WESTERN AZERBAIJANI BAYATIS: HISTORICAL MEMORY, MIGRATION TRAUMA, AND THE PROBLEM OF NATIONAL IDENTITY
Keywords:
Western Azerbaijan, bayati, folklore, historical memory, collective memory, migration trauma, national identity, folklore poetics, emotional memoryAbstract
This article examines the poetic characteristics of Western Azerbaijani bayatis, their role in preserving historical memory, and their connection with national identity within the framework of modern folklore theories. The study reveals that bayatis are not only poetic folklore texts but also mechanisms for preserving collective memory and emotional experience. Concepts such as home-land, migration trauma, alienation, separation, and spatial memory are analyzed in the context of folklore poetics. The article also investigates the symbolic functions of natural images such as mountains, roads, snow, springs, and homeland as representations of collective identity and cultur-al memory. The research concludes that Western Azerbaijani bayatis constitute an important spir-itual and cultural system transmitting the historical experience of the people to future generations.
