Feminist and Queer Ideas in the Armenian Literary World: Some Highlights and Insights

In this talk, Deanna will take a deep dive into key moments from the literary sphere that illuminate how “feminism” has been discussed, conceived, and contested in the Armenian world over the 20th century. Beginning with the question of why we might speak of “feminism in the Armenian world” rather than “Armenian feminism,” the talk will reflect on how this distinction reshapes the conversation and opens space for a more expansive feminist praxis in a world shaped by the violences of the ethnonational state. The talk will also consider the role of queerness in these discussions, asking how queer perspectives might challenge normative understandings of gender, as well as un/belonging to “Armenianness” as a category.

To move toward some answers, Deanna will examine two case studies that bookend the 20th century: publications in the mainstream feminist press of one of the Armenian transnation’s imperial centers, early-20th-century Constantinople; and queer feminist literary works emerging from the Republic of Armenia and various diasporic geographies. While not exhaustive of the many sites where Armenians have debated feminism, these works help us trace both the mainstream and radical ways feminism has been mobilized-and consider which legacies might be abandoned, and which cultivated, for feminism moving forward.

The talk will be in English.

With love,
FemLibrary