Becoming a Georgian Woman

Abstract

This narrative essay examines cultural difference in twenty-first century Tbilisi from the point of view of gender. Combing ethnography with feminist analysis, it describes a non-Georgian assimilating to Georgian culture and subsequently renouncing this new identity. Although perfect gender equality remains a utopian project, the needfulness of equitable relations are made palpable through the experience of disaster. This essay contributes to the study of gender politics and the implications of cultural and religious (Christian/non-Christian) difference in everyday life.

Keywords: acculturation, assimilation, Christianity, nationalism, gender, post-Soviet, Caucasus, Georgia, feminism, birth control