Category: Abai

The Aral Sea catastrophe has been known since the late 1980s as one of the largest environmental disasters in the world. Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, despite being… Continue reading The Death and Resurrection of the Aral Sea

Abilkhan Kasteyev (1904-1972), a Kazakh artist who was born at the dawn of the twentieth century, became the founder of visual arts in Soviet Kazakhstan. Prior to him, Kazakh painting… Continue reading Life and Work of the First Kazakh Artist, Abilkhan Kasteyev

Since at least the time of Marco Polo, the Kazakh steppes have attracted many visitors from the West: travelers, diplomats, traders, and researchers. Their notes, books, and memoirs provide invaluable… Continue reading Paul Labbe and His Unique Family Portraits of the Kazakh Steppe

This July, Gaudy Boy will publish an English-language anthology of Kazakhstani women’s writing entitled Amanat. The anthology brings together short stories and essays by 13 women from three generations (ranging in… Continue reading Amanat: Women’s Writing from Kazakhstan

The Abai Center in Washington, D.C., supports Kazakh culture and cultural studies and aims to increases the American people’s awareness of—and interest in—various aspects of Kazakh culture. In May 2023… Continue reading “Eternal Values in the Work of the Great Abai”: Essay Contest among the 7th-8th Grade Students of Kazakh Schools

Evgeny Matveevich Sidorkin (1930-1982) is a Soviet graphic illustrator and artist who was recognized by several prestigious awards for his art. He mainly worked in Kazakhstan and created powerful images… Continue reading Kazakh Graphic Illustrations of Evgeny Sidorkin

The lives of women in Central Asia before Russian colonization are often portrayed in a miserable light. European travelers did not leave much visual evidence about local women. Women in… Continue reading The Lives and Work of Soviet Kazakh Women in Photos. From the Central State Archive of Film, Photo Documents, and Sound Recording of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan

Contemporary Kazakh Proverb Research: Digital, Cognitive, Literary, and Ecological Approaches is a collected volume of research on proverbs by Kazakh authors edited by Gulnar Omarbekova (Kazakhstan) and Erik Aasland (USA)… Continue reading Kazakh Proverbs: What Can They Tell Us about the Kazakh Nation, Its Traditions, and Its Transformation?

In 2016, Joo-Yup Lee, a historian from the University of Toronto, published Qazaqlïq, or Ambitious Brigandage, and the Formation of the Qazaqs: State and Identity in Post-Mongol Central Eurasia (Brill, 2016).… Continue reading Joo-Yup Lee on His Travels to Kazakhstan and the Russian Translation of His Book

Abai House Museum See Now VR The house-museum of the great Kazakh poet Abay Kunanbayev was first opened in 1940 by decision of the Soviet People’s Commisioner of KazSSR in… Continue reading Abai House – VR experience

Political Vagabonds of the Steppe and their Influence on Modern Eurasia. A Conversation About Qazaqlïq with Joo-Yup Lee What are the origins of the Kazakh nation? What is common between… Continue reading Political Vagabonds of the Steppe and their Influence on Modern Eurasia

Dr. Ian Campbell gives an exclusive ACSeries talk on dynamics between tsarist bureaucracy & a fomenting Kazakh national identity that shaped Kazakhstan.