This thesis examines recent struggles in the South Caucasus over the Armenian-populated
enclave of Azerbaijan, Artsakh (or Nagorno-Karabakh). Operating as a de facto republic, it
was dissolved after a military blitz by Azerbaijan that was justified by state rhetoric of
separatism and anti-terrorism. Through a consideration of the historical context and
motivations, I reveal the underlying coloniality and failures of international law at the
center of this “perpetual conflict.” What might appear to be a dispute based in ethnic or
religious difference is actually driven by capital accumulation and flows of resources, as
hegemonic powers influence the situation from behind-the-scenes. Meanwhile, Armenia
and Azerbaijan engage in a discursive battle over indigeneity that flattens the heterogeneity
of the region. I propose (re)new(ed) relations of solidarity must be forged in the face of
powerful entanglements couched in ethnonational ideologies and rhetoric. Armenia and
its diasporas can mobilize regionalist thought and border epistemology to refuse the
violence of the nation-state form.