Dr. Ani Shahinian joined the cataloging team at HMML in 2023, specializing in Armenian manuscripts. Shahinian earned her D.Phil. / Ph.D. in History and Theology at the University of Oxford. She holds an MA degree in Near Eastern and Languages and Cultures from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and a diploma in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Oxford. She received her BA in Philosophy, Ethics, Public Policy, and Professional Writing from the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). Shahinian's doctoral research addresses the question of Christian martyrdom in the context of political, economic, and ecclesiastical history in the Late Medieval Armenia. More broadly, Shahinian's research interests address questions of what it means to be human in a technological age, focusing on virtue-ethics and the freedom of the human will.

What she enjoys most about her work: “Encountering and engaging the treasures of the past. Ancient texts and artifacts are a gateway to the lives of people and their cultures across space and time. Through preserving and examining ancient Armenian manuscripts, I seek to build bridges between the present and the past, and inspire the modern person with a fuller understanding of what it means to be human today.”

Stories by Dr. Ani Shahinian

•   Witnesses of Light: Armenian Manuscripts as Testimony and Digital Memory After Genocide
•   Veiled in Ink: Armenian Women in Manuscripts
•   But Ask the Animals, and They Will Teach You
•   Postscript — Layers of Translation and Illumination in an Armenian Manuscript
•   The Mysteries & Rhythms of Nature, Seasons, and Time in the Armenian Liturgical Calendar
•   Music Awakens One’s Soul...