Cumulative
Results of the Armenian ‘Identity Poll’
by Dér Stépanos Dingilian, Ph.D.
©
Copyright 2001
As you have noticed, we have an ‘Identity Poll’ at the front page of our Web Site. The intent of this poll has been to get input from you, our site visitor, about the role the listed factors (Culture, Religion, etc.) play in developing the Armenian ‘Identity.’ The intent here has not been to dissect the Armenian Identity and determine its constituents. Rather, the intent is to understand the importance of each factor as viewed by our visitors. So, if ‘Culture’ is 88 and ‘History’ is 64, this means that the readers, on the average, find that Culture plays more of a role in their Armenian identity than their sense of History. However, this does not mean that if ‘Culture’ has a value of 88, then other factors have a total maximum value of 12. Therefore, these values are intended to bring out the relative importance of the Identity Factors, as opposed to be added to a total of 100 percentage points.
The factors came out with the following average values, starting from the highest: Culture – 88; Religion – 83; Traditions – 74; History – 64; Language – 62; Homeland – 57; Genocide 53; Food – 38.
Having said this, it is interesting that only Armenian ‘Food’ is a factor that is considered by our visitors as having an importance of less than 50%. The fact that the importance of ‘Food’ as an Identity Factor is less than 50% implies that:
(1) The old adage ‘You are what you eat,’ does not describe the group who visits this site. The stereotype of the Armenians getting together for the sake of ‘Armenian Food’ is not true, at least for those who get onto the Internet, visit our Site, and take the time to respond to our poll.
(2) Armenians take their sense of Identity more seriously and value it more than their simple everyday human needs, such as ‘Food.’ These persons care about, try to consciously think through, and intentionally guide and develop their sense of Identity.
(3) This group is most interested in the overall picture – the way of life, which is the ‘Culture’ (a value of 88). And the second most important factor to them is ‘Religion’ (a value of 83), which is the basis and foundation of this way of life, or Culture.
These implications are very important, and even encouraging for two reasons. First, because it says that those who visit this Site, read the articles and give their input, are persons who really care about their sense of Armenian Identity. And second, it says that not only do these people take their sense of Armenian Identity seriously, but they are sophisticated enough to care about its breadth (Culture), and depth (Religion).
A big Abreek! (Bravo!) for those who contributed, because it shows that you are sophisticated and really care about who you are!
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