Abai Day in Kazakhstan: The Enduring Legacy of a National Poet

Nearly two centuries after his birth, Abai Qunanbaiuly remains a symbol of Kazakh identity, with his poetry and music still familiar across Kazakhstan. Often described as the founder of modern Kazakh written literature, he has been compared in Kazakhstan to Alexander Pushkin in Russia and William Shakespeare in England. On August 10, the country marks the 181st anniversary of his birth and the seventh official Abai Day. Abai wrote about 170 poems and 56 translations. His best-known prose work, Kara Sozder (Words of Edification), consists of 45 short pieces of philosophical and moral reflection. He was also a composer, and his song Közimniñ Qarasy (The Apple of My Eye) remains among his best-known works. Poet and Public Figure Born Ibrahim Qunanbaiuly on August 10, 1845, at the foot of the Shyngystau Mountains near Semipalatinsk, Abai came from the Tobykty clan of the Argyn tribe. His grandfather Oskenbai and great-grandfather Yrgyzbay were prominent biys, or judges. His father, Qunanbai Oskenbaiuly, was a powerful local leader. His grandmother Zere gave him the nickname Abai, commonly translated as “attentive” or “cautious.” At age 10, Abai was sent to the Ahmad Riza Madrasah in Semipalatinsk, where he studied religious subjects in Arabic and Persian and read Eastern literature. During his final year there, he also briefly attended a Russian parish school. His father brought him home at 13 and involved him in administrative and judicial affairs. Abai later deepened his study of Russian and European literature and formed close ties with political exiles in Semipalatinsk. He died in 1904 and was buried at Zhidebai. Abai’s Views Abai read Nizami Ganjavi and Alisher Navoi, among other Eastern classics. His translations into Kazakh included work by Alexander Pushkin and Mikhail Lermontov. He also translated Ivan Krylov and Lord Byron. A poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe reached Kazakh through Abai’s rendering of Lermontov’s Russian version. Education and productive work recur throughout Abai’s writing. He criticized corruption and abuses of power, including bribery and sycophancy. He also opposed polygamy and bride price and argued for greater equality for women. His ideas influenced the emerging Kazakh intelligentsia. Leaders of the Alash movement regarded Abai as an intellectual predecessor. His engagement with Russian culture later became a subject of debate over how his work had been interpreted during the Soviet period. International Recognition and New Translations In 1995, Abai’s 150th anniversary was commemorated under UNESCO’s auspices. TURKSOY declared 2020 the Year of Abai to mark the 175th anniversary of his birth. His works have been translated into numerous languages, and monuments to him stand in Kazakhstan and abroad. In Almaty, his statue stands at the beginning of Abai Avenue, with the mountains behind it. His name also reached readers in the United States in the late 19th century through American journalist George Kennan, who referred to Abai after visiting Semipalatinsk in 1885. Debate over how Abai should be translated has continued in the post-Soviet period. In 2021, Kazakh poet and translator Yerbol Zhumagul presented a new Russian translation of...

Özgecan Kesici-Ayoubi on How the Alash Movement Is Studied in the West

Özgecan Kesici-Ayoubi is a poet and academic whose work bridges literature and Kazakh intellectual history. Though born and raised in Europe, her writing and scholarship show a deep affinity with the Kazakh people. Her early poetry earned attention and acclaim, and during her university studies she began researching the Alash Movement, work that culminated in a PhD completed in Ireland. We recently spoke with her in a short but insightful interview. TCA: Your academic research focuses on the Alash Party. How did you come to choose this topic while studying in a Western country? Özgecan: Growing up as a Kazakh in Germany, I was always interested in the formation of my identity and cultural heritage. I studied Political Science at both undergraduate and master’s level, and for my master’s thesis, I explored the process of Kazakh nation-building after independence. I then wanted to delve deeper into the foundations of the modern Kazakh nation, which I believe were significantly shaped by the Alash movement in the early 20th century. In Sociology, there's a major subfield focused on the historical sociology of nations and nationhood, which I used as a framework to study the Alash movement. TCA: In developed countries, academic standards are typically very high. What kind of support did your supervisor provide? Özgecan: My supervisor, Professor Siniša Malešević, is a Full Professor of Comparative Historical Sociology at University College Dublin. He was extremely supportive of my research. His expertise in historical sociology and theories of nationalism gave me the academic guidance I needed. Moreover, Ireland’s own colonial past means that its universities have research profiles that aligned well with my work on the Alash movement. TCA: Conducting research on the Alash movement from abroad must have presented challenges. How did you overcome them? Özgecan: It’s important to note that my research was sociological, not purely historical. I wasn’t aiming to discover new archival materials but rather to position the Alash movement within the broader sociological field of nations and nationalism and explore its theoretical implications. That said, I did require primary sources, which I accessed during fieldwork. I connected with local Kazakh scholars who helped me find the necessary materials and books, and I’m very grateful for their support. TCA: Are Western scholars aware of the Alash intellectuals' civic ideals and national identity struggles? Has the topic been studied where you lived? Özgecan: In Ireland, where I was based, the topic hadn’t been studied. However, the Alash movement has been examined by a number of Western scholars. When I began my PhD, several articles and dissertations had already been written in English, many by Kazakh scholars themselves. TCA: You previously mentioned you're working on a book. Can you tell us more about it? Özgecan: Since completing my PhD, I’ve been writing a novel based on my grandparents’ migration from the Altay region in China during the 1930s to Turkey and later the West. The novel is written from a female perspective. TCA: I've read your poems. What inspired your shift...