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Ancestral heritage and national identity: about a contemporary shaman (baqsï) in a Kazakh film and in ethnological research

Publication date: 2017

Ethnographies, 2017, Volume 45, Issue 1, pp. 35 - 54

https://doi.org/10.4467/22999558.PE.17.003.7898

Authors

Danuta Penkala-Gawęcka
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Św. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznań, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-3272 Orcid
All publications →

Titles

Dziedzictwo przodków i tożsamość narodowa – współczesna szamanka (baqsï) w filmie kazachskim i badaniach etnologicznych

Abstract

Ancestral heritage and national identity: about a contemporary shaman (baqsï) in a Kazakh film and in ethnological research

This paper deals with problems of nation-building and constructing national identities in the newly independent Central Asian countries, focusing on Kazakhstan and the personage of a female shaman –  the main character of the film Baksy, as an incarnation of Kazakh national ideals and values. This depiction is confronted with a presentation of the real baqsï living in the village in the south of Kazakhstan who was a prototype of Ayday Apa from the film. Based on my research conducted in Almaty between 1995–2000, I compare these characters with urban shamans and other spiritual healers, showing their hybridised ideas and healing practices. I argue that since they have to adapt to the demands of urban, multi-ethnic clientele, they do not present themselves as carriers of the ancestral heritage, as Kazakh village healers often do. However, it is the shaman of the latter kind who was presented in the film, because she could be used as an epitomisation of presumed national Kazakh values such as commitment to the ancestral land and deep spirituality. The case discussed in the paper is only one example of the numerous efforts to boost national self-identity and pride, observed in various cultural, social and scientific activities in contemporary Kazakhstan.  

References

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Information

Information: Ethnographies, 2017, Volume 45, Issue 1, pp. 35 - 54

Article type: Original article

Titles:

Polish:

Dziedzictwo przodków i tożsamość narodowa – współczesna szamanka (baqsï) w filmie kazachskim i badaniach etnologicznych

English:

Ancestral heritage and national identity: about a contemporary shaman (baqsï) in a Kazakh film and in ethnological research

Authors

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-3272

Danuta Penkala-Gawęcka
Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Św. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznań, Poland
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3726-3272 Orcid
All publications →

Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, Św. Marcin 78, 61-809 Poznań, Poland

Published at: 2017

Article status: Open

Licence: CC BY-NC-ND  licence icon

Percentage share of authors:

Danuta Penkala-Gawęcka (Author) - 100%

Article corrections:

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Publication languages:

English