Children’s and young adult books play a special role in their young readers’ search for identity. The example of Kazakhstan shows how positive social visions for a country and its diverse society can be created and communicated especially in fantastic and fairytale-like works.
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Most readers who grew up in German-speaking countries will have recognized the quote in the title of this article immediately. It comes from the German adaptation of the title song of the Pippi Longstocking series, which was shown on German television from 1971.
Astrid Lindgren’s cult figure shows what children’s literature, and its adaptations, are capable of: they can create counter-concepts to a society’s prevailing ideas about childhood and living together in a community, which sometimes stay with readers for a long time, even shaping the way they think and live their lives. In children’s literature, there are virtually no limits to the imagination. Lindgren’s strong and independent heroine, who embodies a child’s right to autonomy like few other literary characters, continues to remind us of all this, even decades after her invention. In recent years, children’s authors in Kazakhstan have been exploring these special features of children’s literature in their fantastical and fairytale-like stories as they create visions of a multicultural and tolerant country that offers a home to Kazakhstanis
Astrid Lindgren’s cult figure shows what children’s literature, and its adaptations, are capable of: they can create counter-concepts to a society’s prevailing ideas about childhood and living together in a community, which sometimes stay with readers for a long time, even shaping the way they think and live their lives. In children’s literature, there are virtually no limits to the imagination. Lindgren’s strong and independent heroine, who embodies a child’s right to autonomy like few other literary characters, continues to remind us of all this, even decades after her invention. In recent years, children’s authors in Kazakhstan have been exploring these special features of children’s literature in their fantastical and fairytale-like stories as they create visions of a multicultural and tolerant country that offers a home to Kazakhstanis
Kazakhstanis
The term Kazakhstanis refers to all citizens of Kazakhstan. The term Kazakh, on the other hand, only refers to people who define their ethnicity as Kazakh. To this day, the largest republic in Central Asia is a multi-ethnic state which is home to over 120 ethnic minorities alongside those of the Kazakh titular nation.
of all origins.Text
After the collapse of the and the end of the communist state ideology, , like the other independent states of the Socialist Bloc, was faced with the challenge of rethinking the former state-imposed patterns of behavior and identity centered around the figure of the Russian-speaking “Soviet citizen” and developing new identities that would make it possible to belong to one of the newly created communities. Unlike other countries, however, Kazakhstan did not fall back on promoting identities based purely on ethno-national affiliation. Rather, under the authoritarian leadership of
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev
Nursultan Nazarbayev (born 1940) emerged as the most powerful politician in Kazakhstan during the Soviet era and was the country's autocratic president from 1990 to 2019. His term of office was among other things marked by the suppression of the opposition, a controlled media, cronyism and a cult surrounding his own person. After his resignation as president in 2019, he remained as the chairman of the Security Council of Kazakhstan until 2022.
, the Kazakhstani elite proclaimed the image of a stable multi-ethnic community that would live together peacefully as long as it did not question the government. To this end, the state created institutions and laws to protect the rights of all citizens of Kazakhstan, regardless of their origin. However, studies show that in addition to the progressive nation-building strategy, which recognizes citizenship and not ethnic origin as the basis for participation in society, there is an ethno-national agenda that favors citizens of Kazakh origin, but is barely perceived by the country’s non-Kazakh population.
Soviet Union
deu. Union der Sozialistischen Sowjetrepubliken, deu. Sowjetunion, rus. Sovetskiy Soyuz, rus. Советский Союз, . Совет Ушем, . Советонь Соткс, rus. Sovetskij Soûz, . Советий Союз, yid. ראַטן־פֿאַרבאַנד, yid. סאוועטן פארבאנד, yid. sovətn farband, yid. sovʿtn-farband, yid. sovətn-farband, . Советтер Союзу, . Совет Союзы, deu. Советий Союз, . Советон Цæдис, . Совет Эвилели
The Soviet Union (SU or USSR) was a state in Eastern Europe, Central and Northern Asia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It emerged from the so-called Soviet Russia, the successor state of the Russian Empire. The Russian Soviet Republic formed the core of the union and at the same time its largest part, with further constituent republics added. Their number varied over time and was related to the occupation of other countries (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania), Soviet republics that existed only for a short time (Karelo-Finlandia) or the division or merger of Soviet republics. In addition, there were numerous autonomous republics or other territorial units with an autonomy status that was essentially limited to linguistic autonomy for minorities.
Before its formal dissolution, the USSR consisted of 15 Soviet republics with a population of approximately 290 million people. At around 22.4 million km², it was the largest territorial state in the world at the time. The Soviet Union was a socialist soviet republic with a one-party system and an absence of separation of powers.
Kazakhstan
rus. Kazakhstan, rus. Казахстан, deu. Kasachstan, kaz. Қазақстан, kaz. Qazaqstan
Kazakhstan is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Nur-Sultan is the capital of the country inhabited by about 18.8 million people. The country is located on the shores of the Caspian Sea and has been independent since 1991. The history of the country is marked by various dynasties that established khanates on its territory until the 18th century, when the country was formally ruled by the Russian Tsarist Empire in the 19th century. From 1936 to 1991, Kazakhstan was part of the Soviet Union.
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For about ten years, Kazakhstani children’s book authors have been trying to strengthen a sense of civic identity in Kazakhstan through their writing. The first example of this was a fantasy novel published in 2014:
Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup
Batu and the Search for the Golden Cup
The book has been available since 2023 in an English translation by Shelley Fairweather-Vega.
. In the book, the author duo Sira Naursbayeva and Lilya Kalaus tells the story of a boy named Batu, who leads an ordinary life in Almaty until he meets Aspara, a noble warrior from the past. Aspara is in search of the Golden Cup, whose magical powers ensure that any who drink from it are no longer able to lie. In a
quest
Quest
A quest is a form of literary hero's journey that was particularly central to medieval Arthurian epic, but it remains an important narrative element in fantasy and science fiction literature to this day. Even in the Middle Ages, the quest was centered around an honorable mission, during which a multitude of adventures, obstacles and personal trials had to be overcome. The goal of the quest, which is usually associated with numerous setbacks, is primarily to find an object or treasure, or sometimes to locate missing persons. However, the hero's own personal development is also linked to this quest, as he usually undergoes an inner transformation and a process of character maturation in the course of it.
typical of the fantasy genre, Aspara and Batu, accompanied by Batu’s friends, travel through the mythical and historical past of Kazakhstan to find the cup. Along the way, they must not only fight against mythical creatures from Kazakh mythology, but also criminals from the country’s more recent history, particularly the Soviet era. The latter want to use all possible means to prevent the lies they have spread over the decades from coming to light.
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The novel is strongly oriented towards the conventions of the fantasy genre and has often been read as a Kazakhstani Harry Potter. The setting and the design of the characters are groundbreakingly new for Kazakhstan: Batu is set in Kazakhstan and its present-day storyline features places that would be familiar to many Kazakhstani readers in their everyday lives. Kazakhstani children might also recognize themselves in the heroes, who come from Kazakh and Russian families and thus represent at least a small part of Kazakhstan’s multi-ethnic society. In former times, children’s literary heroes were imported figures called
Denis
Denis
This refers to the hero of Viktor Dragunski’s Soviet children's classic The Adventures of Denis. The original Russian title translates to “Denis' Tales”.
or Pippi who had their adventures in Moscow, the Swedish provinces and the South Seas. Of course, Kazakhstani children are not lacking in imagination, and they still identify with the often timeless protagonists of children’s literature classics. However, being offered characters that are not just fantastical but speak to the reality of their own lives opens up more opportunities for young readers to identify with their story-book heroes, especially when it comes to navigating culture-specific difficulties in an exemplary way and demonstrating possible solutions.
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At the end of the story, Batu and his friends are victorious in their battle over evil, which is portrayed as a very one-dimensional force, typical of the genre. They are aided in their victory less by their impressive arsenal of weapons than by their knowledge of Kazakh(stani) history and culture and the awareness that they are stronger together than alone. However, the children do not find the Golden Cup – the search will continue in the subsequent volumes, just as the authors continue their mission to foster an open and tolerant society in Kazakhstan.
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The author Jury Serebryansky also advocates such a society in his work. In 2017, he published Kazakhstani Fairytales, a collection of “art fairytales”. Alongside the original Russian texts, the volume also includes Kazakh translations, making the stories accessible to readers of the country’s two
most widely spoken languages
most widely spoken languages
The Kazakh constitution names Kazakh as the only official language of the country (§ 7.1). However, the Russian language has a special status, which requires it to be used in state institutions on an equal footing with Kazakh (§ 7.2). In the multi-ethnic state of Kazakhstan, Russian was also long regarded as the language of inter-ethnic communication. In the 2021 census, 19.9 percent of respondents stated that they did not speak Kazakh. This proportion is particularly high (75-78 percent) among people of Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish and German origin (Agency for Statistics of the Republic of Kazakhstan 2022: 29). Kazakh is not a Slavic, but a Turkic language, for which a Cyrillic alphabet has been used in Kazakhstan since 1937. A switch to Latin letters has been discussed since Kazakhstan's independence and was decided in 2017. Originally, the changeover was to take place by 2025, but the deadline has since been postponed to 2031.
. Unlike folk fairytales, “art fairytales” are written by a specific author and the characters, plots and settings are often more elaborate than in traditional fairytales. What both have in common, however, is the convention of placing social realities in a new context by adding fantastical elements. In order to understand this context, readers need specific cultural background knowledge. Serebryansky’s Kazakhstani Fairytales follow this principle. The stories are based on real events and contain objects and locations that Kazakhstani readers would know from their everyday lives. However, the author places these in a fictional world, which he enriches with elements of fantasy: deities, magic, animals and objects with human characteristics.
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It is these moments of recognizing and deciphering people and things, places and events (who or what does the author mean here, what is he alluding to?) that connect the individual stories of the fairytale volume. The texts also create a community: anyone who is able to crack the cultural code hidden between the lines is part of it. The author thus offers his readers an identity independent of their ethnic origin and mother tongue. To be part of this community, it is enough to be familiar with life in Kazakhstan. Of course, children may not always understand all the allusions. However, storybooks are typically read aloud, and the reader can explain the context to the listening child.
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The book avoids direct allusions to Kazakhstan’s multiethnicity and multilingualism. As a result, the human characters tend not to be described in the kind of detail that could give an indication of their origins. Readers are therefore free to form their own ideas about them. This contrasts with the narrative style of the book, which does refer to Kazakhstan’s special history and the resulting multi-ethnic composition of society. Serebryansky brings together a variety of different tropes, motifs and characters in Kazakhstani Fairytales from a range of sources including European folk tales and fables, Greek mythology, Kazakh folklore, Soviet popular culture and everyday Kazakhstani life. It is the fairytale genre chosen by the author that enables him to combine these seemingly disparate elements into a new whole, which in turn can be read as an allegory of the Kazakhstani nation-building process. In fact, Serebryansky says in the interview that he hopes his book will make “a modest contribution” to the development of a common Kazakhstani culture in which people of different origins can be “an actual part of this country and not strangers”. Because the book is bilingual, this message is accessible to all Kazakhstanis and thus overcomes the language barrier.
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In the early 2020s, Kazakhstani children’s literature has experienced a real boom. The publishing house Tentek, founded in 2021, is dedicated to publishing Kazakhstani authors and is particularly notable for its bilingual book editions. In 2022, for example, Tentek published Nuraina Satpajeva’s short story collection Alka’s Silver Tamga. The Russian original and a Kazakh translation appear on opposite pages, linked by Ekaterina Bolatova's illustrations that extend across both. This publication process, which integrates the two most important languages of Kazakhstan into one book, enables both Kazakh and Russian-speaking children to read the book. The community implied here therefore does not exclude anyone on the basis of their language skills.
Though Kazakhstan’s unique language situation is not specifically addressed in Alka’s Silver Tamga, the possibility of being able to communicate with each other is an important theme in the story: Alka, the hero, is given a silver
tamga
Tamga
A tamga is a type of seal or stamp that Eurasian nomads used as a sign of belonging to a tribe or clan. Historically, the mostly abstract symbol was also used as a brand for livestock.
, which enables him to communicate with animals. In thirteen chronologically ordered but stand-alone stories, the boy learns about the fascinating animal world of his homeland, helps animals in need, and receives help from them himself. Through his encounters with the different animals of Kazakhstan – from goitered gazelles to flamingos and wolves – the initially rather self-centered protagonist learns to respond to the needs and concerns of others. While on the surface, the stories are about communication between humans and animals – with a demand for environmental education also emerging as an important theme – the book also clearly makes a plea for a community in which people actively communicate with each other.Text
The authors of all three works of children’s literature presented here have a common aim – to foster an open and tolerant Kazakhstani community in which people from different backgrounds can live together peacefully and respectfully. By referencing a common Kazakh(stani) history and culture, featuring heroines and protagonists that their readers can identify with, and portraying the environments in which they live, these stories help to make this vision a reality. In the spirit of Pippi Longstocking, children’s authors in Kazakhstan are making themselves a world “just as they like it” in their writing, showing in a fantastically abstract way, but with a clear message, how living together in a society as diverse as Kazakhstan’s is possible. In the imaginative space of children’s literature, Kazakhstani society as a community of many different people has thus already been envisioned. These stories reject nationalistic Kazakh thinking, and also
Russian-imperial ideas
Russian-imperial ideas
Kazakhstan shares a land border with Russia of over 7,600 km in the north. Despite massive emigration since independence in 1991, people of Russian origin are still the largest ethnic minority in Kazakhstan (15.1% of the total population). Russian television stations can also be received in Kazakhstan and thus contribute to the dissemination of Russian state propaganda in the country.
, which are still present in Kazakhstan. However, whether this nation of citizens can really become a lived reality depends on concrete government policies, which so far have done little to follow up on visionary proclamations.
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English translation: William Connor
