Eva Marie Dubuisson – författare

Eva-Marie Dubuisson provides a fascinating anthropological inquiry into the deeply ingrained presence of ancestors within the cultural, political, and spiritual discourse of Kazakhs. In a climate of authoritarianism and economic uncertainty, many people in this region turn to their forebearers for care, guidance, and advice, invoking them on a daily basis. This "living language" creates a powerful link to the past and a stable foundation for the present. Through Dubuisson's participatory, observational, and lived experience among Kazakhs, we witness firsthand the public performances and private rituals that show how memory and identity are sustained through an oral tradition of invoking ancestors. This ancestral dialogue sustains a unifying worldview by mediating questions of faith and morality, providing role models, and offering a mechanism for socio-political critique, change, and meaning-making. Looking beyond studies of Islam or heritage alone, Dubuisson provides fresh insights into understanding the Kazakh worldview that will serve students, researchers, GMOs, and policymakers in the region.

This book brings together historical and ethnographic research from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and Xinjiang, in order to explore how individuals and communities work to create and maintain forms of ‘culture’ in contexts of ideological repression and erasure.  Across Inner Central Asia, in both China and the Soviet Union, while ethnic culture was on one hand lauded and promoted, it was simultaneously folklorized in the face of broader projects of socialist modernity.  How do local intellectuals, cultural organizers, and performers work to negotiate their own forms and understandings of cultural meaning within the institutions and frameworks of a long twentieth century?  How does scholarly attention to cultural production, tradition, and performance help to inform our understanding of (ethnic) nations not as given, but as coming into being?