The Azerbaijani resilient society: explaining the multifaceted aspects of people’s social solidarity

Abstract

This article addresses both a conceptual and empirical gap in research by examining social identity and resilience in Azerbaijan. Based on unique first-hand focus group data (FGD), it discusses Azerbaijani society and its resilience-building with a focus on its temporal dimension—the past, present and future, while the present here is to be considered as a nexus thereof—especially in terms of the idea of ‘here and now that matters’. In this way, it refers to resilient society, premised on past memories and traditions, as well as existing support infrastructures (e.g., family, kinship, neighbourhood). It is further bound by affective solidarity as a coping mechanism of local communities to withstand adversity and even war in Azerbaijan, and to grow into ‘peoplehood’ when fully mobilised.