BORN TO BE SOVIET: AMANGELDY IMANOV’S LIFE AFTER DEATH THROUGH THE PRISM OF THE SOVIET NATIONALITIES POLICY

Abstract

My interest in Amangeldy Imanov stems from reading the edited volume on The Central Asian Revolt of 1916 and attending history classes during my Master of Arts in Eurasian Studies program.1 I was particularly drawn to the topic of national heroes, specifically what makes them “national” (natsional’nyi) and/or “people’s” (narodnyi/khalyq). The figure of Amangeldy Imanov drew my attention because Amangeldy was both a leader of the uprising of 1916 in the in Turgay Steppe and a celebrated national hero in Soviet and later post-Soviet Kazakhstan. The people’s batyr, organizer of the national liberation uprising of the Kazakh people in 1916 against tsarism, the legendary hero of the Kazakh people, and an active participant in the establishment of Soviet power in Kazakhstan are all descriptions of the same person. How does one retain the status of a hero in three different historical periods was the question I asked myself.