Khazar Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Redefining Nationalism and Patriotism in Iran and Azerbaijan: Exploring Fathali Akhundzade's Modernist Perspective

Muharrem Bagir — 2025-01-11

Fathali Akhundzade emerged as a preeminent figure among Muslim intellectuals and modernists of the nineteenth century, whose intellectual legacy profoundly impacted societies in Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey. For the first time, he proposed various concepts and ideas, including Islamic Protestantism, alphabet reform and modern education, as well as nationalism, ideas that are still controversial. Among his ideas, those regarding religion and patriotism have been more controversial than others, so that many scholars have offered conflicting interpretations of his ideas. For example, many in Iran consider him the founder of Persian nationalism, while others primarily in Azerbaijan and Turkey portray him as one of the earliest Turkic nationalists. This is largely due to a selective examination of his works. This article applies the conceptual history approach to focus on Akhundzade's ideas on nation, nationalism, and patriotism and by examining all his works, it challenges claims that he is the founder of Persian (sometimes Turkish) nationalism. The mentioned method analyses the content by focusing on the central concepts within the content and considering the social context surrounding the text and idea. According to the findings of the research, although some of his thoughts about pre-Islamic Iran allow a nationalist interpretation of him, he is not looking for a single-ethnic modern nationalism, but a pluralistic patriotism. Furthermore, his fundamental issue is the application of western modernity to offset the backwardness of Muslims. Patriotism is also one of the components of this modernity and Akhundzade proposes it for all the "peoples" of the "Islamic nation".

Southern Khanates of Azerbaijan in the Documents of the Russian State Military Historical Archive

Rovshan Mammedli — 2025-01-11

Starting from the beginning of the 19th century, Azerbaijan became the battlefield of two great powers, Russia and the Qajar Empire. After 30 years of intermittent war, the territory of Azerbaijan was occupied and divided by these two states. The Russo-Iranian war also resulted in the division of the historical territory of Azerbaijan into two parts. As the result, the concepts of North and South Azerbaijan were created. Since 1828, eleven Azerbaijani khanates located in the south of the Aras River fell under Qajar rule. However, in spite of this, in the 80 years of their existence, these khanates implemented an independent internal and foreign policy and had political weight in the region. The economic, political and cultural life of the khanates has been the subject of research at different times. Various sources, including foreign ones, were used in these studies. Russian sources stand out among these sources. Thus, a valuable document base has been collected in the archives of the Russian Empire, which began military expansion in the region from the beginning of the 18th century. Among these archives, the Russian state military-historical archive stands out. Since the archive specializes in the protection of military documents, the documents of military operations carried out by Russia in the Caucasus are preserved here. Documents also contain information about the Southern khanates of Azerbaijan. This information is mainly about the political, economic, geographical, cultural and social life of the khanates. The article is dedicated to researching the history of Southern khanates based on these materials.

Audiovisual Translation: A Case Study of What We Wanted

Evren Barut — 2025-01-11

This study examines the English and Turkish subtitles of the German Netflix film Was Wir Wollten based on its dubbed version. In the film, main characters Alice and Niklas speak Standard High German (Hochdeutsch), while Christl communicates in South Tyrolean German, a distinct dialect, with her husband Romed and their children. To highlight cultural contrasts between the families, Saran Digital Studios, responsible for the Turkish subtitles and dubbing, made a notable localization decision: they replaced South Tyrolean German with Aegean Turkish in the dubbed version. According to interviews with Saran Digital Studios and Netflix officials, various Turkish dialects, including the Black Sea accent, were considered before finalizing the dubbing by the officials. The Aegean dialect was, however, chosen for its comprehensibility, as many Turkish viewers might be unfamiliar with regional dialects. As known, the Aegean dialect is closely associated with comedy in Türkiye, potentially creating a mismatch since Was Wir Wollten is a drama. This study explores how these localization choices affect Turkish audiences' interpretation of the film's themes. It investigates whether the use of the Aegean dialect leads viewers to perceive the drama as comedic, how effectively the film's message is conveyed in Turkish dubbing, and whether Eastern or Southeastern dialects might have better preserved the original dramatic tone providing that they were chosen by the officials. The research aims to contribute to audiovisual translation studies, examining the role of dialects in localization and audience reception.

Examination of the Entrepreneurship Levels of Translation and Interpreting Students in terms of Personal and Social Variables

Beyza Nur Zorlu — 2025-01-11

Entrepreneurship, which means taking action to do something, is becoming more and more important in the field of Social Sciences every day. There is a need for individuals who are willing to take opportunities, responsible for what they do, able to take risks, and do not hesitate to add new perspectives to the field. This study examines the entrepreneurship levels of the students studying in the department of Translation and Interpreting at Selçuk University in terms of personal and social variables. The personal and social variables taken into consideration in this study give an insight about what a successful translator-to-be and/or an interpreter-to-be should be like. The research is conducted by taking into consideration the junior and senior students of the department. In order to examine the entrepreneurship levels of the students, a 51-item measurement tool named "Entrepreneurship Scale for Students of Foreign Languages” is used, and some additional information about the students’ personal and social characteristics are collected in the research. The study finds that there is no significant difference in the entrepreneurship levels of the students studying in the department of translation and interpreting at Selçuk University when other variables are taken into account, except for the gender variable. When the gender variable is analyzed, it is noteworthy that a significant difference in entrepreneurship levels has been detected between male and female students: female students are more entrepreneurial than male students. The reason why female students are more entrepreneurial than male students may be related to the fact that women tend to be more intuitive and self-regulated, which are still found to be some of the most important factors for university students’ entrepreneurial activities.

Linguistic Quips as the Soul of Satire in Abu’s Subversive Political Cartoons

Neha Khurana — 2025-01-11

The effectiveness of satirical political cartoons, especially in times of strict censorship, may be explained through their use of linguistic quips that complement the brevity and immediacy of the visual medium well. Several techniques within linguistic quips may be understood through the theories of Henri Bergson and Arthur Koestler that are drawn upon in this paper. However, it is through an analysis of the subjects and objects of these linguistic quips that we understand the subversive nature of the laughter produced through these quips. Linguistic quips, in addition to providing at least a minor, though inconsistent, protection from censorious authorities play a more vital role of exposing social and political hierarchies of power in the society. This paper locates the subversive potential of political cartoons and specifically of linguistic quips in exposing these hierarchies. The subversive laughter with its pin-pointed target, often asks for the participation of the readers/viewers in such a way as to create a space for the degradation of the target and vindication of the participant viewer. This paper demonstrates these ideas through an exploration of the cartoons of Abu Abraham during the Emergency Years in India (1975-77) when major restrictions were imposed on the freedom of the press by the government. In doing so, the paper tangentially comments on the role that satirical political cartoons play in the public sphere.