Nazione nomade: cinema, nazione e memoria nel Kazakistan post-sovietico

Stephen M. Norris

Abstract


L’articolo esamina il tentativo del nuovo stato-nazione kazako di fornire al suo popolo una storia e il modo in cui esso si articola come una sorta di «nazione nomade»: un vivace processo, tuttora in corso, per costruire allo stesso tempo un sentimento di identità nazionale ed un senso di memoria storica centrato sui nomadi. Lo stato ha assunto la guida di questo esercizio di nation-building, e il cinema kazako, spesso dipendente dal sostegno statale, ha giocato anch’esso un ruolo da protagonista. L’autore sostiene che i registi kazaki, rispondendo all’invito del presidente Nursultan Nazarbaev a creare delle narrazioni nazionali, si sono rivolti ai nomadi e al passato nomade come fonte per la memoria e la nazione kazake. La reazione dei cittadini kazaki è stata variegata: molti hanno celebrato quello che vedevano come un «nuovo patriottismo kazako» articolato sul grande schermo. Altri hanno criticato in questo cinema certi aspetti della nazione nomade, in particolare il ruolo dello stato kazako nel promuoverlo e l’adattamento delle tecniche hollywoodiane da parte dei registi kazaki. Altri ancora si sono tenuti alla larga dal cinema kazako in generale. Di conseguenza, verso la fine del 2009 Nazarbaev ha dichiarato che i registi kazaki dovrebbero iniziare a prestare maggiore attenzione al presente e non solo al passato; al cinema però la nazione nomade non ha cessato di esistere. Il film Myn Bala («Mille ragazzi») del maggio 2012 scava nello stesso territorio storico di Nomad del 2005, il film che per molti aspetti ha segnato l’inizio della svolta del nuovo cinema kazako verso il passato nomade.

 

This article examines the new Kazakh nation-state’s attempt to provide a history to its people and how this attempt functions as a sort of «nomadic nationhood»: an ongoing, vibrant process of building both a sense of national identity and a sense of historical remembrance that center on nomads. The state has taken the lead in this nation-building exercise, and Kazakh films, often relying on state support, have also played a starring role. The author argues that Kazakh filmmakers, responding to President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s calls to create national narratives, have turned to nomads and the nomadic past as the source for Kazakh nationhood and remembrance. The reception among Kazakh citizens has produced a mixed bag: many audience members have celebrated what they see as a «new Kazakh patriotism» articulated onscreen. Others have criticized certain aspects of the onscreen nomadic nationhood, particularly the Kazakh state’s role in promoting it and Kazakh filmmakers’ adaptation of Hollywood techniques. Still others have stayed away from Kazakh films entirely. As a result, Nazarbayev declared in late 2009 that Kazakh filmmakers should start to pay more attention to the present and not just the past, but the cinematic nomadic nationhood has not stopped. The May 2012 film Myn Bala («A Thousand Boys») mines the same historical territory as 2005’s The Nomad, the film that in many ways initiated the new Kazakh cinema’s turn to the nomadic past.


Parole chiave


Cinema kazako; nomadismo; nazionalismo kazako; Nazarbaev; Kazakh cinema; nomadism; Kazakh nationalism; Nazarbaev

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.15162/2282-5681/1590

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