FROM “DEDE GORGUD” TO THE DIGITAL FUTURE: MEMORY, IDENTITY AND THE NEW SCIENTIFIC PARADIGM OF THE AZERBAIJANI EPIC

Abstract

The article examines the Azerbaijani-Turkic epic tradition with a focus on the “Dede Gorgud” epic, in comparative relation to “Koroghlu” and love epics. The main purpose of the study is to analyze the Azerbaijani epic not merely as an artistic and poetic relic of the past, but as a multilayered scientific object that carries national memory, cultural identity, heroic thought, the idea of social justice, and perspectives of the digital future. The article takes as its main theoretical position the idea that folklore studies are no longer limited only to the collection and description of examples of oral folk creativity, but have become a field of cultural memory management, identity politics, semiotic modeling, and digital transformation.

In the study, the “Dede Gorgud” epic is presented as the initial and fundamental memory model of Azerbaijani-Turkic epic thought. In this epic, values such as the social structure of the Oghuz society, family relations, unity of the people, naming, heroism, eldership, the sacredness of the word, and moral responsibility appear as codes stabilized in the collective memory of the people. The image of Dede Gorgud combines the functions of an ozan, a wise elder, a moral judge, and a guardian of memory. According to UNESCO, the heritage of Dede Qorqud/Korkyt Ata/Dede Korkut is also regarded as a common Turkic cultural heritage related to epic culture, folk tales, and music.

The article explains the transition from “Dede Gorgud” to “Koroghlu” as a transformation of the heroic model in the Azerbaijani epic. While heroism in “Dede Gorgud” is connected with the defense of the people and lineage and the fulfillment of moral duty, in “Koroghlu” this concept becomes actualized as an expression of social justice, resistance against oppression, and the will of the people. In love epics, however, heroism is more closely related to spiritual endurance, loyalty, separation, exile, and the path of moral perfection.

The methodological basis of the study consists of cultural memory theory, semiotic analysis, discourse analysis, performance theory, the synergetic approach, and digital humanities. From the perspective of oral-formulaic theory, the epic is not a fixed written text, but a living creative event formed in the process of performance together with the narrator, audience, music, and social context; Albert Lord’s studies on the oral epic tradition provide an important theoretical basis in this regard.

As a result, the article presents the Azerbaijani epic not as a frozen remnant of the past, but as a dynamic system that preserves national memory, explains the present, and participates in the construction of future cultural strategies. “Dede Gorgud” is evaluated as the initial and central model of this system, “Koroghlu” as the expression of the discourse of social resistance and justice, and love epics as the poetic embodiment of the human path toward spiritual perfection.