Conflict, Space and Transnationalism: An Ethnography of the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War
Hakobyan, Arsen and Mollica, MarcelloHakobyan and Mollica present an ethnography of the 2020 war in Artsakh, examining how the conflict reshaped attitudes toward urban space and transnational networks among those who lived through it. The book centers on two cities: Stepanakert, analyzed as the political-institutional capital, and Shushi, treated as the cultural and religious capital, tracing the spatial meanings and symbolic value of urban heritage in each. Chapters follow Artsakh from its origins through its status as an autonomous region under Soviet Azerbaijan, the making of the republic, and the war itself. A chapter on transnationalism and war examines violence moving from Syria to the Artsakh theater, and a chapter on space and war documents cultural cleansing. The authors ground the study in the Armenian anthropological tradition of Artsakh research. The result is a scholarly record of how war, displacement, and heritage destruction transformed Artsakh's urban and social fabric.