BATYRS IN THE NATION-BUILDING IN KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

In this research, I analyze the role of batyr images in the nation-building process in contemporary Kazakhstan. In particular, I focus on the batyrs as ideological personages who previously were considered historical figures and literary heroes. I demonstrate how the government instrumentalized the batyr images, which position batyrs as defenders of the Kazakh state and Kazakh people through the idea of uninterrupted continuity of Kazakh sovereignty. After a thorough analysis of different approaches to nation-building in Kazakhstan, I argue that batyr commemoration is a part of a recent trend in the Kazakh ethnonational way of nation-building. Similarly, I show the development of the batyr cult in pre-modern times. After considering the nineteenth-century ethnographic sources, folklore works, and the Soviet period of batyr commemoration, I show how the batyr cult changed over time. Additionally, I consider three main levels involved in the nation-building and batyr reimagination process in Kazakhstan: national, local, and grassroots levels, and analyze the role of every layer in this process.