FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC Transformation of Social Spaces in the South Caucasus T FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC TO PRIVATE FROM in the South ransformation of Social Spaces ransformation C aucasus FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC: TRANSFORMATION OF SOCIAL SpACES IN THE SOUTH CAUCASUS From Private to Public — Transformation of Social Spaces in the South Caucasus PUBLISHER South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation CO-AUTHORS Humay Akhundzadeh, Evia Hovhannisyan, David (Data) Chigholashvili, Elena Darjania, Esma Berikishvili, Nino Rcheulishvili, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, Irakli Zhvania, David Sichinava, Natia Gvianishvili, Nano Zazanashvili EDITOR HANS GUTBROD © SOUTH CAUCASUS REGIONAL OFFICE OF THE HEINRICH BOELL FOUndation, 2015 ISBN 978-9941-0-8389-1 Heinrich BÖLL StiftUng SOUTH CAUCASUS FROM PRIVATE TO PUBLIC — Transformation of Social Spaces in the South Caucasus Co-authors Humay Akhundzadeh, Evia Hovhannisyan, David (Data) Chigholashvili, Elena Darjania, Esma Berikishvili, Nino Rcheulishvili, Hovhannes Hovhannisyan, Irakli Zhvania, David Sichinava, Natia Gvianishvili, Nano Zazanashvili Tbilisi, 2015 TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction ................................................................................................................... 8 Foreward ........................................................................................................................ 10 CHAPTER 1 Between Tradition and Modernity: Private Space Humay Akhundzadeh Gender Arrangements in Contemporary Azerbaijani Urban Families ....................... 20 Nino Rcheulishvili "Modern" Women in the Kitchen ..................................................................................... 32 Nano Zazanashvili Dwelling Adaptation in the Settlements of Internally Displaced Persons .................. 47 Natia Gvianishvili Internalized Homophobia in Georgian LGBQ Community ......................................... 68 CHAPTER 2 Social Implications of Public Space Transformation Evia Hovhannisyan "Phantom settlements": Study of the abandoned village Old Harzhis ......................... 90 Elena Darjania Informal Settlements and Illegal Subdivision of Land in Tbilisi ................................ 102 Irakli Zhvania Transformation of the Historic District through Residential Developments in Tbilisi ................................................................................................. 120 David (Data) Chigholashvili Future Image(s) of Tbilisi ............................................................................................... 151 CHAPTER 3 Social Activity in Public Space David Sichinava Understanding Voter Decision-Making in the Urban Context of Tbilisi ................... 176 Hovhannes Hovhannisyan The Issue of Religious Pluralism in Armenia ............................................................... 189 Esma Berikishvili Youth Political and Social Activism in Georgia ........................................................... 210 FOREWORD The South Caucasus Regional Office of the Heinrich Boell Foundation (HBF SC) has been operating since 2003. For 12 years it has been working hard to promote democracy and fair social and political systems in Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia. One of the key tools used for this purpose is reflection over the variety of aspects of public life that compose the overall political and social development of the South Caucasus nations. Social research is one of the instruments that facilitate understanding of transformation processes and allow for reflection on the state of societies. This is why the HBF SC decided to actively engage young social scientists and research- ers in its Regional Scholarship Programme. It was an effort to give voice to promising beginning scholars in the region by giving them a channel for expressing their knowl- edge of their respective societies and raising issues they see as important and worthy of deliberation. Over its 10 years of existence, the HBF SC regional scholarship programme had benefit- ed 127 young social scientists and published seven selections of articles (containing 74 articles) produced by its alumni: [a] Identity, Power and the City in the Works of Young Social Scientists in the South Caucasus (2005); [b] South Caucasus: Spaces, Histories, People (2006); [c] Figuring out the South Caucasus: Societies and Environment (2008); [d] The New South Caucasus: Overcoming Old Boundaries (2008); [e] City, Migration, Markets: New Studies in Social Science from the South Caucasus (2011); [f] Observing Transformation: Adaptation Strategies in the South Caucasus (2011); [g] Changing Identities: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (2012). Scholarly works published in the framework of the HBF SC regional scholarship pro- gramme should not be viewed as the only outcome of the programme. The social-po- litical issues raised and acute problems of transformation revealed have given impetus for debating, discussing and deliberating problems of culture and identity, local politics and democracy, urban and sustainable development, and gender democracy and mi- nority rights throughout the South Caucasus. The knowledge and communication networks established and developed in the frame- work of the regional scholarship programme had grown into variety of activities by the HBF SC, its partners and alumni. Once given proper stimulus, the mechanism of multiplying knowledge of social and political developments gets stronger over time. Continued academic research, joint cross-border initiatives, cooperation and civic activism based on ideas and visions emerging from the programme still surprise the observer with the endless scope of the work conducted in frames of the HBF SC regional scholarship programme. After its 10-year anniversary, the scholarship was transformed into the Green Academy of the HBF SC, which is to serve as a platform to promote the values and principles of Green politics in the South Caucasus, it is still important to offer the scholarly works that should be brought to the attention of interested parties in academia, politics, and social sciences in order to deepen understanding of the South Caucasus's uneasy trans- formation. The present publication, "From Private to Public: Transformation of Social Spaces in the South Caucasus", unlike its "predecessors", focuses on linkages between the transformation of private spaces and the social impact of this process in terms of 8 — defining the notion of 'public' in the context of public activism and the changing nature of public life in the societies of the South Caucasus. This selection unites 11 articles written by Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian alumni of the HBF SC regional scholarship programme from the years 2011, 2013 and 2014. These papers do not examine "traditionally popular" Caucasian topics like formal democratic institutions, the market economy and its social impact, ethnic conflicts and identity. Rather, they focus on understanding the inherent changes that have oc- curred in the South Caucasus societies recently. The publication will provide a valuable observation of the last decade of social and political developments in the Armenian, Azerbaijani and Georgian societies through the prism of the professional and academic experiences of local scholars. Hopefully, it will give relevant food for thought to their colleagues and counterparts abroad who are interested in the region and who work on the social and political democratization of the three nations of the South Caucasus. November 9, 2015 Nino Lejava, Director Malkhaz Saldadze Programme Coordinator Heinrich Boell Foundation South Caucasus Regional Office 9 — FOREWORD INTRODUCTION In the field of sociology collections of various articles (especially by young authors!) are traditionally called "common graves". It is thought that they are read only at random and by a few aficionados. What of interest could possibly be written by some little-known re- searchers - student works at that?! There is some truth in this notion. There are not many worthy social sciences texts published in the South Caucasus. But now, reader, you hold in your hands a book which is truly worth reading. In general, the development of social sciences in the South Caucasus has advanced signif- icantly of late. The long epoch of sustained, domineering influence of the Russian Empire (later the USSR) in the framework of the accustomed colonial discourse characteristic of researchers of the 19th and 20th centuries, has come to an end. Now we are seeing the "Europeanization" of the higher education system, though it is still accompanied by pro- cesses of science being marginalized, plus the legacy of Soviet-era isolationism. And while the scholarly discourse in the sphere of the social sciences - like the very the states of the South Caucasus themselves - is in an embryonic state, we still can see a surge of interest in scholarship among the young generation of social sciences researchers. New opportunities have appeared for the realization of planned projects thanks to grants from foreign foundations and joint research with Western partners. Young people with initiative take part in summer schools and conferences abroad and acquaint themselves with the level of social sciences in the course of all kinds of internships. Some of them receive education at Western universities. At the same time, there still exist numerous ob- stacles to the integration of social sciences in the South Caucasus into the world tradition. As before, the "dependence on the path already travelled" is strong.