ABSTRACT
The marriage of men and women of Armenian descent with non-Armenians is assumed to be the key to assimilation that will obliterate Armenian presence in the United States—the final straw on the camel's back, so to speak. Interestingly, Armenian-Americans do not realize, as the evidence from the New York survey has shown that statistically intermarriage is of secondary significance to the passing of generations in the United States and religious affiliation. The chapter aims to analyze the pervasive question of assimilation that has perplexed Armenians ever since they settled in the United States of America over a century ago. The ethnic background of respondent's spouse is highly significant with generational standing; the longer the generational presence in the United States, the higher the probability of Armenian exogamy. Armenianness becomes voluntary, conscious, rationalistic, segmental, transitory, sporadic, that is, symbolic. Likewise, the sentimentalization of symbolic Armenianness follows a general trend toward steeping one's intimate social relations with affect.
