Sanat ve Sosyal Bilimler Fakültesi

Kültürel Çalışmalar

Eva-Marie
Dubuisson, PhD

Mellon
Postdoctoral Research Scholar in the Humanities,

University of California, Berkeley, Department of Anthropology

 Political
Participation in Central Asia: The Value of a People’s Voice in Kazakh Aitys
Poetry

7 Ocak 2011 Cuma

11:00-12:30

 FASS 2054

ÖZET:

In this talk I examine the threat of commodification inherent in a contemporary oral


tradition of Kazakh improvisational poetry. What does it mean for a group of poets


to “sell out,” and how does the examination of this threat illuminate an alternate


form of authority in a Central Asian political climate consistently cast as


authoritarian and as a “failed transition” to capitalist democracy? Looking at the


mutually constitutive legitimacy of poets and their sponsors, who come from the


ranks of the political‐economic elite, I argue here that as a whole, this oral tradition


exemplifies a dialogic form of leadership, one for which poets, sponsors, and


audiences advocate more generally as a model of regional and state power. Leaders


can and should be strong, but they should be accountable to the people they govern.


Here I illuminate the real value of a “people’s voice” in a climate of censorship and


repression: language and performance are not just a topic of inquiry, but rather a


helpful heuristic in the study of authority and political participation in the region.