A Model of Critical Historiography in T. Kakishuly’s Scholarly Legacy: Alash, Sakentanu, and the Reconstruction of the National Literary Canon
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1611.17Keywords:
critical historiography, Alash, sakentanu, literary memory, national literary canonAbstract
The significance of the present study lies in the need for a theoretical interpretation of T. Kakishuly’s scholarly legacy as a model of critical historiography associated with the restoration of literary memory and the reconstruction of the national literary canon. The aim of the study is to identify the model of critical historiography in T. Kakishuly’s work and to determine how literary memory and the national literary canon are reconstructed through Alash, the literary and intellectual legacy of the Alash movement; sakentanu, or Saken Seifullin studies; and the history of Kazakh literary criticism. The methodology of the study is based on historical-literary, historiographic, literary-discursive, and canonological analysis operationalized through a coding matrix of historiographic fragments. The scholarly novelty of the study lies in interpreting T. Kakishuly’s works as an integral model of transition from ideologically distorted interpretation to canonical reconstruction. The study identifies strategies of critical re-evaluation, terminological clarification, the restoration of aqtandaq (“suppressed / blank pages of literary history”), and the inclusion of authors in national literary memory. The main findings confirm the significance of T. Kakishuly’s critical historiography for the theory of literary historiography, memory studies, and research on the national canon, while also showing that the proposed model requires further comparative testing in other Kazakh and post-Soviet literary-critical corpora.
References
Akhmetova, M. K., Zhanzhigitov, S., Alpysbayeva, A. Y., Sarekenova, K. K., Bibekov, K., & Abitzhanova, Z. (2025). The representation of ethnocultural names in the linguistic consciousness of Kazakh youth. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 14(2), 75–87. https://doi.org/10.22034/ijscl.2025.2056961.3990
Al-lawama, W. M. (2024). The evolution of modern literary criticism from structuralism to postmodernism: A case study of Edward Said and his critique of Orientalism in literature. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 14(10), 3268–3276. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1410.30
Annus, E. (2016). Between arts and politics: A postcolonial view on Baltic cultures of the Soviet era. Journal of Baltic Studies, 47(1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1080/01629778.2015.1103509
Bakytzhanova, A., Shokym, G. T., Burankulova, E. T., Muratbek, B. K., Yesbergenova, G. I., & Kushkarova, G. K. (2023). Features of phraseological modeling of gender stereotypes in Turkic languages. Oriental Studies, 16(5), 1367–1381. https://doi.org/10.22162/2619-0990-2023-69-5-1367-1381
Barré, J., Poibeau, T., & Camps, J.-B. (2023). Operationalizing canonicity: A quantitative study of French 19th and 20th century literature. Journal of Cultural Analytics, 8(3), Article 88113. https://doi.org/10.22148/001c.88113
Bekzhanova, Z., & Durrani, N. (2025). The intersection of gender and national identity in history textbooks in Kazakhstan. In A. Kuzhabekova, N. Durrani, & Z. Kataeva (Eds.), Gender and education in Central Asia (pp. 79–101). Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-75301-5_4
Boman, B., & Mussakhanova, A. (2024). Going in three directions: Parallel trajectories of Kazakhstanization, Westernization, and post-Soviet multiculturalism in Kazakhstan’s elementary and secondary education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2024.2355203
Bond, L., Craps, S., & Vermeulen, P. (Eds.) (2017). Memory unbound: Tracing the dynamics of memory studies. Berghahn Books. https://doi.org/10.3167/9781785333002
Burkhanov, A., & Sharipova, D. (2024). New narratives and old myths: History textbooks in Kazakhstan. Nationalities Papers, 52(5), 1193–1208. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2023.64
Chmielewska, K. (2019). Socialist realism in a new perspective: A proposal of literary history analysis. Studia Litteraria et Historica, 8, 1–23. https://doi.org/10.11649/slh.2074
Dukeyev, B. (2025). Contested narratives of the Alash movement in contemporary Kazakhstan. Nationalities Papers, 53(6), 1376–1395. https://doi.org/10.1017/nps.2024.107
Erll, A. (2011). Travelling memory. Parallax, 17(4), 4–18. https://doi.org/10.1080/13534645.2011.605570
Fluck, W. (2019). The limits of critique and the affordances of form: Literary studies after the hermeneutics of suspicion. American Literary History, 31(2), 229–248. https://doi.org/10.1093/alh/ajz003
Frank, S. (2022). “Critical appropriation of literary heritage” and the shaping of Soviet national literatures: A close reading of the debate in the journal Literaturnyi kritik (The Literary Critic, 1933–36). Slavic Review, 81(4), 891–913. https://doi.org/10.1017/slr.2023.6
Gülüm, E. (2023). Folkloric memory: (Re)connecting the dots for broader perspectives. Memory Studies, 16(6), 1466–1483. https://doi.org/10.1177/17506980231204175
Ismakova, A., Akysh, N., Akhmetova, A., Kaliyeva, A., & Shortanbayev, S. (2019). Seven aspects of the Great Steppe in the modern Kazakh prose: The national conception of Eternal Nation and art discourse. Space and Culture, India, 7(3), 68–75. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v7i3.468
Jacquesson, S. (2022). From folk epics to epic monuments: Studying and publishing epic lore in the Soviet Union (1920s–1960s). Journal of Central Asian History, 1(1), 100–129. https://doi.org/10.1163/27728668-12340003
Jünke, C. (2023). Transcultural memory and literary translation: Mapping the field (with a case study on Lydie Salvayre’s Pas pleurer and its Spanish translation). Memory Studies, 16(5), 1280–1297. https://doi.org/10.1177/1750698020988766
Karpukhina, V. N. (2023). National identity and a literary canon in British tradition of the 20th century. Studia Litterarum, 8(1), 178–197. https://doi.org/10.22455/2500-4247-2023-8-1-178-197
Kassimova, S. S., Temirgaliev, K. A., Nugman, B., & Smagulov, N. B. (2023). Saken Seifullin and the introduction of the Kazakh language in office work. Bulletin of the Karaganda University. History. Philosophy Series, 111(3), 58–68. https://doi.org/10.31489/2023hph3/58-68
Kesici, Ö. (2017). The Alash movement and the question of Kazakh ethnicity. Nationalities Papers, 45(6), 1135–1149. https://doi.org/10.1080/00905992.2017.1320541
Kossyn, M. (2024). Genealogy of being in postcolonial Kazakh culture: Re-reading the Words of Edification. Comparative Literature: East & West, 8(2), 196–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/25723618.2024.2433842
Kyyakhmetova, S., Jakypbekova, M., Imangazinov, M., Shukenay, G., & Abyzova, A. (2025). Folk motifs in poetic language of Ilyas Zhansugurov and their interpretation in modern times. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 15(12), 3841–3853. https://doi.org/10.17507/tpls.1512.04
Mansouri, S., Biria, R., Mohammadi Najafabadi, M., & Sattar Boroujeni, S. (2017). Nomination and argumentation strategies in oratory discourse: The case of an English sermon. SAGE Open, 7(2), 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1177/2158244017702425
Matayeva, A., Zhumagul, S., Sarybayeva, B., Yerlanova, A., & Chuzhayeva, A. (2025). Problems of the theory and methodology of modern Kazakh literary studies. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 9(1), Article 10392. https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd10392
McGuire, G. (2018). Aqyn agha? Abai Zholy as socialist realism and as literary history. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 9(1), 2–11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euras.2017.12.001
Milevski, U., & Wetenkamp, L. (2022). Introduction: Relations between literary theory and memory studies. Journal of Literary Theory, 16(2), 197–212. https://doi.org/10.1515/jlt-2022-2022
Nurgali, K. R., Suleimenova, S. B., & Bogdanova, Y. V. (2021). Conflict and ways of individualising mass images in early Kazakh prose. Journal of Language and Linguistic Studies, 17(3), 1277–1289. https://doi.org/10.52462/jlls.91
Omarov, B. (2020). Indian plots in the poem by Saken Seifullin “Kokshetau”. Turkic Studies Journal, 2(4), 37–46. https://doi.org/10.32523/2664-5157-2020-2-4-37-46
Parui, A. (2024). Memory studies and postcolonial writing: Interstitial intersections and entanglements. Journal of Postcolonial Writing, 60(6), 725–733. https://doi.org/10.1080/17449855.2024.2438722
Rakymzhan, O., Shalabay, B., Zhumagulova, O., Kazhibaeva, G., & Kairbekova, I. (2022). Existential loneliness in Kazakh literature and modern world literature: Insights from metaphors and frame-based analysis. International Journal of Society, Culture & Language, 10(3), 103–116. https://doi.org/10.22034/ijscl.2022.543086.2468
Rancier, M. (2024). “The real Kazakh is a dombyra”?: Musical instruments and nation branding in 21st-century Kazakhstan. Journal of Musicological Research, 43(2–3), 159–174. https://doi.org/10.1080/01411896.2024.2376938
Rigney, A. (2018). Remembrance as remaking: Memories of the nation revisited. Nations and Nationalism, 24(2), 240–257. https://doi.org/10.1111/nana.12388
Rydholm, L. (2025). Literary canon formation and historiography: The rediscovery of Ming-Qing women’s poetry. European Review, 33(3), 335–349. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1062798725100161
Sadvokassova, A., Burkhanov, A., & Sharipova, D. (2025). In search for Kazakhstani identity: Societal perceptions of Kazakhstan’s nation-building. Nationalism and Ethnic Politics, 31(1), 114–137. https://doi.org/10.1080/13537113.2024.2422198
Saktaganova, Z. G., Omarova, B. K., Illyassova, K. M., Nurligenova, Z. N., Abzhapparova, B. Zh., Zhalmurzina, A. Zh., & Mazhirova, Zh. S. (2020). The Alash party: Historiography of the movement. Space and Culture, India, 7(4), 208–218. https://doi.org/10.20896/saci.v7i4.791
Tokshylykova, G., Abdul Rakhmanuly, A., Assylbekuly, S., Kalibekuly, T., & Askarova, G. (2024). The horse as a symbol of cultural identity and resistance in Kazakhstan’s colonial history. Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development, 8(12), Article 9038. https://doi.org/10.24294/jipd.v8i12.9038
Yerdembekov, B., Kassymova, A., Aubakirova, K., & Tulebayeva, K. (2025). Implementation of the Alash idea in literary translations: On the example of contemporary Kazakh literature. Open Cultural Studies, 9(1), Article 20250052. https://doi.org/10.1515/culture-2025-0052
Youngman, T., Modrow, S., & Meth, I. (2024). Deceiving dichotomies: On the interrelation of the archive and the cultural memory canon. Proceedings of the Association for Information Science and Technology, 61(1), 697–702. https://doi.org/10.1002/pra2.1082
Zakirova, A., Maigeldiyeva, S., & Tuyakbayev, G. (2023). Linguacultural and cognitive aspects of teaching the language of Kazakh legends. Citizenship, Social and Economics Education, 22(3), 137–151. https://doi.org/10.1177/14788047231221109
