ОПЫТ УСТНЫХ ИСТОРИЧЕСКИХ ИССЛЕДОВАНИЙ В ЦЕНТРАЛЬНОЙ АЗИИ

Abstract

The article represents an analytical review of modern oral history researches made in the republics of Central Asia. The author considers the place and the role of oral history as one of new historical research methods for the region; analyses works of scholars from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan who study application of oral history methods in humanitarian research; identifies main directions and findings in oral history research in the countries of the region (the “oral history of women”, oral history through the eyes of contemporaries, history of political repression of the 1930s, etc.). The article also shows that a lot of oral history projects are being developed on the basis of various institutions (Academy of Sciences, universities, museums, non-governmental, non-profit organisations) and notes prospects of such projects. The author emphasizes that historiography of oral history in Central Asia remains relatively undeveloped in terms of both quantity and quality, as oral history just starts to develop as a direction and a research method within historical science of the Central Asia. The scientific novelty of the materials presented in the article involves identification of specific features and functionality of oral history which shape the overall regional history of Central Asia.