December – 1986: Evaluation, Causes and Representation in Art

Abstract

The authors of the article make an attempt to analyze the events that took place on December 17–18, 1986 in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic, using the methodology of “cultural trauma”. The December events are defined as a multifaceted social and humanitarian problem. It is shown that the December events must be assessed comprehensively as a historical, social, humanitarian phenomenon. The reasons for the December events were determined by the dismissal of Dinmukhamed Akhmedovich Kunayev, the crisis of communist political ideology, the political, economic voluntarism of totalitarian power, the narrowing of the scope of the Kazakh language, the ecological crisis of Soviet Kazakhstan, the emergence of the history of the third generation of the Soviet people. In general, the December events are viewed as an open form of healing the mental wounds of the Kazakh people inflicted by the administrative decisions of the Soviet red empire. Despite the fact that the December events as a social phenomenon are more than a quarter of a century old, the Decembrists and their activity do not leave the agenda in the public consciousness. The importance of using the December events as a universal tool in the formation of various forms of social practice is growing. The conceptualization of this point of view in the article is determined by the representation of the lessons of the December events in contemporary Kazakh art (sculpture, cinema, literature, theater). At the same time, the article also shows that the representation of the December events in art is the form and content of the “healing” of the trauma of the December events.