Addressivity and the Monument: Memorials, Publics and the Yezidis of Armenia

Abstract

This article examines the relationship between monuments and publics, using Karin Barber’s model of how texts interact with publics, which draws on the Bakhtinian notion of addressivity. Two monuments associated with the Yezidi community, Armenia’s largest minority, are considered here. Both are of recent construction – one sacred, the shrine at Shamiram, and the other secular, the monument to Cahangir Agha, a hero of the battle of Sardarabad. These are set in the context of former Soviet and Armenian discourses; responses to them vary considerably between different constituencies. Barber’s approach highlights the monuments’ role in processes of convocation and interpellation which highlight the interplay of speech and non-verbal genres within discourses of memory in general.