Central Asia's new dastans

Abstract

The dastan is ornate oral history and an important part of the Turkic literature of Central Asia. Traditionally, dastans have been repositories of ethnic identity and history, and some constitute nearly complete value systems for the peoples they embrace. The primary, or mother, dastans are those composed to commemorate specific liberation struggles. [1] Set mostly in verse by an ozan, [2] more than 50 mother dastans are recited by Central Asians from the Eastern Altai to the Western Ural Mountains and as far south as Bend-e Turkestan in Afghanistan.