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Between the state and the artist: Representations of femininity and masculinity in the formation of ideas of the nation in Central Asia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Diana T. Kudaibergenova
Diana T. Kudaibergenova*
Affiliation:
Department of Sociology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
*
∗Email: dk406@cam.ac.uk
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Abstract

After the Soviet collapse, the newly independent states of Central Asia found themselves in the process of forming their own national “imagined communities.” This was done to legitimize their existing territorial integrity, their rights to their titular ethnicities, and the position of political elites. This process expressed itself through the creation of particular symbols, myths, and rituals which distinguished the nation but were also used to legitimize the nation's right to exist. The symbolic and ideological construction was influenced by the former Soviet era. For example, symbolically the country was still called Rodina (motherland), but most of the symbols of power were represented by male images, for example, Amir Timur in Uzbekistan or Ablay Khan in Kazakhstan. The tradition of representing power through a male connotation had a long history in Soviet Central Asia. Interestingly, however, some contemporary artists took an alternative view and used feminine images as strong, central symbols of their interpretation of national identity, contesting the official view of nation-building. This paper seeks to trace the development of the feminine and masculine dichotomy of representation by comparing official iconography with works of famous female artists such as Umida Akhmedova from Uzbekistan and Saule Suleimenova and Almagul Menlibayeva from Kazakhstan.

Keywords

nationartfemale artistsUzbekistanKazakhstan
Type
Special Section: Gender and Nation in Post Soviet Central Asia
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 44 , Issue 2 , March 2016 , pp. 225 - 246
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

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