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The Decolonization of the Environment in Kazakhstan: The Novel Final Respects by Abdi-Jamil Nurpeisov

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 April 2019

Dina Sharipova
Dina Sharipova*
Affiliation:
KIMEP University, Almaty, Kazakhstan
*
*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

This article examines the novel Final Respects by Abdi-Jamil Nurpeisov from a postcolonial ecocritical perspective. Nurpeisov was one of the first Kazakh writers to discuss the decolonization of the environment and the “process of self-apprehension” by writing about the tragedy of the Aral Sea, power relations between the center and periphery, and the interconnectivity of humans and the environment in the Soviet Union. Through the prism of a small fishing village, he shows the tragedy of a nation that has an impact on the entire world. The novel is thus a critique of anthropocentric policies imposed by Moscow on Kazakhstan and other Soviet republics. Throughout the text, Nurpeisov reiterates the connection between the local and the global on one hand, and human culture and the environment on the other.

Keywords

postcolonial ecocriticismliterary textsNurpeisovthe Aral SeaKazakhstan
Type
Article
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 47 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 296 - 309
Copyright
© Association for the Study of Nationalities 2019 

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