Rethinking Borders and Identities in Armenian Education For Peaceful and Sustainable Coexistence

Borders have deep symbolic, cultural, historical, and religious meanings, and can therefore become mobilized for various political endeavors. Using a critical educational ethnographic approach, my dissertation examines educators’ memories of bordering practices and experiences to rethink national borders and identities in Armenian education. I argue that teachers have the potential to act as key change agents in transforming the Armenia-Azerbaijan and Armenia-Turkey conflicts of the Caucasus region through their distinctive influence both on curriculum and pedagogy, and by creating supportive learning environments in classrooms. This dissertation suggests that borders are central to the defining of identity – as studied among Armenians – and that border thinking has the potential to expand pedagogical practices to not only inform/(re)define identity, but also to sustain peace and make room for an alternative way of being that refutes the dichotomies of colonialism and imperialism, and other prevalent isms. Specifically, my research focuses on the ways in which the idea and reality of “the border” – as well as teachers’ memories of the “border” – shape classroom practices, textbook content, and pedagogical theory in post-conflict Armenia. This research analyzes the capacity and potential of educators to contribute to more peaceful relationships and makes clear the constraints of schools in fulfilling this role. My dissertation contributes to the current scholarship of border studies, post-Soviet transformations, and education in conflict territories by expanding the scope of pedagogical practices necessary for peaceful coexistence. Fieldwork for this study was conducted in Armenia between June 2019 and March 2020 with a one-month site visit in Turkey. This study includes textbook analyses, interviews with teachers, fieldwork observations, as well as document and visual analyses.