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Andreeva J., Guliaeva E. Nakhichevan Armenians: Memory of Neighborship in 1950–1980s

Julia Andreeva 
Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (Kunstkamera) of the Russian Academy of Sciences
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-5704-4034
E-mail: julia.o.andreeva@gmail.com

 

Evgenia Guliaeva
Russian Museum of Ethnography
Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation
ORCID: 0000-0002-7013-2661
E-mail: guliaevaevgenia@list.ru

 

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ABSTRACT. The article is devoted to the memory of the post-war past and the neighborship of Armenians and Azerbaijanis on the territory of the Nakhichevan ASSR. The study is based on field materials: observations, photographs, biographical interviews that were taken from 25 Armenian immigrants from Nakhichevan. The article describes the context of the neighborship: historical twists and turns, the socioeconomic situation in the region, the processes of urbanization and modernization. Remembering the past, the Armenians of Nakhichevan spoke about good neighborly relations, the gradual reduction in the number of Armenians, the borders and common features that were established between Armenians and Azerbaijanis. Apart from the distinctions between one's own and the other’s through holy places, religious customs, marriage and educational strategies, there were also practices of rapprochement. These include both the Soviet ideological project and the common power structures, sovkhozes. In addition, Nakhichevan Armenians very often recall the “kirva” institution — the so-called “godparent” relations that occur between the families of Armenians and Azerbaijanis. After the Second Karabakh War, the memory of the neighborship is being reassessed. The consequence of the new situation has been the actualization of these memories.

 

KEYWORDS: Armenians, Azerbaijanis, Nakhichevan, oral history, neighborship, migration

 

DOI 10.31250/2618-8619-2022-2(16)-116-133
УДК 316.77+94(470)

 

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