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Zabel Yesayan, woman and witness, or the truth of the mask

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 July 2015

Marc Nichanian
Marc Nichanian*
Affiliation:
Sabancı University, Cultural Studies Program, marcnichanian@gmail.com
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Abstract

The essay deals with Zabel Yesayan's supposed feminism, both in her literary production and her political activity. It shows that any attempt at a discourse of reconciliation on the basis of women's solidarity became impossible after 1909. This explains the tone of her 1911 testimony on the events in Adana and the powerful appeal to her Turkish compatriots for a future citizenship. Here Yesayan spoke as a witness, not as a woman any more. The fact that after 1911 Yesayan slowly opened for herself a new field of “feminine” writing should be interpreted along that line, as an unexpected consequence of her turnabout.

Keywords

feminismreconciliationtestimonyfeminine writingcitizenshipArmenian feminist writersZabel Yesayan
Type
Dossier on Gender, Ethnicity, and the Nation-State
Information
New Perspectives on Turkey , Volume 42 , Spring 2010 , pp. 31 - 53
Copyright
Copyright © New Perspectives on Turkey 2010

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