National Histor(iograph)y: An Ideological Identitarian Frontline? Gulag Commemoration, Self-definition and Statehood in Kazakhstan
ABSTRACT:
This article examines how present-day Kazakhstan tries to accommodate the existence and function of the Karlag branches of the Soviet Gulag system in the Kazakh Soviet republic and the societal legacies that this episode left, into its state-nation building and its commemoration policies. It thereby discusses the coming into being and the content setup of the Gulag commemoration sites at Malinovka (Aqmol), Dolinka and Spassk as well as para-governmental public awareness initiatives on the issue. The article highlights how the main stake in commemoration policies is to define the role and position of the country’s titular Kazakh majority population in a tragic historical episode that occurred on Kazakh ancestral land, largely affected non-Kazakh populations yet also had a deep impact on the societal and demographic texture of Kazakhstan.
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