Ulrike ziemer - Women’s Everyday Lives in War and Peace in the South Caucasus

Cover image: Getty/Oleh_Slobodeniuk

Cover design by Ran Shauli and Frido Steinen-Broo

This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG

The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland

I am indebted to many individuals, on multiple levels, for support and assistance during researching and writing this book. First of all, I would like to express my gratitude to all research participants who shared their knowledge with me and the contributors in this edited volume. I am also enormously grateful to the authors in this edited volume for delivering on time and putting up with my endless comments and requirements.

A book like this one can be done only with the support of many different institutions. I am indebted to the University of Winchester and the USC Institute Armenian Studies, whose generous research support facilitated my fieldwork trips to the region. This book also benefited from the quiet and stimulating research environment I found during my research stay at the Aleksanteri Institute of the University of Helsinki.

In the course of my research trips, I met many inspiring women, female scholars, politicians and activists, some of whom have become good friends. It is impossible to express my indebtedness to all those women who warmly welcomed me during my research trips, dedicated their valuable time and answered my never-ending questions so that I could gain some treasured insights into their lives. In particular, I would like to thank Gohar Shahnazarian, Lara Aharonian, Gayane Hambardzumyan, Karina Shahnazarian, Inga Shahnazarian, Pervana Mammadova, Avnik Melikian and Olya Azatyan. I also would like to thank Eve Richards for her technical support and Jo Laycock and Armine Ishkanian for their motivational support.

I would like to thank my parents, Susanne and Christian Ziemer, for their support and patience. Last but not least, thank you, Sean, for keeping me whole and grounded throughout this endeavour, for reading, listening and caring, as well as for keeping up with my long absences.