CAS Guest Lecture. The Politics of 'No!': Armenia's National Survival and Queer Futures

Abstract: In this talk, based on my recent book Survival of a Perverse Nation: Morality and Queer Possibility in Armenia (Duke University Press, 2024), I discuss the intricate links between two popular rhetorics in Armenia at the time of my research (2012-2014): aylaserutyn (sexual perversion, attributed by right wing nationalists and by mainstream media to the figuration of the homosexual, and aylandakutyun (moral perversion) attributed by residents of Yerevan (largely working class) to the figure of the oligarch. These were both, critically, moral and not necessarily political narratives that resided in a seemingly overwhelming feeling that the nation was on a perverse path toward its annihilation. According to these narratives of perversion, Armenia was missing proper Father figures both as national leadership as well as within households, leading the nation on deviant and improper paths toward becoming something other than Armenia. I locate what I call the politics of "No!" as forms of aesthetic and stylistic refusal of these daddy politics, drawing on examples from grass roots initiatives aimed at democratic and not necessarily moral futures, and argue that rather than mourning these perverse presents lingering on the nation's survival, we might locate in them queer futures toward liberation.

Bio: Tamar R. Shirinian is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Her work explores themes of gender, sexuality, and political economy and especially their interconnectedness in the postsocialist world, focused particularly on the Republic of Armenia. Tamar's first book, Survival of a Perverse Nation: Morality and Queer Possibility in Armenia, which explores homosexual panic and its ties to post-Soviet crises in social reproduction, was published by Duke University Press in 2024. She is currently working on a second book manuscript, tentatively entitled Yakhq and Other Feminisms from the Post-Second World, which investigates post-Soviet ideologies and practices of feminism as well as their tensions with one another. Tamar was the co-editor of the 2018 Armenian Review special issue entitled Queering Armenian Studies is the editor of the forthcoming volume Toward a Political Economy of Intimate Life: Social Reproduction Revisited (Emerald, 2026), is working on a co-edited volume entitled It is Possible to Cry for the Whole World: Reflections on Armenian Feminist Solidarities (Wayne State University Press), and has published numerous articles in journals such as Feminist Formations, American Ethnologist, Gender & Society, PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review, and Anthropology and Humanism amongst others. Additionally, she is the co-editor of the "Third Space" section of the Journal of Middle East Women's Studies, a member of the 61 Collective in Armenia, and the co-host of the Other Armenias Podcast (available on YouTube and Spotify).

Zoom: 950 7881 1372
https://umich.zoom.us/j/95078811372

Accommodation: If there is anything we can do to make this event accessible to you, please contact us. Please be aware that advance notice is necessary as some accommodations may require more time for the university to arrange.
Email: -- armenianstudies@umich.edu

Co-sponsors:
Department of Women and Gender Studies, U-M, National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR)