Azerbaijani history and nationalism in the Soviet and post-Soviet periods: challenges and dilemmas

Abstract

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the former Soviet republics including Azerbaijan began a process of nation-building that included rewriting history. I argue that a significant part of the challenges that confront Azerbaijani history studies and nation-building have been inherited from the previous Soviet Union. I offer first a brief analysis of the Soviet system of shaping and controlling the socialization of Azerbaijani historians. Then I explore the main dilemmas for nation-building in Azerbaijan arising in the post-Soviet period, which are complicated by military conflict with neighboring Armenia over Nagorno Karabakh.

Keywords:

• Azerbaijani nationalism
• historical socialization
• collective memory
• ethnic conflict