The Armenian Women's Movement in the Late Ottoman Empire - (Armenians in the Modern and Early Modern World) by Hasmik Khalapyan (Paperback)

About the Book

The history of Ottoman Armenian women, 1874-1914

Book Synopsis

The last decades of the Ottoman Empire saw heated debates about and changes to the role of women in society. This book analyses the history of the women's movement among Ottoman Armenians. Examining debates on the role of women in the Armenian context, Armenian women's access to education, work and marriage rights, it reveals how women were empowered by nationalist discourses and the wider movement for reform in the empire, and the ways these limited or broadened women's activism. Drawing from a wide array of archival primary source material, it provides a comprehensive and comparative analysis of changes to the socio-economic, political, cultural status of Ottoman Armenian women from end of the Tanzimat period to the outbreak of World War I.

Review Quotes

"This work with its clear, succinct language and brevity is perfectly suited for an undergraduate
survey course ... Its accessibility in no way diminishes its robust theoretical grounding, which situates this work, as its title implies, at the intersection of postcolonial, subaltern, and women and gender studies." --European History Quarterly

"Khalapyan's examination of Armenian feminist writers narrates the intertwined histories of Ottoman Turks and Armenians. The writers she taps across five languages were central to the rise of Armenian national consciousness in the late Ottoman Empire. A much-needed manuscript in the field, it situates Ottoman Armenian feminism within the broader global movement for women's liberation." --Professor Elyse Semerdjian, Clark University, US

"Meticulously researched through Armenian, Turkish, French and Russian sources, this most impressive book
traces the historical emergence of the Armenian women's movement by triangulating Europe (modernity),
the Ottoman Empire (imperial state), and its colonial subjects (Armenian community). The empirical focus on local
dynamics reveals three endeavors that actualize the new emerging Armenian womanhood: i) taking care of the nation
through organized charity and education; ii) campaigning for paid labor and a job market for women; iii) improving
marriage and the family. Theoretically, the author cogently demonstrates how social movements negotiate local,
national and global conditions and how women's movements in particular undergird these negotiations. A must read
for those interested in how women imperial subjects employ their agency to study the intersection of history, modernity, and empire as Ottoman Armenian women do."" --Fatma Müge Göçek, Professor, University of Michigan, USA

"An important contribution to our understanding of the gender politics permitting Armenian feminists to navigate extremely troubled waters!" --Suraiya Faroqhi, Professor, Ibn Haldun University, Turkey

"This well-researched volume makes good use of both primary and theoretical sources, as exhibited in the wide-ranging bibliography, which cites works in Armenian, English, Russian, French, and Turkish. The monograph also boasts helpful appendixes that discuss periodicals and people not well known outside Armenian studies." --Choice

About the Author

Hasmik Khalapyan is an Associate Professor at the American University of Armenia, Armenia.