Belonging and Longing: Armenian Youth and Diasporic Long‐Distance Nationalism in Contemporary Russia

This paper examines the question of long‐distance nationalism and Armenian youth in contemporary Russia. It contributes to existing debates on diasporic cultural identities and shows that long‐distance nationalism is not simply an elite‐driven phenomenon, but involves complex cultural, political, and symbolic processes and practices. Drawing on data obtained during six months of ethnographic fieldwork amongst Armenian youth in the city of Krasnodar, Southern Russia, it will be shown that young Armenians exhibit aspects of diasporic long‐distance nationalism in different ways. While young Armenian men hold on to cultural traditions and practices that are formed in the past, female research participants have started to challenge them.