“As Brave as Armenak Efendi”

Abstract


 
 
 This article examines the different ways in which masculinity and ethnicity were mu- tually constructed during the Great War and the Armenian Genocide by analyzing the memoirs of Armenak Melikyan, an Armenian cavalry officer in the Ottoman Army. It discusses why Melikyan emphasized in his memoirs certain values, such as dutiful- ness, resourcefulness, and hard work, which were all firmly associated with the he- gemonic masculine model of citizen-soldiers in the late Ottoman Empire. The article further examines the emphasis Melikyan laid on the public recognition he received for his qualities as an officer from Muslim/Turkish superiors, thus reflecting both ethnic and gendered hierarchies in the army. The article argues that many Armenian soldiers in the Ottoman army performed according to hegemonic masculine models in order to defend their precarious masculinity against physical and psychological challenges. This allowed them to remasculinize themselves in the context of the Great War and the Genocide. The article contributes to the study of military memoirs in the late Ottoman Empire by underlining the relation between social and cultural norms and expecta- tions on the one hand and the individual self-perception of military experiences on the other, in the context of the war and ethnic violence.