Monuments and memory in the landscapes of Kazakhstan

In the context of totalitarian regimes and their aftermaths, memorial landscapes are highly contested spaces in which newly emerging governments are quite active in framing and reframing the past as well as mapping a course for the future. Unsurprisingly, statuary and other overtly ideological materials are immediate targets. An abundance of scholarly literature has investigated memory, memorialization, and commemoration as state processes inherently complicated and problematized by greater public involvement. Far less time has been given however, to investigating the contrasting ways a state condemns or esteems the previous regime and for what reasons. Expanding these themes, Kazakhstan presents an ideal case study. Through an examination of archival materials, sixteen months of fieldwork, structured and unstructured interviews, media analysis, and governmental publications—this thesis uses discourse analysis to show the multiple agendas, conflicts, and negotiations that characterize the process of remembering the past and refashioning national identity in Kazakhstan. In this I examine three cities and how the legacies of the Soviet Union are selectively employed by the state to meet specific aims. First, underscoring a lack of uniformity in how the Soviet period is managed at the state level, this thesis investigates more broadly the kinds of currency that the Soviet period affords to Kazakhstan in different contexts. The three cities highlighted in this thesis were chosen to demonstrate the distinct ways that the legacies of the Soviet Union are employed in Kazakhstan in order to advance social, political, and economic agendas.