The ‘ultimate toponym’ and national imaginaries in Georgia and Azerbaijan: Constraining Imaginaries of Borchali among Georgian Azeri-Turks

Karli-Jo T Storm

doi:10.26881/jpgs.2020.3.03

Abstract

A central component of any national imaginary is the extent to which it is or can be made marketable and consumable by audiences within and outside of the borders of the territorial state. Physical and symbolic delimitation of the “homeland” – in 2- and 3-D, on the ground and on maps, in speech and in individual thought processes - facilitates a certain degree of intra-group solidarity and out-group wariness. After expanding upon the theoretical utility of the concept of the national imaginary, the author examines the role played by the “ultimate toponym”, that of the bounded and institutionalized nation-state, in reifying dominant national imaginaries in Georgia and Azerbaijan. A further aim of this article is to demonstrate the ways that popular and elite-centric conceptions of Azerbaijani and/or Georgian nation-hood stymie Georgian Azeri-Turks’ abilities to imagine alternate forms of identification and belonging, using the phantom territory of “Borchali” as a key example.

Highlights

The toponyms of Sakartvelo/Georgia and Azerbaycan/Azerbaijan represent far more than placeholders on maps, stamps within passports, or terms embedded within pieces of legislation
By comparing and contrasting discursive accounts of “Borchali”– a historical territory situated at the crossroads of the Georgian, Azerbaijani, and Armenian territorial states – stemming from actors and audiences in Georgia and Azerbaijan, this paper seeks to answer the following query: How do ultimate toponyms, as facilitative and integrative aspects of national imaginaries, The ‘ultimate toponym’ and national imaginaries in Georgia and Azerbaijan
Elvir Hasanoglu, social activist and schoolteacher, states, if we look at history, this place was Borchali. [...] these lands later became a part of Georgia

Summary

Introduction

The toponyms of Sakartvelo/Georgia and Azerbaycan/Azerbaijan represent far more than placeholders on maps, stamps within passports, or terms embedded within pieces of legislation. These key toponyms represent two bounded territorial states, their populations, and the socio-cultural thread that stitches both together. Such collective imaginings and their socio-cultural, geo-political, and narrative moorings constitute the focus of this paper. Dominant understandings of “Borchali” as either threatening or supporting the ultimate toponyms and imaginaries of Sakartvelo/Georgia and Azerbaycan/Azerbaijan inhibit members of Georgia’s largest minority grouping, Georgian Azeri-Turks, from credibly imagining alternative forms of social identification within Sakartvelo/Georgia and apart from Azerbaycan/Azerbaijan

The Imaginary and Its National Variant

The Ultimate Toponym and Its Role in the National Imaginary

Data Sources and Methods of Analysis

Results and Discussion

Delimiting the Geo-Bodies of Georgia and Azerbaijan

Conclusion