1/2004 Heterogeneity of Imperial and National Memory

Post-Soviet Kazakhstan: A Review of Contemporary Western Historiography

Aigul Zabirova

1/2004

Published in Russian.

SUMMARY:

The article presents a survey of various scholarly publications by Western researchers devoted to Kazakhstan. This survey discusses the recent shift in Central Asian historiography away from Uzbekistan towards the other republics of the region and the shift in research field, in which American researchers, starting in the second half of the 20th century, took over the leading role in Central Asian studies from their Western European colleagues. One of the notable points in this new research is its distinctly political character. Among the central themes of these publications are questions of Kazakh identity, the origins of the Kazakh nation (either as created by the Soviet system or as linked to a tribal identity, which was key to Kazakh consciousness), the importance of demographic aspects in the modern transformation process, and the polarization between those who choose to view modern Kazakhstan through the prism of the theory of colonization and those who work from the point of view of the theory of modernization.

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Footnotes

1.Elizabeth Bacon. A Study of Social Structure in Eurasia. New York, 1958.↩

2.А. Бенигсен. Мусульмане в СССР. Paris, 1983.↩

3.Alexander Bennigsen & Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay. Islam in the Soviet Union. With an introduction by Geoffrey E. Wheeler. (Published in association with the Central Asia Research Centre). London, New York, Washington, 1967.↩

4.Ingvar Svanberg (Ed.). Contemporary Kazakhs. Cultural and Social Perspectives. New York, 1999.↩

5.Helene Carrere d’ Encausse. Islam and the Russian Empire. Reform and Revolution in Central Asia. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1988; Helene Carrere d’Encausse. The End of the Soviet Empire. Triumph of the Nations / Translated by Franklin Philip. New York, 1993.

Notes

[1]Elizabeth Bacon. A Study of Social Structure in Eurasia. New York, 1958.

[2]А. Бенигсен. Мусульмане в СССР. Paris, 1983.

[3]Alexander Bennigsen & Chantal Lemercier-Quelquejay. Islam in the Soviet Union. With an introduction by Geoffrey E. Wheeler. (Published in association with the Central Asia Research Centre). London, New York, Washington, 1967.

[4]Ingvar Svanberg (Ed.). Contemporary Kazakhs. Cultural and Social Perspectives. New York, 1999.

[5]Helene Carrere d’ Encausse. Islam and the Russian Empire. Reform and Revolution in Central Asia. Berkeley, Los Angeles, London, 1988; Helene Carrere d’Encausse. The End of the Soviet Empire. Triumph of the Nations / Translated by Franklin Philip. New York, 1993.

[6]William Fierman. Soviet Central Asia: The Failed Transformation. Boulder, CO, 1991. Pp. 36-61; William Fierman. Introduction: The Division of Linguistic Space // Nationalities Papers. 1995. Vol. 23. No. 3. Pp. 507-513.

[7]Oliver Roy. The New Central Asia. The Creation of Nations. London, New York, 2000.

[8]Marta Brill Olcott. The Kazakhs. Stanford, California, 1987.

[9]Marta Brill Olcott. Central Asia. The Reformers Challenge a Traditional Society // Mark Beissinger & Lyubomir Hajda (Eds.). The Nationalities Factor in Soviet Politics and Society. Boulder, CO, 1990. Pp. 253-280.

Ab Imperio

Ab Imperio

Post-Soviet Kazakhstan: A Review of Contemporary Western Historiography

Notes