There was an interesting project that I did in order to learn how kurt molds. What is Kurt ? Kurt is a traditional Kazakh snack made from dried salty cheese. My project is called “Decolonizing Kurt,” and for a month I was building mold on Kurt. Mold is called mold colonies, they colonize the product. The interesting thing is that kurt is very difficult to mold, because it is hard and salty, but I created such conditions for kurt to “colonize”. I soaked it in water and added moldy products there, and as a result it was covered with mold all over.
However the thing I want to discuss is not specifically about Kurt, it is about Russification and colonization of the Kazakh people by the Soviet Union as a molded Kurt . If you slowly cut off the mold from the kurt, as a result, the kurt becomes clean and it can be turned into a “perfectly” white ordinary kurt. But actually the mold inside hasn’t gone anywhere…
The Soviet Union implemented various policies that significantly impacted Kazakhstan and its population. These policies included forced collectivization, the establishment of state farms, the relocation of ethnic Russians to the region, and the most important was suppression of Kazakh culture and language in the middle of the 20th centuries.
But this is just about the situation of Kazakhstan now, because Kazakhstan has been colonized for so many decades. When the Soviet Union collapsed, it all happened very quickly in that period, and Kazakhstan seemed to just get rid of this mold, but the essence of mold is that it first originates inside, and then it manifests itself on the surface. That is, the Soviet Union – it is in each of us, it is impossible to simply “cut it out”.The collapse of the USSR just does not mean simply removing the Soviet flags, everything Soviet stuff and replacing it with everything national,it is about cleaning your consciousness and upbringing from “mold”. We are a Kazakh nation all a bit moldy though….
Russian was recognized as the language of international communication, which made it the dominant language in many spheres of life. This created some degradation of the Kazakh language, which was limited in use in state institutions and educational institutions.
The gradual reduction in the use of the Kazakh language is associated with a number of sociolinguistic factors. Russian is widely used in business, politics and mass communication. The Kazakh language is sometimes associated with the countryside, poverty or lack of prestige. The younger generation, striving for success and social mobility, can see the Russian language as a means to achieve their goals.
“Learn all other foreign languages, but do not forget to respect your own mother language” once said Kadyr Ginyatovich Myrzaliyev, a Kazakh poet. I reckon that understanding the deep meaning of that word is essential to all people.
Because the mother language is the root of history and destiny, education and upbringing of any nation, a means of communication.Recognizing and valuing the mother languages helps reduce inequalities within society.
Why are Kazakhs sometimes embarrassed to speak their own language? Why is the language of our ancestors still ashamed, thanks to whom we have our own country and did not become extinct many centuries ago? All these questions come to my mind everyday, so in order to solve that issue I wish and hope that everything starts from respect to your language and culture, by showing some respect all cultures would survive and turn this world to a better place.