Monuments to Kazakh Batyrs of the Second World War

Abstract

The article examines the history and practices of establishing monuments to participants of the Second World War (Great Patriotic War) that appeared in Kazakhstan after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Monuments are considered as a certain epistemological source for studying the various trends of the time, as evidence of public discourses popular during the period from the early 1990s to the present. Phenomenological and existential approaches are used in interpreting the question of how to understand heroism, what it means to be a hero, and how this phenomenon is correlated with ideas of heroism in Kazakh culture. The article is based on the analysis of cases related to the personalities of Bauyrzhan Momishuly, Rakhymzhan Qoshqarbaev, Aliya Moldagulova and Manshuk Mametova. The analysis includes: determining the location of the monuments; visual documentation and initial description. Content analysis of media materials and specialized literature on genealogy (shezhire), interviews with actors and experts, collecting oral histories, and analyzing documents accompanying the appearance of monuments.