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A Tale of Two Heroes: Kyrgyzstan in Search of National Role Models
- Region: Regional Studies of Russia, Eastern Europe, and Central Asia
- Slavica Publishers
- Volume 5, Number 1, 2016
- pp. 1-16
- 10.1353/reg.2016.0004
- Article
- Additional Information
National identity can be based on a wide variety of shared markers that encourage members of a given community to identify with their putative conationals. National heroes comprise one such potential shared marker. This paper focuses on national hero creation in Kyrgyzstan, a small Central Asian country currently in the active phase of nation creation. Specifically, it examines the ways in which Kyrgyz nation creators are deploying the figures of Manas, a legendary hero of the eponymous oral epic, and Kurmanzhan Datka, an actual historical personage from the nineteenth century. For the contemporary Kyrgyz, Manas provides a highly masculine, aggressive portrait of a national unifier, while Kurmanzhan, no slouch herself in the unifying and heroic categories, lends a touch of pragmatism and statesmanship to the national imaginary.