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Paper abstract:

In the immediate aftermath of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the post-Soviet cultural space was soon ablaze with different forms of cultural reactions against the assault. By far the most common were calls to ‘cancel Russia’, to boycott artists, musicians and other cultural actors tainted by their endorsement of the war or collaboration with the Russian regime. More profound reflections focused less on the immediate effects of the invasion and more on the Russian history of assimilation and colonial oppression, often opposed by the global sympathisers of the Soviet modernisation project. Nevertheless, most of these calls have been one-dimensional and often failed to address the structural complexity of the issues, e.g. difference between moral and legal responsibilities or positionality.

In my paper, I propose a more complex and nuanced analytical framework for the ways the history of art and culture will have to be redrafted with a special focus on Central Asian modernity (late 19th to late 20th century). The presentation is a further development of the talk 'What is common between the Russian Army and the Russian contemporary art?' which I have given in recent months to different Central Asian audiences. I will discuss five different ontological levels at which these cultural issues may be identified and the practices associated with them, in particular in the Central Asian context. These include: 1) immediate and somewhat superficial ‘cancel Russia’ policies; 2) deconstruction of the Russian ‘internationalist’ discourse and national re-appropriation of non-Russian actors, places and themes; 3) decolonisation of the Russian / Soviet cultural project and its colonial epistemology; 4) displacement of Russia-centred cultural narratives (e.g. ‘Russian cosmism’, ‘Moscow conceptualism’); 5) de-normalisation of Russian urban culture and recognition of other syntagmatic and paradigmatic localities. I will also talk about the roles of different forms of the Russian language in Central Asia in the post-imperial context.

I will conclude by proposing to set up a working group or a think tank specifically addressing these issues in the CESS / ESCAS community.

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Initially, people with visual disabilities in Uzbekistan used the Louis Braille book collection of the state library named after Alisher Navoi - now the National Library of Uzbekistan.

In 1949, the Society of the Blind of Uzbekistan established a printing house producing literature in L. Braille. His first product is the "Alifbe" textbook, which was published on September 1, 1949 by L. Braille. The activity of this enterprise later became important in enriching library book funds with works in Uzbek language written by L. Braille. The first library serving people with visual disabilities in Uzbekistan was established on the basis of the order No. 146 of September 12, 1951 of the Culture Department of the Executive Committee of the former Tashkent Region. It worked as a Tashkent city library for the blind.

At first, the library's L. Braille, flat letter and timed press publications were mainly used by persons with visual disabilities living in Tashkent, their family members, employees of the Society of the Blind of Uzbekistan system, and people dealing with eye diseases. In the next period, the need to provide services to visually impaired users living in other regions of Uzbekistan through special libraries also increased. Taking this into account, the Tashkent city library for the visually impaired was transformed into the Republican Central Library for the Visually Impaired under the Republican Ministry of Culture at the initiative of Society of the Blind of Uzbekistan.

Since 1970, a publishing department of books in audio recording was established under the printing house of Society of the Blind of Uzbekistan. This activity was carried out on the basis of a list of literature compiled by Republican Central Library for the Blind, taking into account the interests of users. The important thing is that all the publications released until 1990 were sent to special libraries for the blind in the republic. Sent for free at the expense of Society of the Blind of Uzbekistan.

The organization of libraries with book collections in Braille and audio format expands the opportunities of visually impaired people to receive, process and transmit information, their education in the Uzbek language, in various professions. created a favorable environment for him to work and engage in creative activities.

In this thesis, I want to put forward this idea, proving it on the basis of separate oral history and statistical data on the example of Uzbekistan.

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Being embroiled in an ideological battle against the West during the Cold War (1945-1991), the USSR wanted to prove the superiority of the Soviet system via exaggerated displays of its achievements. One much touted achievement was the creation of a society based on equality between women and men. In the Moscow-centric Soviet framework, it was the Muslim women of the Soviet East who were depicted as once being the most oppressed community of women in the USSR. Almost wholly illiterate and not gainfully employed beyond unpaid domestic labor, Muslim women needed emancipation primarily via literacy in the eyes of early Soviet authorities. For this purpose, the Soviet Union carried out the Khujum Campaign in the 1920s where women were both encouraged and coerced to cast aside their veils and uncover their faces as a precursor to formal education. As a result, this campaign had to be justified in later decades via a display of the newly emancipated literate “eastern woman” as a major success of the USSR. By the 1950s, the Uzbek SSR had started publicizing the achievements of this new cadre of Uzbek female intellectuals. Poetry allegedly composed by these new female intellectuals was particularly showcased by the Uzbek SSR to exhibit the success of Soviet statehood. As the poetry composed by Uzbek female intellectuals was quantitatively insufficient to demonstrate this success, Soviet authorities resorted to fabricating poems while attributing them to the new female cadre. In this way, new poets and spurious poetry were created by the Uzbek SSR.

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Paper abstract:

The decolonial journal "Nemonomyth" seeks to challenge and subvert dominant narratives and power structures that are often rooted in colonialism and imperialism. The purpose of the magazine is to promote alternative viewpoints, opinions and knowledge systems that are marginalized or excluded from the mainstream media.

The concept of the magazine is based on the idea that colonialism and imperialism left a lasting legacy of power imbalance, cultural oppression, and epistemicide (the obliteration or marginalization of knowledge systems and ways of knowing). The magazine aims to address this power imbalance by promoting alternative narratives, voices and ways of knowing that challenge dominant discourses and offer new possibilities for understanding the world.

"Nemonomyth" Magazine covers a wide range of topics including, but not limited to, indigenous rights, environmental justice, racial justice, gender and sexuality, the decolonization of education, and the decolonization of the arts. "Nemonomyth" often features essays, interviews, reviews, and creative work by writers and artists.