Hunger in the Mirror of Azerbaijani Culture: A Sociological Representation of "Aj"(Hunger) and "Ajliq" (Famine) in Azerbaijani Proverbs

Proverbs as the Representation of the Essence of Lived Experience in a Social and Cultural Context

This study, aiming to achieve a sociological understanding of the concepts of “Aj” (hunger) and “Ajliq” (famine) in Azerbaijani proverbs, examines the cultural and social representations of these concepts in the context of the language and folklore of Azerbaijan. The study utilizes an inductive qualitative content analysis approach on three Azerbaijani texts relevant to the topic, drawing on cultural and literary sociology theories such as those by Lucien Goldmann, Stuart Hall, Pierre Bourdieu, and Robert K. Merton, as well as perspectives on hunger, social exclusion, and specifically Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Initially, proverbs related to “Aj” and “Ajliq” were extracted from sources, and after semantic and lexical reviews, 45 proverbs were selected for analysis. The proverbs were categorized based on their content through iterative coding processes and were subjected to verbal analysis and semantic interpretation using the aforementioned theories. Subsequently, they were represented through these theoretical frameworks. Repeated coding of the data led to the identification of eight main categories and nineteen subcategories. These categories are: “Ajliq: A Mirror of Mental Distress,” which includes risk-taking tendencies, obsessive concern with food, danger, and replacing reality with delusion; “Ajliq: Solitary Confinement,” which reflects isolation, structural inequality, and subjugation; “Ajliq: The Scourge of Life,” encompassing sleeplessness and bodily weakness; “Individual Independence,” emphasizing the value of human dignity; “Ajliq: The Breach of Morality and Ethics,” which refers to moral and religious decline; “Ajliq: The Chain Ring of Poverty,” illustrating the continuity of poverty and its connectedness; “Ajliq: The Fountain of Foolishness,” which points to lack of foresight, scarcity of resources, and unwillingness to work; and finally, “A Passage to Liberation or Death,” which reflects death and attempts to escape this condition. All categories were interpreted and analyzed using relevant sociological theories. This study demonstrates that the causes of “Ajliq” in Azerbaijani proverbs include the absence of future planning, resource shortages, and lack of work, resulting in psychological-cognitive consequences (risk-taking tendencies, obsessive focus on food, danger, replacing reality with delusion, and isolation), social consequences (structural inequality and subjugation), spiritual consequences (moral and religious decline), and physical consequences (sleeplessness and bodily weakness). In exploring linguistic and symbolic patterns tied to “Aj” and “Ajliq,” it was found that these concepts are often used in association with animal names such as wolf (qurd), dog (köpək), chicken (toyuq), lion (aslan), donkey (eşşək), horse (at), and bear (ayı), each holding distinct symbolic meanings in Azerbaijani culture. Additionally, attention was paid to the contrasting duality of “Ajliq-Toxluq” (hunger-satiety). The findings of the study show that Azerbaijani proverbs reflect the dialectic between social texts and the lived experience of a collective and that their sociological representations can play an effective role in shaping regional cultural and social policies. In other words, Azerbaijani proverbs not only convey lived knowledge but also serve as cultural documents that reflect the views and values of society regarding hunger and poverty, offering insights into better understanding these phenomena and providing appropriate solutions to address them.