Isaacs Rico. Film and Identity in Kazakhstan: Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture in Central Asia

London; New York: I.B. Tauris, 2018. — 352 p. — ISBN-10 1784538388; ISBN-13 978-1784538385.Cinema and nationalism are two fundamentally modern phenomena, but how have films shaped our understanding of the creation -the 'imagining' - of Central-Asian nations? Here, Rico Isaacs uses cinema as an analytical lens to explore how the Kazakh national identity has been constructed and contested. Drawing on an analysis of Kazakh films from the last century, and featuring new interviews with directors and critics involved in the Central Asian film industry, his book traces the construction of nationalism within Kazakh cinema from the country's inception as a Soviet Republic to a modern independent nation.Isaacs identifies four narratives since the collapse of the Soviet Union: a warrior-like 'ethnic' narrative rooted in the 18th Century struggles against the Mongolian Oirat tribes; a 'civic' inspired narrative cemented in the Stalinist deportations of the 1930s and 40s; a religious narrative founded within the mystic and philosophical religion of Tengrism and the cult of the Sky God; and a socio-economic narrative which roots Kazakh nationhood and identity in contemporary social divisions, the lived day-to-day experiences of ordinary citizens and the struggles they face with authority.These last two tropes demonstrate how cinema has emerged as a site of dissent against the country's authoritarian regime under President Nazarbayev. Film and Identity in Kazakhstan advances our understanding of Kazakhstan and nationalism by demonstrating the multiple and inessential character of each, and illustrates the important role of cinema in contesting political power in the post-Soviet space.Introduction. From Constructed to Contested Nations:Theorising and Analysing Nation and CinemaNations as Constructed
Nations as Contested and Multiple
Enter Cinema: Nationalist Myth-making and Myth-breaking
Multiple Nationalisms and National Identities in Kazakhstan
Analytical Framework and Methods
Structure of the BookKazakh Khanate to Kazakh Eli: Nation-building in Kazakhstan in Historical and Political ContextEthno-genesis of the Kazakhstani Nation and the Rise and Fall of the Kazakh Khanate
The Development of Nationalist Movements in Kazakhstan under Russian Rule
Soviet Nation-building in Kazakhstan
Post-Soviet Nation-buildingBetween Two Worlds: Kazakh Film and Nation-building in the Soviet EraThe Development of the Cinema Industry in the Soviet Union and Central Asia
Antecedents to the Birth of Kazakh Cinema
The Emergence of Kazakh Cinema and Shaken Aimanov
1960 – 1970s: The National Awakening in Kazakh Cinema: The Two Worlds of Soviet Kazakh Cinema
Conclusion: Influence of Kazakh Soviet CinemaThe Disruption of Time: The ‘Kazakh New Wave’ 1985–95Emergence of the New Wave
‘Kazakh New Wave’ as a Disruption of Empty Homogenous Time
The Re-imagination of Kazakh History
The Negation of Soviet Authority
Capturing Transition on Screen
After the ‘Kazakh New Wave’Naked in the Mirror: The Ethno-centric Narrative of Kazakh NationhoodThe Context of the Cinema Industry in post-Soviet Kazakhstan
Defence of the Homeland
Ethnic Identity
Power and Regime Legitimation
ReceptionMay the Grass Never Grow at Your Door: The Civic Conception of Nationhood in Kazakh CinemaInter-ethnic Harmony and Stability
Kazakh Batyrs as Kind, Open and Hospitable
Interpretation of History and Soviet Authority
Reception‘Hymn to Mother’: Tengrism, Motherhood and NationhoodTengrism
Literal Representations of Tengrism in Contemporary Kazakh Cinema
Historical-philosophical Symbolic Representation of Tengrism in Contemporary Kazakh Cinema
Quasi-primordial Symbolic Representation: Women, Family and the Cycle of Birth, Life and Death
Controversy and ReceptionThe Steppe, Disorientation, Division and Corruption: Social and Economic Visions of Modern NationhoodThe Kazakh Steppe
The Urban-rural Divide
Struggles with Bureaucracy and Authority
Home and Family
Morality and Wealth Accumulation
The Government’s Image of ModernityHeterogeneity of National Identity
Dissent and Contentious Politics in Cinema
Film and Nation-building