Back to Baku: Educational Mobility Experiences of Two Young Azerbaijanis and Identity Positionings Back ‘Home’

Abstract

Educational mobility is attractive to young Azerbaijani women and men: it offers the opportunity to obtain a recognized degree with which to establish themselves in Azerbaijani society. This chapter focuses on the period of returning home, and presents initial empirical findings from a study that reconstructs the meaning of educational mobility experiences made by women and men. To illustrate these meanings two case studies will be contrasted and interpreted in terms of identity politics and positioning by two young Azerbaijanis. The non-essentialist concept of ‘identity’ and identity-political positioning serves as a theoretical framework, drawing on the work of prominent Cultural Studies scholar Stuart Hall. This framework views meaning-making in terms of identity processes by individuals at the margins and situates identity-political positioning within the historical legacy of post-colonial, post-Soviet Azerbaijan.