Ideology, hatred and trauma:Azerbaijan between the three Karabakh wars

The research starts with a puzzle: Compared to similar cases of inter-ethnic conflict in Georgia, which display mixed inter-ethnic emotions, why is inter-ethnic hatred in Azerbaijan so hegemonic? To solve this puzzle, the dissertation answers three research questions: (1) How did personal trauma of displaced Azerbaijanis become a collective-national trauma? (2) How is hatred institutionalized and perpetuated? (3) How are alternative narratives marginalized? To answer these questions, the “affective morphological approach” to ideology is adopted. Ideology is here understood as a system of: interconnected values, ideas, norms; that offers us a weltanschauung with which we understand and navigate reality; claims to be comprehensive, completeness and correct; and grips its subjects through affective mechanisms like fantasies and enjoyment. The ideology can then become and be maintained hegemonic through various ideological apparatuses, including the school and ordinary people. The empirical part begins with the analysis of interviews conducted with displaced Azerbaijanis between 2021-2023, many of which showed symptoms of trauma. It then continues with the analysis of school textbooks, government discourses and commemorations, all of which produced collective-national trauma and institutionalized hatred. This collective trauma and hatred ultimately become essential elements of the state’s nationalist ideology. Finally, the dissertation analyses the societal marginalization of anti-war voices during the 2020 Karabakh war, which further reinforced the state’s nationalist ideology.