Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores silence among Azerbaijani women through ethnographic research, examining life under Soviet and post-Soviet regimes. Using Foucault’s discourse theory and Assmann’s forgetting framework, it reveals silence as both a result and tool of power, shaped by oppression, fear, and memory control.

Paper Abstract:

This paper examines the phenomenon of silence encountered during my fieldwork. The study is grounded in ethnographic research conducted in 2022 and 2024 with women from four cities in Azerbaijan, focusing on their recollections of life under the Soviet regime and during the transition to post-Soviet contexts. By applying Michel Foucault’s theoretical insights on discourse and Aleida Assmann’s framework on forgetting, this paper explores the relationship between silence and power. The analysis highlights key contributors to silence, such as internalized oppression, political ignorance, and the act of forgetting. Power dynamics often dictate who is allowed to speak and what may be expressed, with deviations from these norms potentially leading to punitive consequences. This instills fear and fosters long-term silence. Silence, as argued, may also stem from a lack of discursive practices, which, following Foucault’s (1969) proposition, limits knowledge: the less discoursive practice occurs, the less individuals know, and the more they are inclined to remain silent. The paper posits that Azerbaijani women exhibit lower levels of political awareness compared to men, as evidenced by their limited participation in public political discussions, particularly during the transition period. Additionally, silence may arise from active form of forgetting, a strategy that helps uphold power structures. Authorities often suppress certain histories or narratives that challenge their dominance, as emphasized by Assmann (2016). This paper aims to uncover how silence operates as both a consequence and a mechanism of power, shedding light on the intricate interplay between memory, discourse, and control within Azerbaijani society.