Critiquing the National Brand
Critiquing the National Brand
As humans, it is part of who we are
to make associations. While conversing, reading, or watching, people are always
making connections; regardless of if it is a conscious decision or not. The
same applies when thinking, hearing, or seeing a country’s name. There are
associations one makes like geography, culture, and more often than not,
stereotypes. Nation branding is one way that a country might advertise
themselves so that their ‘brand’ is what one will begin to associate with that
particular country. Nation branding is beneficial because it might put the
country on the map if it’s less well know, it could potentially help the
economy through tourism, and has potential to boost national pride. However,
nation branding can be difficult because there is not one identity that
accurately represents a whole population. In the case of Armenia, a somewhat
lesser known country of the caucuses, its national brand is clear --
Christianity, Armenian language and tradition, and separation from the Turks
and Azerbaijanis. However, less advertised but dominating the news, are crimes
against the LGBTQ community and numerous cases of domestic violence, often
fatal.
In Blog Post 1, “the national self
(and the other)”, I discussed the major components of Armenian national
identity. Often regarded as the first place to adopt Christianity, the
Apostolic Church is ultimately seen as the heart of Armenian identity (Van
Lint, 2009, p. 270). 92.6% of the population is Armenian Apostolic, while only
1.1% is not religiously affiliated (Central Intelligence Agency, 2019),
illustrating how prevalent the Christian religion is in Armenia. Despite it
playing a large role in Armenian national pride, it is not overtly present at the
Eurovision Song Contest. Despite it being a staple of Armenia, the lyrics,
staging, and costumes often don’t reflect Christianity or touch on religion.
The misalignment between Armenia’s performances and the nation brand, in
regards to religion, could be due to the fact that other countries are far more
secular. Armenia understands that around the world, religion and Christianity
specifically, might not be as appealing. The willingness to downplay one of the
key components of their national identity in order to appeal to Europe and the
rest of the world shows how seriously they take Eurovision.
Another component of Armenian
national identity is their language and tradition. As Barseghyan (2003) writes,
“The invention of an Armenian alphabet at the turn of the fifth century
established a new linguistic differentiation between Armenians and other
nations of the region” (p. 405). This defining aspect of Armenian identity,
along with the rich culture, are two main facets of the Armenian national
brand. In 2014, a contract between the National Competitiveness Foundation of
Armenia and the GK Brand was signed for a national brand development (“Armenia,
United States…” 2014). The GK Brand is a firm that creates and manages brands
for organizations around the world (Kalayjian, 2014). They were hired to brand
Armenia because “branding may go a long way towards boosting Armenia's
investment and tourism attractiveness, promoting economic development and
enhancing its international standing” (Kalayjian, 2014). Their research
concluded that the ancient culture, rich history, Christian values, survival
and pride, were the most fundamental elements for providing the world with a
synthesis of Armenia as a country. The alignment between the language, culture,
and history of the national identity and Armenia’s national brand, reflects a
great deal of pride towards their traditions.
The alignment of the national
identity and national brand in regards to culture, history, and language, is
further supported by Armenia’s entries at Eurovision. The performances analyzed
in Blog Post 2, “the nation on stage”, were rich in traditional
instrumentation, dress, and values. The duduk is just one example of the
instruments used, that harks back to ancient Armenian culture. The dresses that
the performers wore in Jan Jan (2009, Armenia) also reflected pride towards
Armenian culture. Lastly, both of these songs contained traditional singing and
dancing. Sirusho’s Qele Qele (2008, Armenia) opened with ominous singing in
Armenian as well as traditional instrumentation, while Inga and Anush
Arshakyan’s (2009) performance consisted entirely of traditional dancing with
some traditional singing and instrumentation. National pride stemming from rich
culture and tradition is reflected in the national brand as well as at
Eurovision, demonstrating how valued this aspect of Armenian national identity
is.
In blog post 2, I also touched on the
diversity, or rather lack thereof, that Armenia presents at Eurovision. The two
songs analyzed, showcased Armenian cisgendered women with both female and male
backing singers. Armenia is unique in that it is a nearly homogenous ethnic
population, with Armenians making up 98.1% of the population (Central
Intelligence Agency, 2019). Not only is there a lack of ethnic diversity, but
also a somewhat conservative mindset when it comes to LGBTQ rights. A survey
conducted in 2015 found that 90% of Armenia’s population is against LGBTQ
persons and believe that their rights should be limited through legal means
(“Kissing in public…”, 2016). Cisgender men, often prominent public figures,
have expressed that “homosexuality is ‘promiscuous’ and a national security
threat and does not reflect Christian Armenian values” (Sargsyan, 2017).
Currently, legislation does not protect against crimes based on sexual
orientation or gender identity (Margaryan, 2016, p. 12). Furthermore, law
enforcement agencies are complicit in hiding hate crimes by failing to make
assailants known and held responsible. Law enforcement agencies, along with other
government agency representatives, are often involved in these very crimes,
leading to a great deal of distrust (Margaryan, 2016, p. 40).
Non-government organizations are then
tasked with doing what they can to support and help the LGBTQ community. NGOs
such as Public Information and Need of Knowledge (Pink Armenia) attempt to
protect the rights of LGBTQ people by influencing policy makers and educating
the public in order to change attitudes. The blatant homophobia that exists in
Armenia is not advertised, as would be expected, but they do not pretend to be
progressive or inclusive. Their national identity is not diverse and neither is
their national brand. At Eurovision, cisgender heterosexual love stories are
the only narratives and anything outside of that norm is simply not
represented. The alignment between national identity, national brand, and
presentation at Eurovision depicts a closed minded society that does not
attempt to brand themselves as otherwise.
When it comes to women's rights,
Armenia is no different than most countries. In 1993 Armenia ratified the UN’s
convention on the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women.
Despite legislation clearly stating equality for women, violations of their
rights are still prevalent. “There are cases of domestic violence… segregation
against women in the workplace, lack of women in senior management,
inaccessibility of medical services and other cases of discrimination”
(“Women’s rights”). Although there has been pressure from women's rights
groups, Armenia has no law that criminalizes domestic abuse. The coalition to
Stop Violence Against Women reported 30 fatal cases of domestic abuse between
2010 and 2015. Additionally, hundreds of cases go unreported (“World Report…”,
2016). The women's rights movement is not at the forefront of Armenian national
identity or their brand, and the lack of awareness further perpetuates the
issue. At Eurovision, most of the performers representing Armenia have been
women. In blog post 2, I discussed how Inga and Anush’s performance seemed to
be a song dedicated to women and their strength. The lyrics reflected an
acknowledgment of how important women are to society and the need to support
each other. Although there is an alignment between the national brand and
national identity regarding women’s rights, at Eurovision, there seems to be
more women empowerment than in reality.
The last part of the national
identity I discussed in blog post 1 was the ‘othering’ that occurs in order to
better define a country’s identity. Creating a distinction between significant
others allows for a nation to create a clearer and more succinct definition. In
the case of Armenia, Turkey and Azerbaijan are both external significant
others. Turkey refuses to acknowledge the ordered killing and deportation of
the Armenian population during WWI, justifying the genocide as an effort to
protect the Eastern borders. To this day, they have not accepted the genocide
for what it is and Armenia demands they take responsibility. As for Azerbaijan,
the tension is over the Nagorno-Karabakh region; an area that both countries
claim ownership, and compromise does not seem plausible. In 2011, Azerbaijan
won Eurovision and hosted the contest in 2012, but Armenia
chose not to participate. The nature of branding for
Armenia is to distinguish themselves from their regionally similar neighbors.
Therefore, there is a clear alignment between the national identity, the
national brand, and Eurovision.
Armenia
is a country that is deeply proud of their religion, culture, and tradition. It
is clear that Armenia takes nation branding seriously and has dedicated money
towards creating a national brand representative of the nation. For Armenia,
this proved less difficult when compared to other countries due to its almost
mono-ethnic population and nearly homogenous religious affiliations. However,
the brand mainly focuses on the traditions and culture unique to Armenia, as
reflected in their Eurovision performances. Nonetheless, they also display the
heteronormativity and exclude other facets of diversity that are not embraced
in the national identity or brand of Armenia.
(word count: 1539)
References
Armenia, United States: US provides $255 million for
Armenia’s national brand
development. (2014). MENA Report, Retrieved from http://login.proxy.seattleu.edu/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.proxy.seattleu.edu/docview/1501174987?accountid=28598
Barseghyan, K. (2003). Rethinking nationhood:
Post-independence discourse on
national identity in Armenia. Polish Sociological Review, (144),
399-416. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/41274871
Central Intelligence Agency. (2019). The world
factbook: Armenia. Retrieved from
Kissing in public is unacceptable: A study of
attitudes towards LGBT people in Armenia.
Margaryan, N. (2016, October 25). Hate crimes and
other hate motivated incidents
against LGBT people in Armenia.
Retrieved from http://www.pinkarmenia.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/hate-crime-monitoring-2016_en.pdf
Sargsyan, N. (2017). Discursive presence through group
anonymity: Ethnonational
belonging, gender, sexuality, and
activism in the republic of Armenia.
Feminist Formations, 29(2), 92-120. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.proxy.seattleu.edu/docview/2030817235?accountid=28598
Van Lint, T. (2009). The formation of Armenian
identity in the first millennium. Church
History and Religious culture, 89, 251-278. Retrieved from
V Kalayjian. (2014). Shedding light on a small country
with huge potential. Retrieved
from
Women's Rights. (n.d.). Retrieved from
World Report 2017: Armenia events of 2016. (2017,
January 12). Retrieved from
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