Present-Day Kyrgyzstan: Re-Islamization or Renascence of the National Culture?

Abstract

Since 1991, after the state independence was established, a new period of historical development began in Kyrgyzstan. In the context of the change of political and ideological paradigms, the official power declared the national culture and history as the fundamental values of the new Kyrgyzstan entailing in turn the construction of the national idea and new national symbols. Meanwhile, the understanding and treatment of these symbols are far from being always unambiguous. One of the trends of the process under consideration includes the revival of traditional national value guidelines in the Kyrgyz society. Some consider this process as the reconstruction and strengthening of the traditional institutes, others – as consolidation of the norms of the “classical” Islam and rejection of the “pagan” past. The collision of these two standpoints has essentially influenced, and is now influencing, the trends of development of ethnic and cultural processes in present-day Kyrgyzia. This paper undertakes an analysis of the views on the priority in reproduction of religious traditions in the modern Kyrgyz society.