CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2017
| Author | Muradyan, Anna |
|---|---|
| Title | Constructing the New Armenian Woman: Health and Hygiene in the Soviet Armenian Women's Magazine Hayastani Ashkatavoruhi (1924-1927) |
| Summary | This thesis examines how the Soviet gender policy was narrated in Hayastani Ashkatavoruhi [Armenian Female Worker], the women’s magazine, during 1924-1927. The main focus of the thesis is the “Health” section of the magazine because this is one section amongst others that was aimed to construct the New Armenian Woman’s body in a desirable way. This thesis aims to examine the impact of hygiene on body formation. It also attempts to open up conversation about hygiene as a neglected component left out of scholars’ attention. The main question of the thesis is: what messages did HA’s “Health” section convey to Armenian women? An important component to approaching this question was to understand how the Soviet gender policy constructed the Armenian woman’s body through hygiene directives. My analysis led me to finally argue that the “Health” section was shaping Armenian women as subordinate to Armenian men, as well as subordinate to Russian women. The thesis demonstrates this subordination as a result of the translation of health and hygiene directives by the “Health” section’s authors for the Armenian audience. This translation had two dimensions. First, it turned out that even though the magazine promoted public infrastructures to organize domestic work and childcare, the “Health” section authors delegated these issues to women. Second, while translating, the authors referred to Moscow and the Russian Woman as an example to follow, thus, shaping the New Armenian Woman as secondary to her Russian counterpart. This was also visible in the vision of the editor in chief of the magazine, who located the New Armenian Woman’s place between “the West” and “the East”. |
| Supervisor | Eliasova Vera |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2017/muradyan_anna.pdf |
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