Attachment to a Nostalgic Place: Remakings of the Azerbaijani Chaikhana by IDP Men from Karabakh

Abstract

This article examines the social and emotional significance of tea houses (chaikhana) in the daily lives of Azerbaijani men who were forcibly displaced from Karabakh. Based on ethnographic research, it shows how and why displaced persons re-create these traditional spaces in their new living environments. Tea houses are presented as a means of preserving cultural continuity, coping with trauma, reinforcing social ties, and fostering new emotional attachments to place. This analytical discussion engages with scholarly debates on space, nostalgia, and the particularities of social adaptation.
The study is based on three months of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in 2022 in Baku and Bilasuvar among Azerbaijani IDPs from Karabakh. Access to the field was challenging due to the sensitivity of the topic, the ongoing Karabakh conflict at the time, and other related factors. To address these difficulties, the article emphasizes the importance of informal relationships and personal rapport with narrators in post-conflict ethnography.
The theoretical framework draws on Gh. Hage’s concept of active nostalgia, which understands nostalgia not as a passive and painful attachment to the past, but as an emotional practice oriented toward the future. For displaced persons, nostalgia serves as a means of restoring identity and forging new connections. During the inductive generalization of the ethnographic material, the study also engages with Y.-F. Tuan’s theory, which highlights the role of human feelings and emotional experiences in transforming a specific space into a place imbued with meaning. The works of Connerton and Herzfeld are also significant here, as they provide useful insights for the anthropological analysis of memory and gendered spaces.
The article examines three cases of re-created tea houses by displaced Azerbaijani men from Karabakh. The first was located in Baku, in a former student dormitory, where IDPs from Aghdam decided to establish a traditional, men-only space after resettlement. In this setting, tea drinking and traditional games turn the tea house into a sensory refuge where men gather daily, exchange information, and reinforce social ties.
The second tea house is a modernized space, adapted to youth culture, operating as both a tea house and a hotel in central Baku. Its founder, a young displaced man, sought to transform the traditional space into an inclusive venue accessible to women, blending music, contemporary board games, and an urban aesthetic. Flora represents an original attempt to adapt the traditional Azerbaijani tea house to the interests of a new generation, merging childhood aspirations formed in displacement with business ambitions and efforts toward the resocialization of displaced persons.
The third example is located in the Bilasuvar IDP settlement. Unlike the previous cases, this tea house operates as a type of restaurant. At first glance, its cultural significance appears similar to that of the first tea house discussed. However, the analysis of the settlement’s social space revealed that the tea house, as a profane space, carries less meaning for some members of the devout community, who prefer to socialize in their home environments after performing namaz prayers. In this case, the tea house’s social role is shaped not only by displacement but also by the rural context and the everyday practices of a religious Muslim community.
In conclusion, drawing on ethnographic material, the article highlights cases of re-creating tea houses as traditional Azerbaijani social spaces by IDPs from Karabakh. Through an analytical framework of active nostalgia and spatial practices, the tea house is presented as a kind of microcosm that reflects broader economic, religious, and socio-cultural issues within the Azerbaijani displaced community.