James Plumtree. 'The Presence of Russians in Nineteenth Century Kyrgyz Epic Poetry'

James Plumtree
Placing a Difficult Guest:
The Presence of Russians in Nineteenth Century Kyrgyz Epic Poetry
Episodes of the Kyrgyz-language epic Manas collected by Wilhelm Radloff in 1862 and 1869 feature ‘Orus’ (Russians). This detail fits awkwardly with later scholarly attempts to find historical evidence in the Manas epos for earlier Kyrgyz history. This talk suggests that the presence of Russians in the narratives provide another type of historical evidence: records of nineteenth-century Kyrgyz views concerning the increasing presence of Russian colonialism.

James Plumtree, following a CEU Global Teaching Fellowship, is a Faculty Member at AUCA. He is part of the Analyzing Kyrgyz Narratives (AKYN) Research Group.

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