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Abstract:

The paper analyzes the phenomenon of American thematic exhibitions, which were held in the Soviet Union by the United States Information Agency (USIA) from 1959 to 1991 as part of the bilateral agreements on cultural exchanges. Based on American and Soviet sources, the author focuses on the study of the perceptions of the U.S. cultural diplomacy by the Soviet public, especially in the cities of Central Asia.

Exhibition exchanges between the USA and the Soviet Union were the remarkable episodes of the “cultural Cold War”. The American National Exhibition in Moscow in 1959 was the first (and most famous) in a series of such events; it was subsequent by 18 traveling shows, which covered 25 Soviet cities with the total audience estimated at 20 million visitors. The republics of Soviet Central Asia hosted seven of the eighteen American traveling exhibitions. The first showings began in Alma-Ata (“Graphic Arts USA", 1963), and later in the 1970s were held in other cities of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (“Education USA” in Tashkent, 1970; “Technology for the American Home” in Tashkent, 1975; “Photography USA” in Alma-Ata, 1976; “Agriculture USA” in Tselinograd and Dushanbe, 1978). The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan caused a long hiatus in cultural exchanges, but during perestroika and before the collapse of the USSR, the USIA brought two more exhibitions: “Information USA” (including showing in Tashkent, 1988) and “Design USA” (in Dushanbe and Alma-Ata, 1989-1990).

The selection of exhibits, their information support (textual - in booklets, and oral - from American guides), engineering and visual design of the shows - all were aimed, ultimately, at the formation of a positive image of America among the Soviet public (and, as a result, a critical perception of Soviet realities). Thus, the exhibitions, even if their themes seem to be far from the ideology (science and technology, culture, lifestyle, industry and agriculture), were considered as an effective tool of the “cultural Cold war”.

The USIA research memoranda reveal the inside practices of the U.S. public diplomacy, enabling Cold War scholars to re-evaluate the Soviet public perceptions of America and the effectiveness of the American information policies towards the USSR. The author has also collected the array of original information materials and artifacts from the exhibitions, which are rarely involved in Cold War studies as a source.

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Since 1948, following the Ukaz issued by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on July 2, mandating the relocation of individuals who deliberately avoided working in agriculture and led an antisocial, parasitic lifestyle to certain regions of the country, a new category known as 'Ukazniki' emerged within the special settlement system. That year alone, over 27 thousand special settlers were admitted to this category, excluding their family members who voluntarily accompanied them to the places of exile. 'Ukazniki' comprised individuals evicted by public trials for sentences of eight-year periods due to failing to fulfill the mandatory minimum workdays. The role of these 'public trials' was assumed by kolkhoz meetings, which issued a public opinion-based verdict that later had to be approved by rayispolkoms.

At this stage, our understanding of this topic is limited by a lack of specialized studies. Consequently, we rely on fragmented references within broader studies on the history of special settlements and related issues. Furthermore, discussions on this category often present one-sided assessments, emphasizing instances of severe and unjust sentences imposed on vulnerable individuals, such as the disabled or women with infants unable to meet workday requirements due to reasonable excuses.

In this paper, the author aims to explore cases of 'Ukazniki' exiled to the Kazakh SSR during the years 1948-1953. Through an analysis of their personal file records as special settlers and other related archival sources, it endeavors to delineate the characteristics of this category. Particular attention will be devoted to elucidating the functioning of the 'public opinion-based sentencing' system in locales where the verdicts of ordinary citizens were instrumental in adjudicating the fate of less-than-ideal members of Soviet society. Additionally, the paper will seek to identify the decision-making processes underlying their exile to the Kazakh SSR and the broader question of who and how determined the locations of exile for those deemed 'parasites.'

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Abstract:

The focus of my conference paper is to explore Khrushchev's utopian plan to create the Tselinniy Krai, which was an economic-territorial division established during the Virgin Lands Campaign of 1960. Comprising of five oblasts in North Kazakhstan, the Tselinniy Krai was informally regarded as the "Sixteenth Republic" of the Soviet Union. It was the central location for the agricultural campaign, and Tselinograd, the capital of the five oblasts, was granted a specific status.

Khrushchev aimed to challenge Stalin's legacy and rebuilt the Soviet Union fully by transforming Soviet concepts of nationhood and even statehood. He envisioned a political, social, and cultural Soviet reality that differed from the past. However, the policies of the Tselinniy Krai were not entirely successful, and many of Khrushchev's legacies had unforeseen consequences, such as double administration from Moscow and Alma-Ata, local activism from below, and cultural transformation. My paper will explore the factors that drove Khrushchev's utopian plan to create the Tselinniy Krai, his overall vision of the region and how locals understood it as well as the challenges they faced in implementing it. I will also analyze the Tselinniy Krai's impact on Soviet society, politics, and culture.

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Abstract:

Soviet culture constructed a cultural hierarchy, with Russian culture placed at the top, while Central Asian culture was positioned as a lower part of this hierarchy. The soviet cultural hierarchy provide to justify portraying Central Asian culture as barbaric; however, it also served potential as a strategic tool for Central Asian cultural figures to establish a filed for representation of their own identity. Film, in particular, played a crucial role in reshaping the image of Central Asia that had been shaped since the period of Imperial Russia until the 1950, demonstrating the potential for self-representation linked to national identity. This panel reports on a study that analyzed the film "The Skies of Our Childhood (Небо нашего детства)" in relation to the Soviet cultural hierarchy to Kyrgyz film and its influence on self-representation. We chose to focus on Kyrgyz film for two main reasons: firstly, the Kyrgyz film studio was established later than other republics of Central Asian and not given an opportunity for showing own image in the screen, and secondly, despite its delayed establishment, Kyrgyz film produced many films admired in/ out Soviet, which were often called as the “Kyrgyz miracle”. Before 1960s, Kyrgyz cultural figures drew on the hierarchy to shape and show the Kyrgyz image associated with Kyrgyz identity. Many of these were based on Soviet ideology, resulting in the Kyrgyz image resembling that shaped by the hands of Russia/Soviet. In the 1960s, because of the period of thaw and the influence on heightened national consciousness, an opportunity emerged to change the image for the construction of national identity representations. The evaluation of films of the "Kyrgyz miracle" considered two perspectives: the "Soviet" perspective and the Kyrgyz perspective, rather than focusing on Kyrgyz evaluation." Although “The Skies of Our Childhood” was produced as a Soviet film, its representation distanced itself from the official ideology to ignore the framework of Soviet cultural imperialism.