Aisulu Baibolova
The [Un]Making of a Mankurt: Soviet Legacy and Post-Soviet Identity
This thesis paper documents the research and process into Kyrgyzstan’s history and the notion of post-Soviet identity throughout the research-creation and decolonizing methodologies. The study focuses on personal narratives, mythologies and Indigenous Central Asian knowledge to analyze Kyrgyzstan’s turbulent history and cultural memory loss as a result of that. As an artist, I explore the notion of losing one’s identity in colonization and its residue in the current times. Through illustrating an ancient Turkic legend called the Legend of the Mankurt, I am making open source material that is educational and interactive.
Keywords: imperialism, postcolonial, Post-Soviet, mankurt, memory, decolonizing methodologies
Website: www.icebaibolov.com
Instagram: @icebblv
Link to book: https://indd.adobe.com/embed/eff2dacd-b341-4522-9c0b-99b7412aabc7?startpage=1&allowFullscreen=true
