Contact Information
Anthropology Department
607 S Mathews Ave, Urbana, IL 61801
Biography
Houry is a photographer and researcher of Syriac-Armenian origins. She is a sociocultural anthropology PhD student at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Houry is the co-founder of “Hi Haleb Հայ Հալէպ”– a digital community archive about the Aleppo-Armenian community. She’s a founding member of “Oral History Matters”– oral history based initiative at the American University of Armenia.
Research Interests
Anti-colonial methods, digital archives, food, Aleppo, Armenian studies, digital anthropology, visual cultures, photography, feminist theories, diaspora, ethnography, oral history, research creation, women studies, mapping/GIS, memory walks
Research Description
My research address issues of maintaining and losing archives in times of war and the role of oral history and ethnography in creating a collective community archive (Hi Haleb Հայ Հալէպ) of the Armenian community of Aleppo that was forced to migrate a second time after the genocide. I am trying to work around the question of how does the creation of Hi Haleb Հայ Հալէպ bridge the gap and bring together the community and unearth parts of Aleppo’s Armenian life that have not yet been documented, curated and accessible? and how can this archive serve as a focal point for knowledge creation.
Education
PhD in Sociocultural Anthropology (2024-in progress) | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
MA in Social Anthropology (2022) | Goldsmiths University of London
BA in English and Communications (2019) | American University of Armenia