Arlene Voski Avakian (born 1939) is an Armenian-American academic specializing in women's studies and food history.
Avakian came to the University of Massachusetts Amherst as a graduate student, helping to found the Women's Studies Program. She later joined the faculty at what grew into the university's Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She retired from UMass Amherst in 2011.
Avakian's papers are held in the university's archives collection.
Avakian was born in New York to Iranian Armenian and Turkish Armenian parents in 1939. Some of her experiences as child and young adult led her to her work in feminism. Due to the conservative nature of her childhood, Avakian married in order to distance herself from her family. She and her husband had two children together; one of her children, Neal, was on the autism spectrum, which was one of the factors that led her to her career path. AvakianâÂÂs marriage ended, and she eventually identified herself as a lesbian when she was 34. Her relationship with partner Martha Ayres lasted for 42 years.
AvakianâÂÂs Armenian-American and LGBTQ identities made a recognizable impact on her areas of academic specialty, and she acknowledges how her àunique identity has allowed her to contribute a valuable perspective to academia. Avakian notes there are very few people who âÂÂidentify as both Armenian and LGBTQ,â so her contributions to academia serve as representation for people who share AvakianâÂÂs complex identity.
Avakian originally attended Alfred University before transferring to Columbia University. During her time at Columbia University, she became âÂÂinvolved in womenâÂÂs studies.â She received a Bachelor of Science degree in Art History from Columbia University in 1961.
After a notable gap in her academic journey, she received her Master of Arts in American History-Social History of American Women from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1975. While she was obtaining her Master of Arts student at University of Massachusetts Amherst, Avakian tailored her academic experience to âÂÂfocus on the construction of identity, primarily regarding the interactions of components such as gender, race, ethnicity, and nationality.âÂÂ
One of the most notable elements of AvakianâÂÂs contributions while receiving her education was her role in helping to âÂÂco-found the new program in Women's Studies at UMass Amherst.â Her contributions were vital to the program's success, as she focused on incorporating diverse perspectives beyond traditional white feminism.
Avakian completed her EdD at University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1985, with her dissertation, "Culture and Feminist Theory: An Armenian American Women's Perspective." Her dissertation was a memoir, which she acknowledges as a reflection of the non-traditional nature of her academic journey.
Avakian notes the civil rights movement as one of the inspirations that led her to tailor her educational interests. In her words, âÂÂIt meant so much to me to see people who were oppressed standing up for themselves." AvakianâÂÂs rebellious spirit as a young person stemmed from her experiences of restrictive gender roles that impacted the trajectory of education, and eventually her career.
Another element that Avakian says jumpstarted her re-entry into education and helped her find her academic specialty was the feminist movement, which she discovered by âÂÂreading about it,â when she was 24 years old. Avakian was married to her husband at the time, and learning about the feminist movement caused her to reflect on her experiences. As she states, âÂÂâ¦I was a wife and mother and the women's movement said, you don't have to be this. You can be something else. The women's movement basically said, your life is not over.âÂÂ
The political elements of her education were also inspired by her experiences caring for her autistic son Neal. Avakian has explained that caring for her sonâÂÂs unique needs âÂÂgave [her] another view on the world and how it was for people who are not in the mainstream.â Overall, AvakianâÂÂs educational focus upon her re-entry into education were inspired by her exposure to the civil rights movement, the feminist movement, and her sonâÂÂs experiences as an autistic individual.
Avakian served a highly regarded Associate Professor at University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1993 to 2001. In 2001, she became a Professor as well as the Chair of the Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies department at University of Massachusetts Amherst. She remained in these positions until she retired in 2011.
Apart from her contribution to the âÂÂnationally-recognized Department of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studiesâ àat University of Massachusetts Amherst, Avakian has contributed to scholarship relating to the causes closest to her heart, which she identified at various stages throughout her life. Her contributions to academia have been significant, and she has used her unique perspective and identity to inform her scholarship "on topics ranging from the lives and experiences of Armenian American and African American women to culinary history and the construction of whiteness.âÂÂ
One of AvakianâÂÂs most notable contributions to academia is that she is one of the figures that âÂÂhelped shape the concept of women's studies as a legitimate field.â In addition to helping shape the field of womenâÂÂs studies, Avakian notes the role of both Black studies as being integral to the trajectory of her academic career. Her focus in the development of womenâÂÂs studies as a department was to create a field that centralizes matters of race in the study of gender. àIn AvakianâÂÂs own words, âÂÂNow, race is in the center of that department, alongside of gender. It's not displacing gender, it's enriching it.âÂÂ