TY - JOUR

T1 - Subversive friendships

T2 - Turkish and Armenian encounters in transnational space

AU - Kasbarian, Sossie

AU - Oktem, Kerem

PY - 2014/5

Y1 - 2014/5

N2 - Kasbarian and Öktem explore the extent to which ‘political friendships’ between Armenians, Turks and Kurds—members of communities antagonized by the traumatic experience of genocide—can subvert hegemonic power arrangements of denial and nationalist mobilization. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with a group of Armenians and Turks in London, their paper explores how the members of this group experienced a transformation of their subject positions by facing each other's stories, gradually overcoming insecurities and fears of the Other. This dynamic process precipitated a shift of position, individually and collectively, enabling the formation of a community that acted beyond the confines of the reigning logics of nationalist projects. They argue that, in the relatively level playing field of the transnational, political and other friendships can develop to the point of becoming ‘moral communities’ that challenge established status quos and unequal power relations. Friendship and interpersonal relations that transgress these boundaries undermine reigning discourses and are, ultimately, political acts. However, these ‘low’ politics interactions still face the reality of ‘high’ politics, structured by the actions of an overbearing and semi-democratic Turkish state, the political expedience of third countries and a factious Armenian diaspora.

AB - Kasbarian and Öktem explore the extent to which ‘political friendships’ between Armenians, Turks and Kurds—members of communities antagonized by the traumatic experience of genocide—can subvert hegemonic power arrangements of denial and nationalist mobilization. Based on participant observation and in-depth interviews with a group of Armenians and Turks in London, their paper explores how the members of this group experienced a transformation of their subject positions by facing each other's stories, gradually overcoming insecurities and fears of the Other. This dynamic process precipitated a shift of position, individually and collectively, enabling the formation of a community that acted beyond the confines of the reigning logics of nationalist projects. They argue that, in the relatively level playing field of the transnational, political and other friendships can develop to the point of becoming ‘moral communities’ that challenge established status quos and unequal power relations. Friendship and interpersonal relations that transgress these boundaries undermine reigning discourses and are, ultimately, political acts. However, these ‘low’ politics interactions still face the reality of ‘high’ politics, structured by the actions of an overbearing and semi-democratic Turkish state, the political expedience of third countries and a factious Armenian diaspora.

KW - Armenian genocide

KW - diasporas

KW - low politics

KW - moral communities

KW - nationalism

KW - political friendships

KW - transnationalism

KW - Turkey

U2 - 10.1080/0031322X.2014.900208

DO - 10.1080/0031322X.2014.900208

M3 - Journal article

VL - 48

SP - 121

EP - 146

JO - Patterns of Prejudice

JF - Patterns of Prejudice

SN - 0031-322X

IS - 2

ER -