Queer Nationalism during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War: social media, ‘homo-nationalist’ attempts and cruel optimism
This research examines the gendered life histories and everyday nationalist practices of queer/LGBTQI+ subjects in Azerbaijan during the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War. It investigates queer communities with a particular interest in nationalist, militarist, anti-militarist and anti-nationalist queer subjects while employing the theoretical concepts such as banal nationalism (Billig 1995), cruel optimism (Berlant 2011), and homonationalism (Puar 2007). By engaging with these concepts, the research explores queer and LBGTQI+ perspectives that are subject to a larger Azerbaijani heteronormative nationalist culture while focusing especially on queer expressions of nationalism during the War in 2020. Methodologically, this research builds on ethnographic research conducted between May 2021 and July 2022, along with an analysis of social media posts by nationalist queer subjects published between September and December 2020. An expected outcome of this research project is the publication of a chapter in an edited volume by Routledge, scheduled for release in 2026.
References:
- Berlant, Lauren. 2011. Cruel Optimism. Durham: Duke University Press.
- Billig, Michael. 1995. Banal Nationalism. London: Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage.
- Puar, Jasbir K. 2007. Terrorist Assemblages: Homonationalism in Queer Times. Next Wave. Durham: Duke University Press.
Main Research Interests
- queer ethnography
- queers in exile
- post-Soviet
- Azerbaijan
- homonationalism
Curriculum Vitae
- Department of Gender Studies of the London School of Economics and Political Science (visiting research fellow at the LSE under the supervision of. Dr. Aiko Holkiviki – September-December 2023)
- October 2021- September 2023 – Adjunct Lecturer at Institute of Ethnology at Charles University
- October 2022-July 2023 – Guest Lecturer and Expert at the University of Applied Sciences Potsdam in Social Work programme
Publications and Presentations
- Zamanov, Ramil. 2024. ‘Military, LGBTQI+ and State Violence in Azerbaijan’. In Exploring Masculinities in the South Caucasus: Forms, Hierarchies and Challenges, edited by Henri Myrttinen, David Gabunia, Lasha Kavtaradze, Durna Safarova, and Armen Ohanyan, 264–311. Tbilisi: Heinrich Böll Stiftung.
- Zamanov, Ramil. 2023 ‘Militarised Masculinities: Analysis of Hegemonic Azerbaijani Masculinities During the II Nagorno Karabakh War’. In Memory of Central and Eastern Europe Past Traumas, Present Challenges, Future Horizons, edited by Alena Marková and Mariia Kuznetcova, 119-45. Prague: Karolinum Press.
- Zamanov, Ramil. 2022.‘Challenges of Gender Studies in Azerbaijan’.IN:SIGHTS: International Student Journal of Anthropology 1(1):184–91.
- Zamanov, Ramil. 2022. Book review: ‘Anthropological Data in the Digital Age’. Emotion, Space and Society, 45: 1-2.