National Identity Formation And Education In Post-Conflict Development
by Marina Ohanjanyan |
The Case of Nagorno-Karabakh
Although the conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan concerning the mountainous
region of Nagorno-Karabakh has been frozen ever since the ceasefire agreement in
1994, the issue is still sensitive and present in Armenian and Azerbaijani
communities. However, as nearly two decades have passed since the beginning of
it, a new generation of Armenians and Azerbaijanis is entering the public
sphere. It is a generation that has never met its neighbour in person; a
generation that has barely, if ever, even communicated with it; a generation
that has only known its neighbour as an enemy. Because of the lack of
communication between the two nations, most of what the younger generations know
about the conflict and their counterparts is presented to them in the form of
official education. This research looks into the image that is created by that
education in terms of ‘the self’, ‘the other’ and the frozen conflict. As it is
up to those younger generations to eventually re-establish contact, the image
that they have of themselves and each other will play a major role in the
success or failure of the reconnection. The research found that many similar
patterns exist in Armenian and Azerbaijani historic narratives, such as
victimisation and ennoblement of ‘the self’ and degradation and dehumanisation
of ‘the other’. The major difference is the greater level of emotionality on the
part of Azerbaijan. A factor possibly accounting for this difference is the fact
that the latter effectively lost the war for now, causing bitterness and,
perhaps, a need for self-enhancement at the expense of ‘the enemy other’.
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