DOCSLIB.ORG

Download for the Reader

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Download for the Reader Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore http://www.folklore.ee/folklore Printed version Vol. 63 2016 Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum Estonian Institute of Folklore Folklore Electronic Journal of Folklore Vol. 63 Edited by Mare Kõiva & Andres Kuperjanov Guest editor: Aimar Ventsel Tartu 2016 Editor in chief Mare Kõiva Co-editor Andres Kuperjanov Guest editor Aimar Ventsel Copy editor Tiina Mällo News and reviews Piret Voolaid Design Andres Kuperjanov Layout Diana Kahre Editorial board 2015–2020: Dan Ben-Amos (University of Pennsylvania, USA), Larisa Fialkova (University of Haifa, Israel), Diane Goldstein (Indiana University, USA), Terry Gunnell (University of Iceland), Jawaharlal Handoo (University of Mysore, India), Frank Korom (Boston University, USA), Jurij Fikfak (Institute of Slovenian Ethnology), Ülo Valk (University of Tartu, Estonia), Wolfgang Mieder (University of Vermont, USA), Irina Sedakova (Russian Academy of Sciences). The journal is supported by the Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (IUT 22-5), the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Estonian Studies), the state programme project EKKM14-344, and the Estonian Literary Museum. Indexed in EBSCO Publishing Humanities International Complete, Thomson Reuters Arts & Humanities Citation Index, MLA International Bibliography, Ulrich’s Periodicals Directory, Internationale Volkskundliche Bibliographie / International Folklore Bibliography / Bibliographie Internationale d’Ethnologie, Open Folklore, DOAJ, C.E.E.O.L., ERIH Plus, Scopus Editorial address: Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore Vanemuise 42–235 51003 Tartu Estonia phone: +372 737 7740 fax: +372 737 7706 e-mail: [email protected] home page: http://www.folklore.ee/folklore All rights reserved © Folk Belief and Media Group of the Estonian Literary Museum EKM Teaduskirjastus / ELM Scholarly Press Estonian Institute of Folklore Authors Design Andres Kuperjanov ISSN 1406-0957 doi:10.7592/FEJF2016.63 www.folklore.ee/folklore CONTENTS Introduction 7 Aimar Ventsel, Zoya Tarasova Prison Camp No. 29 for Prisoners of War from the Second World 9 War on the Territory of Kazakhstan between 1943–1949 Aimar Ventsel, Baurzhan Zhanguttin Resistance to Ideology, Subjugation to Language: 29 A Workshop by Writer Gabit Musrepov under Soviet Totalitarian Censorship in 1928–1964 Zhanat Kundakbayeva, Kamshat Rustem Between the East and the West: 45 Reflections on the Contemporary Art of Kazakhstan Madina Sultanova, Natalia Mikhailova, Dinara Amanzholova Slavic and Kazakh Folklore Calendar: 65 Typological and Ethno-Cultural Parallels Galina Vlasova The Development of Linguistics in Kazakhstan: 83 New Approaches and Modern Tendencies Sholpan Zharkynbekova, Atirkul Agmanova Peaceful Lifestyle or Innocuous Image: 107 Islamic Branding Using Kazakh Proverbs on Youtube Erik Aasland DISCUSSION Can We Talk About Post-Soviet Science? 121 Aimar Ventsel, Natalia Struchkova Folklore 63 5 REVIEW ESSAY Nonviolence Loves Freedom. Taive Särg 127 NEWS IN BRIEF Negotiating Belarusianness: Political Folklore Betwixt and Between. 137 Liisi Laineste Talking About Proverbs: The 9th Interdisciplinary Colloquium on Proverbs 140 in Tavira, Portugal. Liisa Granbom-Herranen BOOK REVIEWS Epic of the Sakhalin Nivkh People. Dmitri Funk, Elena Nam 142 Change and Survival at Bering Strait. Dmitri Oparin 145 About the Ethno-Political History of Kazakhstan. Baurzhan Zhanguttin 148 Unfading Images of History. Askar Altayev 151 Proverbs with a Bonus. Samantha Berman 154 www.folklore.ee/folklore INTRODUCTION Aimar Ventsel, Zoya Tarasova The special issue1 of Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore is a collection of scholarly works from and about Kazakhstan. The idea for the issue was born in a discussion with the editors of the journal after Aimar Ventsel’s first visit to Kazakhstan. During that discussion the journal editors decided to compile a special issue reflecting the variety of topics scholars in Kazakhstan are en- gaged with. Kazakhstan is a dynamically developing country and invests considerable funds into education and science. The initial idea of the special issue was to reflect the current state of affairs in Kazakh academia, and demonstrate to the English speaking audience the variety of topics and research methods ex- isting there. With the exception of two contributors, all of the authors in the volume are from universities in Kazakhstan. After the initial call for papers we received several abstracts from scholars of disciplines willing to contribute to the volume. Unfortunately, some of these authors were unable to complete and submit the final version of their articles. Therefore, for example, legal studies are not represented in this special issue, although the original line up also included one paper from this field. We announced another call for papers and later added a few more papers. After reading and editing the articles, some common threads in the works of contributors can be highlighted. As is typical of academia in the former Soviet Union, scholars in Kazakhstan overwhelmingly focus their studies on subjects from their own country. The variety of topics represented in this spe- cial issue ranges from the analysis of the language politics of the Republic of Kazakhstan, via discussing particularities of the traditional calendar, to a semi- biographic article about the ‘ethnographic’ writing of a Kazakh writer, Gabit Musrepov. There are several reasons for such ‘home research’, and these will be discussed in more detail in a concluding chapter. This tendency, however, offers the reader a unique possibility to get a glimpse inside the academia of Kazakhstan, and learn about the relevant topics and approaches. A beginner http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol63/introduction.pdf Aimar Ventsel, Zoya Tarasova in the studies of Central Asian academia is often confronted by the fact that the English language writing on the region offers an analysis through the eyes and methodology of Western scholars. As long as the student is unable to read regional languages and Russian, or has difficulties in finding such literature, he or she lacks the understanding of how local scholars view their culture, region, and meaning thereof in a wider political context. It is not to deny that the view from the ‘other side’ is helpful in constructing a bigger picture. This bigger picture is useful when preparing oneself for fieldwork in Kazakhstan, or cooperation with scholars from the region. Another reason for compiling the special issue is to acknowledge the different traditions of academic writing. Therefore, the publication of non-Western scholars writing in a style different than in Western journals serves as an example of the multitude of different academic styles and traditions. As scholars who have considerable experience with the academic writing in the former Soviet Union, and especially with scientific writing in Russian, we could argue that the approach of the scholars from Kazakhstan differs significantly from the style of Soviet academic writing, but also from the styles practiced by Russian scholars today. It could be said that Kazakh scholars have their own poetic way of writing, demonstrated by the majority of papers in this journal’s special issue. In order to give a voice to that tradition, texts were not edited with the aim to force them to conform to the Western way of argumentation, as it often happens with other academic journals. We did everything to maintain the original style and argumentation of the authors. Through the publication of this collection of articles we intend to contribute to a global academic dialogue between various countries, national traditions, and research methods. NOTE 1 This publication was supported by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence in Cultural Theory, CECT) and Estonian Research Council grant (IUT34-32). www.folklore.ee/folklore http://dx.doi.org/10.7592/FEJF2016.63.camp29 PRISON CAMP NO. 29 FOR PRISONERS OF WAR FROM THE SECOND WORLD WAR ON THE TERRITORY OF KAZAKHSTAN BETWEEN 1943–1949 Aimar Ventsel, Baurzhan Zhanguttin Abstract: This article is the first publication of materials about Pakhta-Aral prison camp No. 29 for prisoners of war. The fate of prisoners of war (both Western and Eastern) remains largely unclear. One reason is because the camps for prisoners of war were subordinated to an extremely closed and classified structure – the GUPVI. To some extent, Pakhta-Aral was an untypical prison camp in the Soviet prison camp system. While most prison camps were established to support industry or resource extraction with labour, then a far smaller number of prison camps were connected to agriculture. The Pakhta-Aral camp was opened as a workforce supply for the cotton growing collective farms of Kazakhstan. Interestingly, archival data show that the need to supply the camp with food and clothes added some liberal aspects to camp life. Some researchers argue that prison camps were a model for the so-called ‘non-Gulag’ society, but the Pakhta-Aral camp shows that at least some civic practices were adopted where they helped to improve the functioning of the camp. Keywords: Gulag, Kazakhstan, Pakhta-Aral, prisoners of war, repressions One of the unresolved mysteries of the history of the Second World War was the fate of 3,120,944 prisoners of war on the territory of the Soviet Union, in- cluding 1,836,315 Germans, 637,000 Japanese, 425,549 Hungarians, 121,590 Austrians,
Load more

Recommended publications
  • LEV IAKOVLEVICH SHTERNBERG: at the OUTSET of SOVIET ETHNOGRAPHY1 Anna A. Sirina and Tat'iana P. Roon Introduction the Works Of
    First published in “Jochelson, Bogoras and Shternberg: A Scientific Exploration of Northeastern Siberia and the Shaping of Soviet Ethnography”, edited by Erich Kasten, 2018: 207 – 264. Fürstenberg/Havel: Kulturstiftung Sibirien. — Electronic edition for www.siberien-studies.org LEV IAKOVLEVICH SHTERNBERG: 8 AT THE OUTSET OF SOVIET ETHNOGRAPHY1 Anna A. Sirina and Tat‘iana P. Roon Introduction The works of Lev Iakovlevich Shternberg, the eminent Russian and Soviet scientist, accomplished theoretical evolutionist, professor, and corresponding member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences (from 1924), are well known by present day historians, ethnographers and anthropologists. An active public figure, he was engaged in the ethnography of the peoples of the Russian Far East and in Jewish ethnography. His acquaintance through correspondence with Friedrich Engels played a not insignificant role in his prominence: Engels wrote to Shternberg, having become acquainted with his discovery of group marriages amongst the Gilyak (or Nivkh) people (Shternberg et al. 1933; Shternberg 1933b: xvii-xix; see also Marx and Engels 1962, vol. 22: 364–367). This “discovery,” as with his description of other features of the Nivkh (Gilyak) social order, made on the Island of Sakhalin, was the beginning of his scientific activities. Over the period of his eight-year administrative exile he gathered unique field mate- rial on the language, folklore and social and religious life of the Nivkh. The results of his research were published in Russia beginning as early as 1893 (Shternberg 1893a; 1895; 1896). A considerable amount has been written on Lev Shternberg: obituaries, including ones in foreign journals,2 articles by ethnographers, archeologists, museologists and historians of science.3 Of particular interest is an absorbing book by Nina Gagen-Torn who, on the basis of personal recollections and archival documents, gives a vivid and emotional account of her teacher — the revolutionary and founder of the Leningrad School of Ethnography (Gagen-Torn 1971; 1975).
    [Show full text]
  • The Nivkh People of Sakhalin and Their Music
    THE NIVKH PEOPLE OF SAKHALIN AND THEIR MUSIC MY NIVKH JOURNEY BY PIA SIIRALA © Pia Siirala, 2007 From the original Sahalinin Nivkh-Alkuperäiskansan Musiikki Matkapäiväkirja English translation copyright © 2009 by Lygia O’Riordan © Ensemble XXI 2 ISBN 978-952-5789-01-0 INTRODUCTION This is the day-to-day journal of my field trip late last year to Sakhalin, when I worked with the indigenous Nivkh people for a second time, collecting more material, both through notating music on the spot and by making recordings of the Nivkhs singing for me. Since then I have composed two more pieces of music based on this Nivkh material – a Suite for Solo Violin and Ulita’s Walk for chamber orchestra. Both works will be given their world premieres in 2008. The Nivkhs and their music have been an enormous inspiration to me, to our orchestra Ensemble XXI and to our conductor, Lygia O’Riordan. Before my first field trip in 2004, Lygia O’Riordan, the conductor of Ensemble XXI, initiated the first contact with the Nivkhs on her field trip to meet them in Sakhalin. At that time she met the Ethnomusicologist, Natalia Mamcheva, who introduced her to the legendary Nivkh singer, Tatiana Ulita. During that first encounter, Lygia O’Riordan recorded Tatiana Ulita’s singing. These songs provided me with the vital material for my composition, Nivkh Themes. On that same trip, Lygia O’Riordan travelled to Nogliki to see Nivkh performances first hand and to meet with the Nivkhs themselves. Armed with ancient recordings of Nivkh singing given to her by Natalia Mamcheva, as well as her own recordings, Lygia introduced me to the Nivkh music.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Kazakhstan
    History of Kazakhstan The territory now known as Kazakhstan was home to nomadic peoples for centuries. Mongol tribes began migrating to the area in the eighth century AD, and in the early thirteenth century, central Asia was conquered by Genghis Khan’s Golden Horde. Their descendants, known as the White Horde, ruled the territory until the Mongol Empire crumbled in the late 14th century. The Kazakh nation that emerged was a mixture of Turkic and Mongol peoples. From 1511 to 1518, Kazakhs were unified and their territory expanded under the leadership of Kassym Khan. Their language and culture gradually became distinct from those of neighboring Uzbek and Kyrgyz peoples. Following Kassym Khan’s reign, the Kazakhs divided into three distinct groups, each dominating a particular geographic area but maintaining a common language and heritage. Fiercely independent, they avoided relations with outside nations. Contact with imperial Russia was minimal until the early1700s, when Russia built forts in southern Siberia and northern Kazakhstan. When the Kazakhs were threatened by the Kalmyks, they reluctantly accepted protection from czarist Russia. In the 19th- century Great Game race for territory and influence between Britain and Russia, Russia eventually solidified its control of the area. Subsequent Kazakh uprisings, including one in 1916, were put down with force. In the wake of Russia’s Bolshevik Revolution, a Kazakh autonomous government was formed and nominally held power from 1917 to1919. By 1920, however, communist forces had gained control; Kazakhstan officially became a Soviet republic in 1936. Years of war, followed by Soviet leader Joseph Stalin’s forced collectivization campaign in the 1930s, virtually eliminated the traditional nomadic way of life; one-third of the population and most livestock perished.
    [Show full text]
  • B Y Bruce Grant
    FO R E W O R D B Y Bruce Grant I N 1889, LE V S H T E R N B E R G , a Russian law student who had been exiled to Sakhalin Island for his participation in an anti-tsarist terrorist organization, met a Gilyak man on the street in the small Sakhalin town of Aleksandrovsk. “I saw a disheveled Gilyak shaman,” he entered in his fieldnotes, “with matted gray hair and a strange cordial smile. Small boys surrounded him, shouting ‘Look at the old shaman, he’ll tell your f o rt u ne !’ ”1 S h t e rn b e rg didn’t know how to respond, but he re m e m b er ed the shaman’s e x p ression as he walked by. So began one of Russia’s most famous ethnographic encounters. From that first meeting, Shternberg went on to produce a corpus of writ- ing on Gilyak life that easily compares to Franz Boas’ “five-foot shelf” on the Kwa- kiutl and Bronislaw Malinowski’s epics from the Trobriands. Like his foreign col- leagues, he has enjoyed the reputation as a famous ancestor for the generations of anthropologists he trained and influenced. Yet, looking back on Shternberg’s work today, what perhaps stands out is not even just what he wrote, but how his work has come to mean so many different things to so many. Shternberg’s Social Organiza - tion of the Gilyak, his most extensive work in English translation, began as a spirit- ed defense of the idea of group marriage first put forth by the American ethnologist Lewis Henry Morgan.
    [Show full text]
  • Nivkhi on the Social Organization of the Gilyak, 1995 B Y Bruce Grant
    AF T E RW O R D: AF T E R L I V E S A N D AF T E RW O R L D S Nivkhi on The Social Organization of the Gilyak, 1995 B Y Bruce Grant B Y T H E A D V E N T of World War II, the lives of most Gilyaks had changed dramati- cally. The Soviet government officially recognized the use of their self-designation, “Nivkh,” and in the Soviet drive to create proletarians from primitives, the idea of “Gilyak” came to take on pejorative connotations of all things past. That the gov- er nment embraced the name “Nivkh” as a hallmark of native self-determination, but simultaneously forbade Nivkhi to speak the Nivkh language, was only one of many contradictions between tradition and modernity that their belonging in the new Sovi- et Union had set before them.1 For the new Nivkh society, one of the greatest legacies of the post-World War II period was the widespread integration of women into the workforce. Before the war, efforts to recruit women into Sovietized native institutions such as clan councils foundered on the reluctance of Nivkh men and women alike. With the conscription of Nivkh and Russian men to the war front, women all over Sakhalin and the Amur had to take the work of the fishing collectives into their own hands. During my own fieldwork on Sakhalin in 1990, one woman explained to me, I was 10 when the war started. I had only been in school a year but our mother had no money, so I started working on the kolkhoz.
    [Show full text]
  • Contribution to the UNESCO Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) 6.20B.10.3
    Contribution to the UNESCO encyclopedia of life support systems (EOLSS) 6.20B.10.3 DOCUMENTING ENDANGERED LANGUAGES AND LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE Matthias Brenzinger Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa, Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan Tjeerd de Graaf Slavic Research Center, Hokkaido University, Japan and Frisian Academy, the Netherlands Keywords: endangered languages, ethnolinguistics, language documentation, language endangerment, language maintenance, language policy, language revitalization, language shift, mother tongue education Contents 1. Introduction 2. Language Endangerment and Endangered Languages 2.1 Extent and Types of Language Endangerment 2.2 Selected Case Studies of Endangered Languages 2.2.1 /Xam, a Physical and Cultural Genocide in South Africa 2.2.2 Ainu in Japan 2.2.3 Nivkh in the Russian Federation 2.2.4 North Frisian in Germany 2.2.5 Amazigh (Berber) Languages in Northern Africa 3. Language Documentation 3.1 Why study Endangered Languages 3.2 Documenting Endangered Languages 3.3 Assessing Language Vitality and Endangerment 3.4 Language Maintenance and Revitalization 4 Concluding Remarks Acknowledgments Bibliography Biographical Sketches Summary Several scholars predict that up to 90% of the world’s languages may well be replaced by dominant languages by the end of the 21st century, which would reduce the present number of almost 7,000 languages to less than 700. This review article attempts to describe processes that are underlying this severe threat to the majority of the languages currently spoken. However, the central focus of discussion will be on aspects related to the documentation and maintenance of the world’s linguistic diversity. The main causes of language endangerment are presented here in a brief overview of the world’s language situation.
    [Show full text]
  • French Historiography of Central Asia
    Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana ISSN: 1315-5216 ISSN: 2477-9555 [email protected] Universidad del Zulia Venezuela French Historiography of Central Asia TAYSHANOVA, Saltanat T.; AITBAYEVA, Rauilya T.; ABZHAPPAROVA, Bibikhadisha Zh.; ALIYEVA, Saule K.; ALPEISSOV, Amirzhan K. French Historiography of Central Asia Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana, vol. 23, no. 82, 2018 Universidad del Zulia, Venezuela Available in: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa?id=27957591001 DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1495786 This work is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International. PDF generated from XML JATS4R by Redalyc Project academic non-profit, developed under the open access initiative Utopía y Praxis Latinoamericana, 2018, vol. 23, no. 82, July-September, ISSN: 1315-5216 2477-9555 Estudios French Historiography of Central Asia Historiografía ancesa de Asia Central Saltanat T. TAYSHANOVA DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1495786 Eurasian National University , Kazakhstan Redalyc: https://www.redalyc.org/articulo.oa? [email protected] id=27957591001 http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1995-3779 Rauilya T. AITBAYEVA Eurasian National University, Kazakhstan Bibikhadisha Zh. ABZHAPPAROVA Eurasian National University , Kazakhstan Saule K. ALIYEVA Eurasian National University , Kazakhstan Amirzhan K. ALPEISSOV Eurasian National University , Kazakhstan Received: 26 August 2018 Accepted: 22 September 2018 Abstract: Article presents the analysis of historiography of French scientists concerning Central Asia in common and each of its republics separately. We have studied the works of leading French researches from 1991 to the present. e study has revealed, that region of Central Asia has lost its homogeneity: each state in the region is developing in its own way, according to its own model and has only its own international guidelines.
    [Show full text]
  • Race to the Bottom, Take II
    Race to the Bottom, Take II An Assessment of Sustainable Development Achievements of ECA- Supported Projects Two Years After OECD Common Approaches Rev 6 September 2003 A Publication of ECA-Watch About the Publication This publication has been a Editor: collaborative research effort Gabrielle Watson supported by: BothENDs (The Netherlands), Introduction authors: Doug Norlen, Fraser Reilly-King, Jon Sohn, Emilie Thenard, and Campagna per la riforma della Banca Gabrielle Watson mondiale (Italy), the Cornerhouse (UK), FERN (Brussels), Finnish ECA Case study authors, research and campaign contributors: Campaign (Finland), the NGO Azerbaijan, Georgia & Turkey – BTC Pipeline: Working Group on EDC, a Working Nick Hildyard (Cornerhouse), Anders Lustgarten (Kurdish Human Rights Project), Greg Muttitt (PLATFORM), Yury Urbansky (CEE Group of the Halifax Initiative Bankwatch) and the Baku Ceyhan Campaign. Coalition (Canada), Pacific Environment (US) and Urgewald Brazil – Aracruz Cellulose: (Germany). FASE – Espíritu Santo, Brazil and Tove Selin (Finnish ECA Reform Campaign) ECA Watch is an organizing and outreach feature of the larger China – Three Gorges Dam: Patricia Adams (Probe International); Fraser Reilly-King (NGO international campaign to reform Working Group on EDC, a Working Group of the Halifax Initiative Export Credit, Finance and Insurance Coalition); Grainne Ryder (Probe International); Doris Shen-Hoover Agencies (ECAs). Participants in the (International Rivers Network) and the Three Gorges Probe. campaign include environment, India – Tehri Dam: development, human rights, Patrick McCully (International Rivers Network) and Heffa Schücking community, labor, anti-corruption and (Urgewald). other non-governmental organizations and bodies. The goals of the campaign Lao PDR – Sepon Mine: Rod Harbinson (Friends of the Earth, International) and Kate Walsh are described in the Jakarta (AID/Watch).
    [Show full text]
  • The Sociolinguistic Landscape of the Island of Sakhalin
    THE SOCIOLINGUISTIC LANDSCAPE OF THE ISLAND OF SAKHALIN Nadezhda Mamontova University of Helsinki / Moscow State University This paper deals with the current sociolinguistic situation among the indige- nous peoples living on the island of Sakhalin, the Russian Far East. The discus- sion is based on the criteria developed by the UNESCO project on endan- gered languages for the assessment of language vitality and usage of minority languages in different domains, such as home, education, and media. The paper also discusses language and identity issues, especially the problem concerning the applicability of official statistical data to the description of language shift in multiethnic societies of the type present on Sakhalin. Статья посвящена социолингвистической ситуации среди коренных малочисленных народов, живущих на Сахалине, на Дальнем Востоке России. Она базируется на критериях, разработанных группой ЮНЕСКО по языкам, находящимся под угрозой исчезновения, для оценки языковой ситуации в целом и изучения использования языков меньшинств в различных сферах: дома, в системе образования, в СМИ и т.д. Кроме того, в статье обсуждаются вопросы соотношения языка и идентичности, в частности проблема применимости официальной статистики к описанию языкового сдвига в таких многоэтничных сообществах, каким является Сахалин. 1. INTRODUCTION This paper focuses on the present-day situation regarding the maintenance of the indigenous languages spoken on Sakhalin, that is, Nivkh (isolate), and Uilta, Ewenki, and Nanai (Tungusic).1 The Ainu language, which used to be spoken in the southern half of the island, is considered to be extinct at the moment. The last Ainu speakers on Sakhalin passed away in the 1970s. It is true that there are still people identifying themselves as Ainu, but they are not recognized as an indig- enous minority and are excluded from the official list of the indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation.
    [Show full text]
  • NIVKH and AINU Tjeerd De Graaf and Hidetoshi Shira
    First published in Sustaining Indigenous Knowledge: Learning Tools and Community Initiatives for Preserving Endangered Languages and Local Cultural Heritage, edited by Erich Kasten and Tjeerd de Graaf 2013, 49–64. Fürstenberg/Havel: Kulturstiftung Sibirien. — Electronic edition DOCUMENTATION AND REVITALISATION OF TWO ENDANGERED LANGUAGES IN EASTERN ASIA: N4 IVKH AND AINU Tjeerd de Graaf and Hidetoshi Shiraishi Introduction This article draws a comparison between two adjacent ethnic groups, namely the Ainu of Hokkaido and the Nivkh of Sakhalin. We shall follow the historical development of the border areas between Japan and Russia and describe the prevailing situation of these aboriginal peoples on both sides of the border. The legal measures taken by the Japanese government for the promotion of Ainu culture and the development of learning tools have consequences for the Ainu community and the possible revitalisa- tion of the Ainu language. The Nivkh community within the Russian Federation is a typical example of the multitude of ethnic minority groups spread across this vast territory. The Ainu case can be compared and used as a model for possible (legal) measures to be taken regarding minority languages and cultures such as Nivkh with an outlook for future improve- ment. We shall consider the use of new media for these native communities and pay attention to the development of adequate modern learning tools and culturally related teaching methods. Various options are considered, starting with such basic ones as organising language courses and arranging other language-related activities. Historical Background In the 17th and 18th centuries, the homelands of the Ainu and the Nivkh northeast of Japan were little known and stories about this northern border area were so con- tradictory that European cartographers were unable to record its position correctly.
    [Show full text]
  • In the Name of Unity
    The Equal Rights Trust is an independent internation- al organisation whose purpose is to combat discrimi- nation and promote equality as a fundamental human Equal Rights Trust right and a basic principle of social justice. The Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law is a non-governmental organi- sation which aims to protect political rights and civ- il freedoms and to develop democracy and rule of law in Kazakhstan and other countries. “Unity! Stability! Creativity!” This is the slogan of Nur Otan, the political party of Nursultan Nazarbayev, the Republic of Kazakhstan’s first and only president. ▪ This report, examining discrimination and inequality in Kazakhstan, finds Series: Kazakhstan Report Country that the unity promoted by Nazarbayev is narrow, excluding those whose religion, ethnicity or political opinion challenges his vision, and denying an equal role to women, persons with disabilities and other groups. - IN THE NAME ofA 2011the Kazakh law on language religion imposes– spoken onerous by only registration74% of the population requirements, – creates indi rectly discriminating against minority religious groups. The promotion OF UNITY - barriers for ethnic minorities in accessing public services, employment and education. The state discriminates on the basis of political opinion, detain ing its critics and limiting freedom of expression, assembly and association.- Addressing Discrimination The unified Kazakhstan promoted by the government also provides lit and Inequality in Kazakhstan tle space for other groups. Women are subject to discriminatory laws and are underrepresented in the workforce and public life. Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons are subject to discrimination by both state and non-state actors.
    [Show full text]
  • History of Kazakhstan As an Image of an Independent State
    © Kamla-Raj 2016 Anthropologist, 26(1,2): 131-136 (2016) History of Kazakhstan as an Image of an Independent State Kanat Yensenov*, Seitkali Duisen, Kunduzai Erimbetova, Jabai Kaliyev and Bauyrzhan Yensepov Institute of State History MES RK, Orinbor str 8, Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan, 010000 *E-mail: [email protected] KEYWORDS Image. History. History of Kazakhstan. History of Motherland. Republic State. World History ABSTRACT This paper reports that the history of Kazakhstan is a structural part of world history, it forms a state image at the international level, and through that, national history. The proclamation of Kazakhstan independence and new social and political conditions made definite changes in peoples and society consciousness. Viewpoints regarding its people and their history have changed as well. Before, Kazakhstan history was understood as a part of USSR and now history of Kazakhstan is considered as a part of world history, Eurasia history, nomads’ civilization, history of Turkic people and Central Asia. Creating a real image of the past history is one of the factors forming national unity, state image of the Republic of Kazakhstan and building of civil and patriotic qualities. History is peoples’ mind, they receive energy from it, and they receive a spirit that leads to social creativeness and a bright future. INTRODUCTION khs have been taught without history and it was only in colonialism. In XVIII-XIX, Kazakhstan The aim of this scientific attempt is consider- was in Russian King Imperia colony and in XX it ation of Kazakhstan History dividing into peri- was in Soviet Union Red Army colony.
    [Show full text]