Azerbaijan--Culture Smart! by Nikki Kazimova

Author:Nikki Kazimova [Kazimova, Nikki]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-85733-548-4
Publisher: Kuperard
Published: 2011-04-04T16:00:00+00:00

chapter five

PRIVATE & FAMILY LIFE

FAMILY LIVING

Azerbaijani family networks often include not only the nuclear unit but also numerous in-laws, siblings, cousins, and their offspring, called gohumagreba in colloquial Azeri, derived from the Arabic word aqareb, which means “close” and is applied to describe close kin. Relatives on the maternal and the paternal sides have different titles.

Traditional Azerbaijani housing reflects the closeness among extended families. Rural homes may be built as compounds where families belonging to the same clan live close to one another. In Baku, urban living in multistory apartment complexes and the arbitrary manner in which apartments were assigned in Soviet days made this custom hard to follow. However, with the arrival of capitalism, which gave people freedom to buy any apartments that they could afford, many families have gravitated toward the same arrangements. Newlyweds often buy an apartment in the same building as their parents, which comes in handy when grandparents start helping with their newborn babies and young children. Those who cannot afford a separate living space share an apartment with their parents (in male-dominated Azerbaijan, it is usually the husband’s family), which often creates domestic tensions.

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