Other Armenias Podcast

This is our March 8 episode for this year. Sona Baldryan joins us to discuss the Soviet-era magazine Armenia's Female Worker [Հայաստանի աշխատավորուհի]. Placed in context of when it was founded in the 1920s to today, we also talk about Bolshevik feminism, its major world-altering legacies, as well as how a concerted liberal project to destroy it has been changing the meanings of feminism as well as the political since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Long live the woman worker!

Մենք քննարկում ենք Ալեքսանդրա Կոլոնտայի 1923 թվականի տեքստը «Ճանապարհ արա թևավոր էրոսին. նամակ աշխատավոր երիտասարդությանը»։ Քննարկում ենք Կոլոնտայի գրվածքների տեսական և պատմական համատեքստը, բայց շատ ավելին։ Արդյո՞ք «սեր-ընկերություն» նախագիծը հաջողակ էր։ Կարո՞ղ ենք գտնել դրա հաջողության տարրեր և ժառանգություններ։ Ի՞նչ է նշանակում «սեր-ընկերություն»՝ Կոլոնտայի և մեզ համար։ Եվ ի՞նչ ներուժ ունի հեղափոխական սերը։

Kollontai's "Make Way for Winged Eros: A Letter to Working Youth" (English): https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/1923/winged-eros.htm

Մենք զրուցում ենք մաթեմատիկոս Գևորգ Մնացականյանի հետ այն մասին, թե ինչպես են մաթեմատիկան, նաև քվանտային մաթեմատիկան և ֆիզիկան օգնում մեզ մտածել մեր քաղաքական և սոցիալական աշխարհների մասին, ինչպես նաև դիմադրության և հեղափոխության հնարավորությունների մասին։

Ronald Grigor Suny talks to us about the Baku Commune, what it was and what it means for Armenian history and the possibilities yet for Armenian futures. We also get into how the Baku Commune is remembered or not remembered today and Ron's experiences as an Armenian American in the Soviet Union and how he became an expert of interest to the CIA years later.

Մենք Զառա Հարությունյանի հետ զրուցում ենք այն մասին, թե ինչ է նշանակում Հայաստանի համար լինել գլոբալ և կիսել գլոբալ ցինիզմի ու անհույսության զգացումները։ Այնուհետև զրույցը շարունակվում է այն հարցի շուրջ, թե ինչ պետք է անել և ինչպես կանխել ֆաշիզմի լիակատար վերելքը համաշխարհային կարգում, այդ թվում՝ հետխորհրդային տարածքում։

We talk to journalist Yuri Manvelyan about the institution of the Church and the political-economic and media role that it plays in Armenia. What kind of institution is the Church and where does its power lie? How is Pashinyan manipulating a criticism of the Church that avoids any political-economic critique and focuses on morality? And how does the media provide a platform, that continues to ignore actually important political and economic concerns for Armenians?

We talk to Nancy Kricorian about her four novels and what it means to write Armenian young women heroes. We also touch on the ways in which these stories also teach us about heroic everyday acts that women do today amid genocide in Gaza and what Armenian community building can be about.

Nancy Kricorian's novels:

Zabelle: https://groveatlantic.com/book/zabelle/

Dreams of Bread and Fire: https://groveatlantic.com/book/dreams-of-bread-and-fire/

All the Light There Was: https://shewritespress.com/product/all-the-light-there-was/

The Burning Heart of the World: https://redhen...

This is a spicy one, y'all. Milena and Tamar have an open dialogue about peace, what it means, and the difficult conversations it entails. It's raw, gets into some histories that are troubling, but we hope opens up good space for future conversations.

We discuss recent workers' strikes (over the past year) in Armenia - especially that of workers at Zangezur Copper and Molybdenum Combine and of Indian migrant workers at the Grand Textile factory in Ijevan - with Knar Khudoyan who has been writing on labor issues in Armenia for years as a journalist. We turn our attention, also, to what it means to be in the liminal period of the strike and the possibilities of freedom that it opens to as well as what constitutes work and labor.

Check out Khudoyan's article on the Zangezur strike here: https...

In this discussion with artist and filmmaker Varduhi Balyan, we talk about a film that she is currently making entitled Մեկի չգոյություն [The Non-Existence of One], which traces the experience of one man in a village in Armenia that is made up largely of Armenian residents of a village displaced from Azerbaijan in the early 1990s during the population exchange. This is a fascinating conversation about the question of belonging, displacement, safety, and what it means to live as a refugee and in exile. We weave together mourning (including queer mourning), memory, and what it means to call a place home.

Dr. Markar Melkonian talks to us about the non-revolutionary regime change of 2018 in Armenia, reflecting on the 1991 counterrevolution as well as revolutionary possibilities that continue to exist today and will exist in the future. We also discuss the Trump initiative in southern Armenia and its possible catastrophic consequences and how depending on imperialist powers for one's salvation has never led to salvation.

We talk to Garren Jansezian, writer and librarian, about the ways in which fascism has been expressed in the many Armenias - in the Republic as well as Diaspora. Garren's insight shows us that it is not just a few select Armenians who have been drawn toward fascist tendencies, but that fascism in its many iterations has drawn large segments of Armenians across time and place. Why is this the case? Listen and find out!

In this episode, with Sona Baldrian, we break down colonialism and decolonization as mechanisms, pointing to the dangerous misuses of the terms and concepts in Armenia's contemporary civil society. We discuss the role of capitalism, soft power, manufacturing consent and share our thoughts on what decolonizing Armenia would actually take.

We talk to artist Harut Simonyan about his experience in the art scene of Armenia - from the 1990s to the present day. Our discussion includes analyses of the ways in which art and the political are woven together, perhaps even dependent on one another and how art should be understood as the creation of new ways of life and living, as a social relation.

In this episode we talk to Ani Khachatryan, who has many years of experience in the environmental struggle in Armenia and especially in the movement against Lydian International's attempt at opening a gold mine in Amulsar in 2018. Ani talks to us about what it means to struggle for the environment, why it matters, and the major personal risks of being "an activist."

In this episode - the first of which we record TOGETHER, from the same place! - we discuss Armenia as a meeting ground, a place through which many come and share lives, worlds, friendships, and ideas, but also a place in which the power differentials through all of the other Armenias meeting in one place is starkly felt, especially for those who live in the Republic of Armenia. We also discuss our time together with friends and the collective - a performance, a trip, and relation as a way of life.

In this episode we talk to Raja Swamy about his new book Capitalism and Catastrophe: A Critical Disaster Studies Manifesto (https://www.berghahnbooks.com/title/SwamyCapitalism). Our conversation touches upon the arguments he makes in his book - about the need to refocus on capitalism as a constant and normalized disaster, which also now more than ever creates acute disasters as well as imperialist wars, genocide, and ethnic cleansing projects. But we also think through some of the applications of what he offers in the book to wider contexts, including Armenia. How might we fight both capitalism, with its...

Ի՞նչ է քվիրը։ Ի՞նչ է արվեստը։ Ի՞նչ է քաղաքականությունը։ Զրույց Լուսինե Թալալյանի հետ Այս եպիսոդում մենք արվեստագետ Լուսին Թալալյանի հետ զրուցում ենք «Քվիրինգ Երևան»-ի պատմության, կոլեկտիվի անվան մեջ «քվիր» տերմինի իմաստի և այն մասին, թե ինչպես է այն թարգմանվել որպես տարօրնակելով։ Մենք քննարկում ենք արվեստի, կյանքի և քաղաքականության միջև եղած փոխհարաբերությունների վերաբերյալ հարցերը Հայաստանում և դրանից դուրս, մասնավորապես քննարկելով քաղաքականի ավարտը 2018 թվականի Հայաստանում ռեժիմի փոփոխությունից հետո։ Զրույցը նաև անդրադառնում է հետխորհրդային «ՀԿ դասակարգին» և այն մասին, թե ինչպես է այս դասակարգը ձգտում վերարտադրվել, և ինչպես է դրա վերարտադրությունը ի վերջո օգտվում ԱՄՆ-ի և եվրոպական իմպերիալիզմի կողմից վաճառվող որոշ բռնի քաղաքական շրջանակներից։ Կարևոր է նաև մտածել դասակարգի դավաճան դառնալու հնարավորությունների և այն մասին, թե ինչ է պահանջվում նման քաղաքական-տնտեսական համատեքստում աշխատելը, ստեղծագործելը և պայքարելը։

In this episode, we talk to artist Lucine Talalyan about the history of Queering Yerevan, the meaning of the term "queer" in the collective's name, and how it was translated into տարօրինակելով. We unpack questions about the relationship between art, life, and politics in Armenia and beyond, discussing especially the end of the political after the 2018 regime change in Armenia. The conversation also covers the post-Soviet "NGO class" and how this class both strives to reproduce itself and how its reproduction ends up buying into some of the violent political frameworks sold by U.S. and European imperialism. Critically, we also think about the possibilities of becoming class traitors and what it takes to do continue working, making art, and participating in struggle in such a political-economic context. The discussion is in Armenian, but English subtitles are available on YouTube through the CC function.

In this interview, we talk with Svetlana Avagyan of Luys Yoga and @luyscast who works through various methods, including kinesiology and yoga, to heal women's birth trauma. We discussed how women, who are either made afraid of birthing naturally or who are discouraged from doing so otherwise, are led to cesarian sections that are assumed to be easier, leaving them with the potential for many health issues for decades as well as problems in transitioning to motherhood. Avagyan discussed her thesis on these matters and the ways in which she was confronted by her academic supervisors in Armenia when...

In this episode we interview authors of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine, Lara Sheehi and Stephen Sheehi. We talk about their concept of "reality bending" in the book and its many uses beyond the context of military occupation, apartheid, and today's genocide in Palestine - including how we might think about all of the realities in Armenia that are regularly bent. Sheehi and Sheehi also discuss the interconnections between Armenians and Palestinians and Arabs and all of the peoples who have historical belonging in the region - from shared life, to shared oppressions, and to shared liberation...

Milena and Tamar have a discussion on race, identity politics, assimilation, and the different racial regimes (across space and time) in which Armenians have been caught up and which affect how we each see our own positionalities. A very vulnerable discussion. Please leave comments!

In this episode we are joined by psychologist (and dear friend!) Lusine Sargsyan to discuss the politics of trauma in the context of Armenias and beyond - how trauma manifests in our psyches, our memories, and our bodies; how trauma is used by state narratives in order to justify various forms of violence; and the ways in which misunderstanding "intergenerational" and "transgenerational" trauma can have effects on how we make sense of our relations to each other, the past, the present, and the future.

Այս եպիսոդում մեզ միանում է հոգեբան (և սիրելի ընկեր) Լուսինե Սարգսյանը՝ քննարկելու տրավմայի քաղաքականությունը Հայաստանների և դրանցից դուրս համատեքստերում՝ թե ինչպես է տրավման դրսևորվում մեր հոգեկանում, մեր հիշողություններում և մեր մարմիններում, թե ինչպես է տրավման օգտագործվում պետական ​​​​պատմությունների կողմից՝ բռնության տարբեր ձևեր արդարացնելու համար, և թե ինչպես է «միջսերնդային» և «տրանսսերնդային» տրավմայի թյուրըմբռնումը կարող ազդեցություն ունենալ այն բանի վրա, թե ինչպես ենք մենք իմաստավորում մեր հարաբերությունները միմյանց, անցյալի, ներկայի և ապագայի հետ։

In this episode we interview Beirut-based writer and educator, Nayiri Baboudjian Bouchakjian. Listen to the interview and also read Nayiri's deeply touching work that explores loss, yearning, kindness, love, neighborliness and much more - all in the contexts of many other Armenias.

2025, "Teaching in Times of Genocide": https://www.pangyrus.com/essay-memoir/teaching-in-the-times-of-genocide/

2022, "The Ships are Coming": https://rustedradishes.com/the-ships-are-coming/ 2021, "Moments like August 4": https://sabeel.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/cornerstone-83.pdf

2021, "The Luxury of Pine Nuts": https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5896c16dcd0f689b98520558/t/6191cb60e2d3a630631259bd/1636944754815/HyeBred+issue+10+...

In this episode, we have a discussion with Nelli Sargsyan about how we each came to the struggle for the liberation of Palestine, what it means for us politically, especially in the context of genocide today, and how we connect it to Armenia.

In this episode, we talk to historian Gayane Ayvazyan about her article «Հայո՞ց, թե՞ Հայաստանի պատմություն» [“Armenians’ or Armenia’s History?”]. What were the forces that conspired to narrow down a wide Diaspora world into the focus and study of Armenian state as Armenia’s only, and singularly valuable, history? What is the role of capitalism and neoliberalism in such a narrowing? And what are the political, social, and cultural losses of this historical practice? Watch the interview for answers to these and other critical questions about Other Armenias.

In this episode, we talk to members of the Sixty One Collective, a new collective of feminists in Armenia who are working to create contexts for revolution. The discussion includes a brief history of the collective, reflections on what makes for a collective, as well some of the fascinating ways in which the collective is imagining life, world, love, and revolution for the present and the future.

The episode is in Armenia. For English subtitles, see the episode on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66JKWK2IvCk&t=2191s

Welcome to the launch of Other Armenias, a podcast by other Armenians for other Armenians! In this first episode, your hosts Tamar Shirinian and Milena Abrahamyan talk about the inspiration behind this podcast, what is meant by other Armenias and what you can expect to hear about in future episodes. Remember to subscribe to our channel and stay tuned for new episodes every other Friday!