Today, Kazakhstan is one of the largest states in Central Asia boasting with developed economy and a stable political situation. Twenty years of independence allowed Kazakhs to evaluate and perceive their own history and themselves in a different light.
Abatement of the main signs of national identity - traditional mode of life resulted in deterioration of culture and language, which inflicted severe damages to cultural memory. The first a half of the XX century was marked for Kazakhstan by the difficult, erratic events which lead to almost irreversible consequences for the Kazakh’s cultural identity: collectivisation, Famine-Genocide, mass political repressions. Destruction of ethnic consciousness at the most different levels resulted in loss of national nomadic space, deaths of thousands of Kazakhs – bearers of traditions and calculated destruction of intellectual elite by government. Despite all efforts, the subsequent three generations of Kazakhs were not able to completely heal the scar left more than seventy years ago.
How to overcome this traumatic "experience"? What it steps should be taken right now to find the most reasonable way to create new identity, without destroying and without denying own history? And what role should be assigned to culture? We will try to find answers to these questions in this article. Authors do not aim to criticise existing historical events or to try to make the adjustments in the historical chronicle. The basis of this article is a
Seven billion people, seven billion different faces, seven billion unique characters, and most importantly, seven billion significant identities. Trauma, is a deeply distressing or disturbing experience, everyone experience trauma in their life, from breaking their bones to surviving a Nazi concentration camp. Identities are changed during these experiences, negative or positive, one’s identity can be described as your personality and who you are. Everyone’s identity changed during their life from different events that occur in their life. Elie Wiesel’s memoir ‘Night’ and his famous Nobel Prize acceptance speech are two of the most moving and touching examples of how horrible traumatic experiences can be. Traumatic experience is far worse than you think it is, and the changes of one’s identity is bigger than anyone could imagine. Traumatic experiences affect one’s
Forming the bond with the traditions plays a vital role in the process of identity formation. In The Namesake,
From a century to another and from regime to regime Russians have been accused of empire-building and imperialism. It is not always without a reason, since the Tsarist Russian Empire was clearly and undeniably imperialistic. (Beissinger 1995) However, the case of Soviet Union and especially their rule over Central Asia is more ambiguous and unique. It is highly disputable whether Soviet actions were actions of state-building or actions of empire-building. In this essay I examine Soviet rule in Central Asia in order to find out if it was imperialistic, and if so, to what extent. I argue that there are several facts that support the idea of Soviet imperialism in Central Asia and therefore it is correct to define it as imperialistic. Yet at the same time there are several facts that demonstrate how Soviet Union was very different from earlier Western Empires such as the British Empire. Some evidence even makes Soviet actions to be seen as actions of state-building. Therefore it is to be noticed, that the Soviet Union was not entirely imperialistic and when it was, it was imperialistic in a very unique way.
The Russian empire, at its peak held a landmass occupying almost 9 million square miles across 3 continents (Eastern Europe, Asia, and modern day Alaskan territory) and was rivaled in size only by the British and Mongol empires of olden times. Officially founded in 1721 after a warring period with the neighboring Swedish, Ottoman and Persian Empires and the signing of the Treaty of Nystad. This mighty Tsar ruled land survived as a global power for nearly 4 centuries. Unfortunately, as history has shown time and time again, no Empire, no matter how large or influential, may last forever. Internal instabilities and a waning support of the people meant the once glorious Empire was on its last legs, and soon the time arrived when a “restructuring” was on the horizon.
The authors accomplished this goal. They explored both individual and group identity through a plethora of means. They interwove bioarchaeological data with historical and ethnographic data along with other sources of datum and used them in interpreting human remains and the artifacts they were buried with to determine an individual’s identity and also if and to what extent a community’s identity had changed over time. While they cannot determinately state what a person’s or community’s identity truly was, they are able to offer insight into some aspects of life at these places during these time
For centuries throughout their cultural history, the Armenian people have been maltreated; however in this essay, I’ll focus solely on the period from 1850-1915, which is just before the occurrence of the Armenian genocide. The historic Armenian homelands were controlled by two empires called the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire. The Ottoman Empire which controlled Western Armenia, was home of the Turkish people, whereas the Russian Empire which controlled Eastern Armenia was ruled by the Russians. As a result, the Western portion of Armenia was divided into six vilayets called Van, Bitlis, Diyarbakir, Kharpert, Sivas, and Erzurum, while the remnants of Eastern Armenia was divided into Kars and Yerevan. In account of the factors that led to this disheartening division of the Armenians’ fatherland, expatriatism emerged and can be personified through Armenian works of art such as that of Vahan Tekeyan and Hovanness Toumanian’s writings.
The representation of human consciousness and psyche is a rather problematic endeavour. Furthermore, the effects of traumatic events affect the memory of an individual and define the rest of his existence. The nuanced mindscapes and intricate memories have made a deep impact on the realm of literary theory to formulate an appropriate theoretical framework including both psychoanalysis and literature. Trauma theory is a contemporary innovation which analyses the deepest reflections of personal, historical, sexual and collective traumas of a community. The Very representation of trauma is ambiguous as it continuously question the credibility of a mind affected by trauma. In addition to this, the problem and politics associated with representation
Uzbekistan is a country in Central Asia that was formerly a part of the Soviet Union. Uzbekistan declared its independence in 1991 before the fall of the Soviet Union. Because of the short amount of time in which Uzbekistan has been an independent country it is often considered to be a country in transition. This means that while there are policies and procedures in place, including some that may have carried over from their time as part of the Soviet Union, the policies are often changing in relation to the current needs.
George Orwell, 20th century award winning novelist of 1984 wrote, “He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” This idea is the fundamental basis under which lies various identity surrounded disputes within modern communities. The influence of the Spanish conquest on Native Americans and their struggle to reconstruct their identity today, and the Ayodhya dispute between the Hindu and Muslim people depicts the consequences of the Western idea of White Man’s burden and the importance of a nation-state’s interpretation of the past to assert a political agenda. The past’s concept of civilization greatly affects modern perception of identities today, thus leading to contention in the identity struggles
In the year of 2000, a horrific event occurred that caused many Palestinians to be displaced from their homes and the dislocation and breakage of several Palestinian families, in what known as the Intifada or “war uprising”. Ever since that terrifying event flourished in the media it has affected me, socially and psychologically. The entire media experience, surprisingly at first, caused me to feel as if my identity means nothing and I have even reached a point where questioning my identity became so nonchalant. From every switch between one channel to the other, the only thing that I would hear was, “the
Countries in Central Asia continue to struggle for political, economic and social stability. Many were
After the last war, in 1994-96,Chechnya was devastated and eventually turned into a chaotic uncontrollable place. Its economy declined rapidly, and poverty in the nation increased. Crimes occurred everywhere, and hostage -taking became a famous business for some criminal gangs. Within this overall framework of decay, there have been three main factors that led to the present conflict between Russia and Chechnya.
Perhaps, in one or the other, we all have experiences that we have gone through and they completely altered our lives. Evidently, we all have some unforgettable experiences, with some having the best and others have the worst kind of experiences. History is documented through the narration of testimonies by the victims of the experiences. Over the years, there is a lot that has happened in the world and all the occasions, there were people who were left to tell the stories. The holocaust is one of the worst events in the world that people had to endure; millions of people were killed in cold blood but there were survivors who lived to tell the story. Through their testimonies, we all get to know and connect with their experiences.
Its basin, sprawling across about two-fifths of the European part of Russia, contains almost half of the entire population of the Russian Republic. The Volga’s immense economic, cultural, and historic importance—along with the sheer size of the river and its basin—ranks it among the world’s great rivers.”
Russia (Listeni/ˈrʌʃə/; Russian: Росси́я, tr. Rossiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijə] ( listen)), also officially known as the Russian Federation[11] (Russian: Росси́йская Федера́ция, tr. Rossiyskaya Federatsiya; IPA: [rɐˈsʲijskəjə fʲɪdʲɪˈratsɨjə] ( listen)), is a country in northern Eurasia.[12] It is a federal semi-presidential republic. At 17,075,400 square kilometres (6,592,800 sq mi), Russia is the largest country in the world, covering more than one-eighth of the Earth 's inhabited land area. Russia is also the world 's