The “Wild West” in Azerbaijan: Notes on Late 1980s Soviet Ethnosociology

Main Article Content

Alexander Formozov

Abstract

In the mid-1980s, Viktor Karlov, a Moscow-based ethnologist, led an ethno- sociological study in Azerbaijan. The aim was to survey samples of all of Azerbaijan’s ethnic groups and ethnographic regions in order to gauge levels of modernization and Sovietization, as expressed through indicators such as ethnic self-identification, values, gender roles, and attitudes toward traditional customs. The survey had to be abandoned in 1987 due to ethnic tensions, and the data were never fully analyzed. Karlov discusses observations from the field on ethnic and religious identification as well as political obstacles faced by the researchers. Corruption and payment to obtain employment were rampant. There was an oversupply of labor, leading to hidden unemployment. The resulting frustration was vented in interethnic clashes. Local authorities sometimes interfered with the survey work in order to mask critical attitudes or ethnic diversity. In Russian, summary in English.

Keywords


Abstract 157 | PDF Full Paper (Русский) Downloads 96 PDF Extended Summary Downloads 65 HTML Full Paper (Русский) Downloads 23 HTML Extended Summary Downloads 4

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  • Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License (CC Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  • Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).