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,