Throughout my blog posts this semester, I have attempted to explore the relationships between historical migration events, the folk narratives remembering those events, and how these narratives are exploited by modern states to build nationalist mythologies. I have compared nation building through the use of mythic histories in Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. This theme is particularly […]
Author: Benjamin Storsved
Crossing the Cairn-Marked Border: Imperial Policy and Diaspora in Buryat Folk Songs
In my previous post, I introduced a Buryat folk song which described events which took place in 1727-1728. These events demonstrate the impact of imperial diplomatic policies and decisions on individuals and communities. In this post, I will provide an historical background for the geopolitical circumstances in which this folk song arose. I will also […]
Exile, Diaspora, and Agency in Inner Asian Folk Narratives
Research Questions and Goals Within my upcoming three blog posts, my aim is to present two narratives of exile present in folk oral traditions in Inner Asia. After discussing the Urkun in my previous post, I realized that I had largely forgotten the issue of individual agency within such significant historical circumstances. To rectify this […]
The Urkun and Kyrgyz-Russian Race Relations
On August 7th of this year, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of approximately 30 people gathered in Bishkek to commemorate the 104th anniversary of the Urkun with readings from the Quran.1 Despite the dangers currently associated with public gatherings, many people in Kyrgyzstan clearly feel a strong sense of importance in […]
Migration and the Construction of National Narratives in Turkey and Kyrgyzstan
As republics formed following the collapse of expansive empires, the Kyrgyz Republic and the Republic of Turkey have each utilized certain historical and cultural narratives as a means of establishing a unified ethnic national identity. In the case of Turkey, the influx of new “Turks” from the forced population exchange with Greece necessitated a unifying […]