В тесных объятиях традиции. Патриархат и война

Abstract In the Tight Embrace of Tradition: Patriarchy and War Reconfiguration of Gender Relations among Karabakh Armenians

By Nona Shahnazarian

The book aims to study gender relations among Armenians in Nagorno Karabagh, an Armenian-majority enclave within Azerbaijan that became a de facto independent state following the Azerbaijan-Armenia war in the early 1990s. This book draws on empirical data obtained during eight months of ethnographic fieldwork in the town of Martouni in Karabakh (a district centre of the same name with approximately 5,000 inhabitants). This ethnographic research incorporates participant observation, semi-structured and in-depth interviews as well as thick' description of people and place. The author also interviewed Armenian migrants from Karabakh living in Krasnodar and Moscow.

This book explores the social transformations resulting from the military conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. While the region's infrastructure was almost completely destroyed during the conflict, old patriarchal models became strategies of resistance and survival. While in Soviet times official discourse embodied an egalitarian ideology, in Karabagh society today the revival of old patriarchal models and ideologies has acquired an official and dominant status. Such a return to patriarchy was simply dictated by survival during the Azerbaijan-Armenia war.Survival dictates such final transition to patriarchal models of adaptation (in contrary to official egalitarian ideology throughout the Soviet time). In these societies, the space of female activity (i.e. household) and passivity is clearly demarcated from the male space of articulation and the defense of the nation.

The book consists of six chapters — an introduction, four empirical chapters, and a concluding chapter. In Сhapter Оne on the Language as a Marker of Predominance and Subordination, the author describes the discursive field of gender relations in this region. This chapter examines the Karabaghi language which is a dialect of the Armenian language. In particular, the author analyses terms, customs, name-giving traditions, folklore texts, and phrases used during interviews. According to the author, the discursive practices are able to set the vectors and influence or determine community members' social behavior. The chapter represents a critique of androcentric discourse of the patriarchal society.

Chapter Two explores the social construction of femininity and the diverse gender roles of Karabakh Armenians in peaceful times. The first part of this chapter examines the role of married women in Karabakh society. It is shown that the marital status is the focus of the culture and the ‘right' woman is a married woman. The second part of chapter two scrutinizes the social reality of widowed women and the different strategies these women acquire to cope. Three major factors determine their choice of coping strategy: motherhood, patrilocality (virilocality) of marriage and severe social control.

Chapter Тhree deals with the re-construction of femininity during war and consequent migrations. As a result of the Karabakh war, family structures were changed substantially. Such a change is reflected in the shift from small nuclear families to large patriarchal ones. During the war, chaos and post-war disorganization, the institution of the small family faced difficulties that made it impossible for such a family to survive. Thus, Karabagh society experienced a revival of the big family tradition (gerdastan) as a means of survival. Post-war chaos and universal economic crisis were among the conditions that brought back the outdated practices of levirat forms of marriage as one of the means for survival and family reproduction under extreme circumstances.

Chapter Тhree also examines the image of the Armenian women-warrior. The author refers to the case of one woman to explore how women obtained a national-patriotic identity and under which conditions this identity becomes evident. In this part of chapter three the author also investigates what factors determine the choice of fighting in the war and what kind of relation exists between the national idea/local-patriotic identity and motherhood. The author emphasizes not to polarize these different identities.