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Abstract

The major argument of this research is that Soviet novelists such as I. Esenberlin, G. Musrepov and others,, and others were creating the image of "brave", "noble", "generous" and "masculine" Kazakhs via the construction of the image of two main antipodes: "cruel" and "barbaric" Qalmaks (Kalmyk) or Oirats, and "nefarious" and "cowardly" Sarts. This paper argues that these novels heavily impacted on post-Soviet cinematography genre and national reimagining. From the 1990s to the 2020s, Kazakhstani cinema created a cycle of epic historical movies full of stereotypical perceptions of Kazakhs and their historical neighbors. Both literature and cinematography are creating this banal or everyday nationalism, which cements the narrative of Kazakh people as both the victims and as champions, as brave defenders of their native lands. In other words, this paper shows the paradox of nation-building, where the construction of "negative" images of Oirat and Sart is necessary for the everyday or banal nationalism process of creation of an image of a "noble" Kazakh.