Barbare Jorjadze (1833-1895), also known as Barbare Eristavi-Jorjadze, was a Georgian

princess Princess is a title used by a female member of a regnant monarch's family or by a female ruler of a principality. The male equivalent is a prince (from Latin '' princeps'', meaning principal citizen). Most often, the term has been used for ...

, author, and

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

advocate.

Background

Jorjadze was born in

Kistauri Kistauri ( ka, ქისტაური) is a village in the Akhmeta district, Kakheti region, Georgia (country), Georgia. Located east from Akhmeta and west from Telavi. The village lies on the right bank of Alazani River, in the northeastern f ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

in 1833 and the daughter of Prince Davit Eristavi. She was married to Zakaria Jorjadze when she was 12. Her brother was the poet and historian

Rapiel Eristavi Prince Raphael Eristavi ( ka, რაფიელ ერისთავი) (1824-1901) was a Georgians, Georgian poet and playwright. Biography Eristavi was born in Kakheti on 1824, Georgia within the Russian Empire, Georgia, in the Russian Emp ...

Writing

Considered Georgia's first

feminist Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...

, Jorjadze was a poet, playwright and essayist. She began writing in 1858, publishing poetry in ''Tsiskari'' magazine. Despite public criticism, she continued publishing, including in newspapers and magazines such as ''

Droeba ''Droeba'' (, "the Times") was an influential Georgian political and cultural newspaper published in Tiflis from 1866 to 1885. ''Droeba'' first came out in Tiflis, the capital of the Russian Caucasus Viceroyalty, on March 4, 1866, to be pub ...

'', ''

Iveria Iveria may refer to: Places * Radisson Blu Iveria Hotel, Tbilisi, a hotel Georgia * Iveria, an archaic name for the country of Georgia Other uses * Iverian or Mingrelian language, spoken in Western Georgia * FC Iveria Khashuri, a Georgian footb ...

'', ''Kvali,'' and ''Jejili.'' In 1861 she was vocal in debates around the modernization of the

Georgian language Georgian (, ) is the most widely spoken Kartvelian language, Kartvelian language family. It is the official language of Georgia (country), Georgia and the native or primary language of 88% of its population. It also serves as the literary langu ...

, specifically challenging the ideas of

Ilia Chavchavadze Tavadi, Tavadi (Prince) Ilia Chavchavadze ( ka, ილია ჭავჭავაძე; 27 October 1837 – 12 September 1907) was a Georgians, Georgian journalist, publisher, writer and poet who spearheaded the revival of Georgian nationalism ...

. Jorjadze's play, ''What I was looking for and what I found'', was first staged in 1867 at the Kutaisi Theatre. It was performed for several years and various other theatres. In 1874 she published the cookbook, ''Georgian Cuisine and Tried Housekeeping Notes''. Published by Ekvtime Kheladze's printing house, it collected recipes for both Georgian and European dishes. Many of her recipes are considered to be standard practice for preparation of traditional Georgian dishes and the book continues to be popular. Jorjadze penned the letter "A Few of Words to the Attention of Young Men" which was published in 1893 in ''Kvali'' magazine. Addressing women's rights, it is considered to be a manifesto of Georgian feminism. In 2017 the

National Parliamentary Library of Georgia LEPL Ilia Chavchavadze National Library of Georgia ( ka, სსიპ ილია ჭავჭავაძის სახელობის საქართველოს ეროვნული ბიბლიოთეკა, ''sakartvelos ...

named a reading room after Jorjadze. The room also contains murals by Anuk Beluga, depicting Jorjadze and other Georgian female writers and activists.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Eristavi-Jorjadze, Barbare 1833 births 1895 deaths 19th-century writers from the Russian Empire Feminists from Georgia (country) Cookbook writers Place of birth missing 19th-century women writers from Georgia (country) 19th-century writers from Georgia (country) Women's rights activists from Georgia (country)

Background

Writing

See also

References