Syrian-Armenian Women Migrants in Armenia

Anahid Matossian is the Women, Peace and Security Subject Matter Expert at Marine Corps University, USA. She received her PhD in Anthropology from the University of Kentucky, USA.

An excellent ethnographic analysis of Armenian women in the twenty-first century, focusing on the lived experiences of Syrian Armenian women who were forcibly displaced after 2011 to Armenia, their new homeland in the east. Interviews with Syrian Armenian women entrepreneurs, Armenian state officials trying to create citizens out of them, and self-reflexivity experienced by the American-Armenian author with origins in Syria capture the painful process of belonging in the polity, economy and everyday life in Armenia. This process of belonging is a long journey for all Armenians, originating in the 1915 Armenian Genocide when all Western Armenian speaking Ottoman imperial subjects were either destroyed or were forced to settle outside of the Ottoman Empire, in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon in this instance.

• List of Figures A Note on Language and Transcription List of Interlocutors Chapter 1 Introduction Part I. Armenians in Syria Part II. Syrian Armenian Women in Armenia Part III. Overview of Book Chapters Chapter 2 Hayrenatartzutyun [Repatriation]: “Repatriates, Not Refugees” Part I. Painful Belonging in Syria Part II. Painful Belonging in Armenia Part III. Positive Reception in ArmeniaPart IV. Safety in Armenia Part V. Refugee Status: UN Definition, Status, and Its Effects in Armenia Part VI.“You Can't Eat a Passport”: Moralizing Legal Status Decision-Making in Armenia Conclusion Part II. Destruction of Physical Homes and “Sense of Possibility” Part III. Homemaking in Syria and Armenia ConclusionChapter 4 Beckoned by, and Belonging to, the State Part I. The Idea of the (Armenian) State Part II. Collective Memory of the Armenian Genocide and Return Narratives Part III. State Anxiety and Expanded Citizenship Processes Part IV. The Performativity and Discursive Power of the “Beckoning” Armenian State Conclusion Chapter 5 “I Can Work, I Can Get on My Feet”: Syrian Armenian Women Entrepreneurs Part I Brief Overview of Women Entrepreneurs Part II Western Armenian Embroidery and Female Survivors Part III Syrian Armenian Women Entrepreneurs and Western Armenian Embroidery Part IV Participant Observation in Western Armenian Embroidery Classes Conclusion Chapter 6 The Syrian Armenian Brand Part I. The Syrian Armenian “Brand” Part II. Performativity and Syrian Armenian Exhibition Sales Part III. Local Employee Perspectives on Brand Implementation Conclusion Chapter 7 “Women Are in the Driver's Seat Now”: Changing Gender Dynamics from Syria to Armenia Part I. Gender Dynamics in Syria Part II. Gender Dynamics in Armenia Chapter 8: ConclusionEpilogue: From One War Zone to Another: Syrian Armenian Migrant Women and the Artsakh Conflict Syrian Mercenaries, Specters of the Syrian Conflict Spirited to Artsakh Syrian Armenian Women and the Artsakh War Effort