Reimagining the Borders of the Textual Nation: The Case of Armenian Literary Periodical <em>Murch</em> and Women’s Writing

This article examines the space that the Armenian periodical press in the South Caucasus provided for Armenian women writers. It provides a broad historical overview of the discourse in the Armenian-language press and the place it assigned to women. It then focuses on the literary journal Murch [Hammer, 1889–1907] and two women writers who published in it, Mariam Khatisian (1845–1914) and Yekaterina Bahaturian (1870–1944). The political situation of the Armenians at the turn of the nineteenth century meant that the issues raised in the Armenian periodical press were intertwined with questions of nation. The nationalist discourse that emerged in the mid-century delineated acceptable interests and conduct for Armenian women. Armenian women cooperated in this discursive space, however, for as this article suggests, they also negotiated and interrogated the borders set for them by the nationalist discourse in the press.