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Self-Sacrifice, Womanhood, and Melodized Speech: Three Case Studies from the Caucasus and Anatolia

This article explores a practice of melodized speech by senior women from the Caucasus and Anatolia and its implication in the daily lives of this region. Based on three case studies from fieldwork conducted in Azerbaijan, Turkey, and Armenia, the article shows how self-sacrifice emerged as a central theme in the worldview of elderly women. They view self-sacrifice as an ideal and melodized speech as its sonic embodiment. This article argues that women’s daily dedication in melodized speech to the remembering of the deceased and the exiled relatives is a gendered sacrificial act that helps construct self-sacrifice as a positive moral value.