'Homeland', Belonging and the Contested Politics of the Armenian Diaspora

For over forty decades, the notion of diaspora has been discussed in the context of global processes of de-territorialisation, transnationalism, and hybridity. Thus, ‘homeland’ became de-emphasised by postmodern critics questioning ideas of rootedness and homeland orientation. However, the Armenian diaspora has been discussed predominantly as an example of a classical or ‘victim’ diaspora, where the memory of exile, trauma, and eventual return are its key characteristics. Yet, memory is not static, nor are diasporic groups or the 'homeland'. Multiple migratory journeys, repatriation, ‘homeland’-‘hostland’ relations, conflicts, inter-group dynamics, and memory preservation play a significant role in how homeland is perceived, re-created, and experienced. This is particularly the case for the Armenian diaspora due to intertwined historical and socio-political reasons including not only the Genocide and loss of ancestral homeland, but also over a century of diasporisation, multiple migrations, assimilation, Sovietisation, the Nagorno-Karabakh (Artsakh) conflict, and the difficult socio-economic situation of the current Republic. These factors are of particular interest for this research, which explores the notion of the homeland for second and successive generations of diaspora Armenians in its multidimensionality – the homeland viewed as a physical space, shaped by dynamics of belonging and longing, affect and experiences, and the role these play in the negotiation of ‘dislocated identities’. Data were collected in the UK and the Republic of Armenia employing semistructured interviews as the main method of data collection. In addition, multi-sited field visits in Armenia and the UK were conducted, and diaspora and repatriate virtual spaces were explored. The data highlights the complexities of diasporic experiences in the ‘hostland’ and the ‘homeland’, the shifting nature of diasporic engagement, group dynamics of ‘otherness’. Focusing on the Velvet Revolution of 2018 and the Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war of 2020, this study explores diasporans’ and repatriates’ engagement in ‘homeland’ politics and conflicts.