The article deals with the phenomenon of so called Afghan landai – short lyric songs, which are mostly improvised and sung by women. Texts of landais (translated from French version of Pashtun women’s poetry) are accompanied by an introduction to the issue of honor/shame societies (cultures sharing a significant concept of masculine and feminine “honor”). Landais reflect often neglected perspective - the everyday reality of life seen through the eyes of Afghan women.
The article deals with the notion of exile and its significance in the Armenian historical and literary discourse. The exile represents in the Armenian context one of the cornerstones of Armenian ethnicity construction and it could be said without exaggeration, that Armenian history (both medieval and modern) is pervaded by this dominant or more precisely "key" theme. The exile symbolizes primarily the concept of uprootedness (exile from the country as well as the alienation from the society), which is conceived in close connection with the search for identity itself. In other words, the exile can be considered as a kind of "rite de passage" - the position on the border or "threshold" between two cultures, languages and worlds.