The new Armenian woman, Armenian women's writing in the Ottoman Empire, 1880-1915

grantor: University of TorontoThis dissertation examines the creation of a feminist discourse in the literary texts of the Armenian women writers, Srpuhi Dussap (1841-1901), Zabel Asatur (Sibyl) (1863-1934) and Zabel Esayian (1878-1943;) in the years from 1880 to 1915. The discourse these three authors constructed constitutes an important aspect of the Armenian intellectual tradition as well as being part of the nineteenth-century international movement for women's rights. Armenian feminist discourse shares similarities with women's movements in Europe, particularly in France, while reflecting unique concerns based on Armenian women's position as an ethnic and religious minority in the Ottoman Empire. Armenian feminist discourse demonstrates a concern with the idea of the rights of the individual which is a product of the ideology of the French Revolution of 1789. Armenian intellectuals, male and female, applied these concepts to their position as a minority within the despotic Ottoman state but women intellectuals took these ideas farther and applied them to the status of the Armenian woman. Armenian feminists used the concepts of fraternity, equality and liberty to argue for women's rights. Their engagement with European ideology should not obscure the fact, however, that these authors were particularly concerned with the circumstances of the Armenian community within the Ottoman Empire. The authors recognized that Armenian women could not achieve emancipation without a corresponding advancement in the overall conditions of the Armenian people, while at the same time they asserted that the Armenian community could not progress without a change in the status of women. It is due to this understanding of the mutuality of female and national efforts for advancement that Armenian feminists advocated greater female participation in all aspects of Armenian community life. Armenian feminist discourse was concerned with the issue of redefining the relationship between women and men in marriage and with expanding women's opportunities in the public sphere, particularly in areas traditionally seen as the domain of men, such as the national movement, education and employment. The solution proferred by the authors to these sociological issues was the redefinition of Armenian conventions of femininity through the creation of the New Armenian Woman.Ph.D