectivity of the Ethno-Religious Groups in the Russian and Ottoman Empires, 1850s–1910s. Higher Education and Science Committee, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (MESCS RA), 2021–2027.
- Researcher. The Combination of Islam and Nationalism in the Neighboring Countries of Armenia (Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan, and Georgia): Identity and Policy Transformations. Higher Education and Science Committee, Ministry of Education, Science, Culture and Sports of the Republic of Armenia (MESCS RA), 2021–2027.
- Principal Investigator. From Testimony to Digital Reconstruction: Editing Public Narratives of the Armenian–Tatar Clashes in Mshak, 1905–1907. American University of Armenia JACE Research Excellence and Strategic Awards, 2026–2027.
Current Book Projects
- Sahakyan, N. Embers of Empire, Fires of Nation: Nationalism, Socialism, and Armenian Intellectuals in the Revolutionary South Caucasus. Under contract with Amsterdam University Press (CEU Press imprint).
- Kirmse, S., & Sahakyan, N. (Eds.). Handbook of the History of the Caucasus. Edited volume proposal submitted and currently under review.
- Sahakyan, N., Laycock, J., & Kartashyan, A. (Eds.). Schooling the Empire: Education, Borders, and Subjectivity in the Russian and Ottoman Borderlands (1850s–1910s). Edited volume proposal submitted and currently under review.
Selected Publications
Monographs
Shikhaliev, S., & Sahakyan, N. (2027). Witness to upheaval: ʿAlī al-Ghumūqī and the 1917 Revolution in Daghestan—A study and sourcebook of annotated translations. Lockwood Press.
Sahakyan, N. (2023). Armenian price of peace: The revolutions of 1917 and the future of Armenia in the perception of the Armenian intelligentsia [In Armenian]. Newmag.
Sahakyan, N. (2022). Muslim reformers and Bolsheviks: The case of Daghestan. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003279457
Edited Chapters
Sahakyan, N. (2026). The newspaper Jarīdat Dāghistān and the revolutionary discourse of Daghestani reformists. In F. Schedewie & D. Dierks (Eds.), Imagining the future in Russia's February Revolution 1917: Instant voices in the press across the empire. Brill. (Accepted for publication)
Sahakyan, N. (2026). Armenian official discourse on the Karabakh conflict, 1991–2020. In The 44-Day War: Armenia, Azerbaijan, and the Struggle for Nagorno-Karabakh (Vicken Cheterian, Ed., pp. 95–110). I.B. Tauris.
Սահակյան, Ն. (2025). Հայաստանի պաշտոնական խոսույթը Ղարաբաղյան հակամարտության շուրջ. 1988–2020. In Վ. Չըթըրյան (Խմբ.), Կոտրված վահան. Արցախյան 44-օրյա պատերազմի բազմաշերտ վերլուծություն (էջ 109–128). ՆյուՄեգ.
Sahakyan, N. (2024). Ascending from paternal legacy to victorious leadership: Ilham Aliyev's sources of legitimacy after decades of rule. In N. Sahakyan & H. Cabayan (Eds.), A socio-political assessment of Turkish and Azerbaijani presidents Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Ilham Aliyev: A white paper. ARPA Institute.
Peer-Reviewed Articles
Sahakyan, N. (2026). From hope to dissolution: Lenin's "peace without annexations" and the question of Turkish Armenia. Revolutionary Russia. https://doi.org/10.1080/09546545.2026.2620863
Shikhaliev, S., & Sahakyan, N. (2025). Reinterpreting the 1917 Revolution in Daghestan: Conflicting narratives and the vernacular perspective of Ali Kaiaev. Caucasus Survey. https://doi.org/10.30965/23761202-bja10050
Sahakyan, N., & Kartashyan, A. (2025). Shifts in Azerbaijani discourse: Heydar Aliyev's rhetorical transformation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict negotiation process. Small Wars & Insurgencies, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1080/09592318.2024.2443297
Sahakyan, N. E. (2024). Framing the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict: An analysis of the narratives of the state leaders of Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey, 2002–2022. Central Asian Survey, 43(3), 383–399. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634937.2024.2308627
Sahakyan, N. (2022). The rhetorical face of enmity: The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict and the dehumanization of Armenians in the speeches by Ilham Aliyev. Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. https://doi.org/10.1080/14683857.2022.2153402
Reports
Karamyan, S., & Sahakyan, N. (2026). Armenia. In Yearbook of Muslims in Europe (Vol. 17). Brill.
Karamyan, S., & Sahakyan, N. (2024). Armenia. In Yearbook of Muslims in Europe (Vol. 16, pp. 41–53). Brill.
Karamyan, S., & Sahakyan, N. (2024). Armenia. In Yearbook of Muslims in Europe (Vol. 15, pp. 28–40). Brill.
Sahakyan, N. (2023, October 11). Enhancing political accountability through academic responsiveness: A policy perspective on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. EVN Report. https://evnreport.com/readers-forum/enhancing-political-accountability-through-academic-responsiveness/