Remembrance, Emotions and Women in Diasporic Communities: The Case of Armenian Women in Britain

This research aims to investigate the role of women’s remembrance and memory (in their everyday lives) on community-making. Because this study is interested in the way that memory and remembrance enable women to shape the communities around them. This is a complex process in which the everyday lived experiences of these women will be analysed to demonstrate that the most ordinary of actions can be rooted in past histories, remembered or imagined events, and the influence of past practices on these women. These are not just local practices though and it is hoped to demonstrate how the local becomes the national and even the international through everyday practices. As a case study, Britain-based Armenian diasporic communities are chosen for the research, and the following research questions are aimed to answer; do women in Britain-based Armenian diasporic communities remember particular events? Why and how are these important to these women? To what extent are women located in Britain-based Armenian diasporic communities active in what we may term nationalistic projects and narratives? How do they contribute to community-identity building? Are women effective in contributing to both national and international politics? If so how? Data will be collected by using semi-structured (online) interviews with women in Armenian diasporic communities in the UK (in London and Manchester) over 18 years old. The number of participants to be recruited is 30. Since online meetings are paid such attention more than before, since pandemic broke out, research interest has occurred to delve into these online spaces. Due to it has turned to the everyday practice of people to attend these kinds of online gatherings, for this study, it has gained more importance to look at how people experience these spaces and what cultural, social, political, discursive, and emotional meanings are circulated in these environments. For this reason as a complementary data collection method, virtual ethnography will be applied by observing participants in these virtual places.