Motherhood as A rmenianness: Expressions of Femininity in the Making of A rmenian National Identity

This article explores the discourses on gender roles and the place of A rmenian women in the A rmenian nation‐building process, especially focusing on the changes since the 1988 national movement formation. This study is based on extensive interviews conducted in A rmenia and K arabakh in 2011. Although A rmenian women were praised for their role during the nationalist movement of 1988 and the K arabakh war, they went back into their ‘traditional’ role in the aftermath. Motherhood is a strong concept in A rmenian women's (self‐)identification with their nation, constructing it as a unique A rmenian trait that distinguishes A rmenian women from ‘others’. The self‐expression of women highlights the authenticity of A rmenian constructions of femininity as motherhood, embedded in the national and ethnic self‐identification of A rmenian women. The concept of A rmenian motherhood is therefore a particular expression filtered through a distinct history of national struggle and genocide, and upheld by A rmenian women through that perception.