- Convenors:
-
Julien Bruley
(TSI AUCA)
Jan Brzobohatý (Palacký University Olomouc)
Send message to Convenors
- Chair:
-
Julien Bruley
(TSI AUCA)
- Discussant:
-
Jan Brzobohatý
(Palacký University Olomouc)
- Format:
- Panel (open)
- Mode:
- Online part of the conference
- Theme:
- Cultural Studies, Art History & Fine Art
- Sessions:
- Friday 14 November, -
Time zone: America/New_York
Description
This panel explores the evolving status of akyns—oral poets and improvisational performers—in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and China, focusing on how their traditional art form, aitys(h), is shaped by state policies, censorship, folklore preservation frameworks, and digital media.
In Kyrgyzstan, aitys(h) has retained its role as a platform for social critique and public reflection, yet some akyns have faced state repression or imprisonment for overt political speech. In contrast, Kazakh akyns enjoy widespread visibility through state-sponsored competitions and media platforms, though these often emphasize patriotic and moral themes over critical voices. Meanwhile, in Xinjiang, China, aitys(h) continues under the label of "aken tchangchang hui" (阿肯弹唱会), but is presented primarily as folkloric spectacle, tied to tourism, ethnic policy, and UNESCO heritage branding.
This panel brings together empirical insights from recent festivals (2019–2024), media archives, fieldwork, and cultural policy documents. It compares the political functions, aesthetic strategies, and institutional framings of akyn performances in three different states.
In doing so, we aim to raise broader questions:
– How do oral traditions adapt in authoritarian or semi-authoritarian contexts?
– Where is the boundary between performance, protest, and spectacle?
– What does the transformation of bardic traditions tell us about contemporary Central Asian societies and their pluralisms?
The panel invites comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives on oral poetry, censorship, and cultural continuity in a post-Soviet and transnational context.
Accepted papers
Session 1 Friday 14 November, 2025, -Abstract
The art of verbal dueling exists in many societies and cultures, where it serves both as a form of entertainment and as a mechanism for managing tensions between individuals or communities.
The performers may be poets, sages, or ordinary individuals who employ either prepared or improvised speech, delivered in a public setting. This act of public speaking provides a platform for expressing collective concerns, resolving disputes, and voicing criticism against those in power.
This paper aims to explore the role of aqyns in Kyrgyz society from a diachronic perspective, focusing on their position between the people and the authorities, their role in the circulation of ideas throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, and to present reflections on the voice of aqyns today in an independent Kyrgyzstan, where political power is reshaping the principles and symbols of society.
This brief presentation will also serve as an introduction to the panel as a whole.
Abstract
Aitys(h) remains an essential tradition in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, blending artistic expression with social critique. Aitys(h) provides a tradition-sanctioned avenue for aqyns to voice public concerns, challenge authority, and influence social discourse.
However, government influence and self-censorship define its boundaries, especially in Kazakhstan, where increased state funding has altered the tradition’s dynamics. Despite these constraints, aqyns occasionally voice direct criticism and demand accountability from authorities, underscoring the subversive potential of aitys(h). Drawing on Foucault’s concept of discursive power, this study explores how aqyns balance critique and conformity, with audience engagement reinforcing their influence.
Kyrgyz aqyns engage in broader societal critique, while Kazakh performances tend to address mostly regional concerns. Ultimately, aitys(h) remains a powerful tool for shaping public discourse, preserving national identity, and navigating the intersection of tradition, politics, and resistance in Central Asia.
Abstract
This paper offers a preliminary exploration of how Kazakh oral poetic traditions, particularly aitys, are represented and framed in contemporary China. Drawing on publicly available materials related to cultural festivals and official discourse, it seeks to reflect on the institutional contexts in which these performances take place and the meanings they are encouraged to convey. Rather than providing a definitive account of the current state of the tradition, the paper aims to open questions about its role within broader narratives of ethnic representation and cultural policy.
Based on the analysis of recent media reports, policy texts, and festival materials from 2019 to 2024, the paper considers how aitys in China has undergone a process of folklorization. This process reflects broader trends in Chinese minority cultural policy, where performative traditions are selectively preserved, depoliticized, and presented as harmless displays of ethnic diversity. The akyn becomes not a commentator, but a cultural symbol—part of a staged performance of unity. At the same time, these developments raise important questions about the tension between cultural continuity and state-managed representation.
Although this paper is based primarily on secondary materials, it will also outline the direction of my upcoming fieldwork in western China, planned for autumn 2025. This research aims to explore more closely the current forms, functions, and meanings of aitys in Xinjiang. It will contribute to understanding how oral traditions persist, adapt, or are reframed under political and institutional constraints, and how performers navigate the space between heritage and control. More broadly, the paper seeks to reflect on the role of oral poetry within shifting regimes of identity, authority, and cultural expression in post-Soviet and Sinophone Central Asia.
Abstract
This work examines the 2019 project of the National Bank of Kyrgyz Republic (NBKR) that sought to use the voice of Akyn, an improvisational poet and singer, to introduce financial concepts to the public. Touching upon the various economic themes such as inflation, monetary policy, exchange rate, family budget as well as the role of the National Bank, the akyn represents, it can be argued, an intermediary figure who efficiently relays information between the official institutions and the general public.
Within the framework of current work, the author seeks to shed light on how NBKR effectively deploys traditional means of art form such as the recitation performed by akyn in order to increase public awareness on key economic concepts. Given that Kyrgyzstan has been combatting the problem of financial illiteracy and prevalent informality which, among other things, triggered massive anti-debt movements, it can be argued that the use of akyn presents a powerful means in educating the population about the financial system.
A particular emphasis will be placed upon the notion of trust and especially monetary trust examined in the discipline of economics. In particular, deploying the theory of the economy of conventions, a French school of thought that espouses an interdisciplinary approach in economics, the author seeks to demonstrate, on the example of Akyn and the BBKR project, how monetary relations go beyond what is portrayed by the present economic paradigm.