Let There be Light

Private: Homeing or It’s All About the Bench

“Homeing” is a fluid process of habituating and domesticating the ever-changing world, where movement—whether migration,

modern nomadism, or displacement—is the rule rather than the exception. Maria Gunko writes about her relationship with Home in this next installment of .

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Let There be Light

Maria Gunko

Jun 25, 2024

Being no stranger to post-Soviet 1990s hunger, poverty, and instability in central Russia, Maria Gunko

learns about the Armenian experience of the “cold and dark years” at a 2016 exhibit at Yerevan’s History Museum, and is astonished by how little is known about these events outside of Armenian society. In her latest piece, Gunko explores the happiness that comes when the electricity comes.

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Ban Chka

Maria Gunko

May 23, 2024

In her next piece for “Outside In” Maria Gunko recounts her exploration of the Armenian

language. Learning it for a foreigner can be tough, she says, but not as tough as it may seem at first glance. Every cloud has a silver lining.

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The Shifter Under the Monastery

Maria Gunko

Apr 23, 2024

The surroundings of the Kobayr Monastery are a contrast between the eternal and the fleeting,

the essence and the image, serenity and mundane chaos. Maria Gunko’s story is a patchwork of two places and one character who seemingly dwells between them, making a life from what’s available.

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A Short Colorful Lyrical Digression

Maria Gunko

Mar 28, 2024

In commemoration of renowned Armenian poet Yeghishe Charents, Maria Gunko delves into his colorful universe

to see how it captures the essence of Armenia's landscapes and geography, drawing parallels with her perceptions.

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When Patriarchy and Imperialism Collide: Some Questions of Positionality

Maria Gunko

Mar 8, 2024

In trying to understand her assumptions of her position as a researcher, and the spaces

she could access, Maria Gunko uncovered that it was not her ethnicity that informed how she was perceived on the field site, but rather the explosive mixture of her gender and ethnicity.

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The Female Fix

Maria Gunko

Feb 14, 2024

According to traditional gendered divisions of household labor, repairs fall to the man of the

house and his ability to perform such work is very much linked to being seen as a “proper” man. But what about the women? Maria Gunko’s fascinating journey into the realm of the “female fix”.

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After Us

Maria Gunko

Jan 24, 2024

The dissolution of the Soviet Union created vast areas of abandonment and no-go zones that

froze in time. In this next essay in the “Outside In” series, Maria Gunko writes that until the material relics of the Soviet Union disappear for good, we are deemed to revisit them, provoking thoughts about what societies value, how they evolve and what they leave behind.

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