A Good Soldier and a Good Mother: New Conditions and New Roles in the Nagorno-Karabakh War

Abstract

This article dedicated to the study of women’s behaviour in times of war is based on several interviews with “Satenik”, a woman who served as a senior lieutenant and head of a medical battalion during the war in Nagorno-Karabakh Republic. The article explores the social trajectory and the reasons that led her to go to the front; it reflects on the difficulties faced by a woman at the front, the relations to her fellow soldiers and the consequences of her confrontation to violence; it shows somehow paradoxically that it was easier for here to find her place at the front, when social norms were temporarily lifted, than after the war. The articles concludes with a reflection on gender and national identity through the experience of those rare women who deviated from generally accepted gender roles.