Issues Of Ethnic Identity In Worldview And Creative Output Of Chingiz Aytmatov

Abstract

In this paper, the principal attention is paid to studying various aspects reflecting ethnic identity in world view and literary as well as journalistic prose of Chingiz Aytmatov. Relevance of the study is determined by the fact that identity issues have become a global problem of today, puzzling not just individual persons, but whole social groups, communities and states. In the modern science–psychology, ethnic education studies, cultural studies, philosophy, history, ethnography, sociology, local history–studying the issues of ethnic identity, inter-cultural engagement, mutual enrichment of cultures, tolerance in communication are getting much attention and quite reasonably studied. During the recent decades, more and more specialists in literature studies, folklore studies and linguistics turn their attention to the question of ethnic identity. Despite the fact that many Russian and foreign researchers were involved in deep and multi-aspect studies of Chingiz Aytmatov's oeuvres, the concept of reflection on ethnic identity in his literary and journalistic works is still understudied. This constitutes novelty of the present work. The study is based on several research methods; systemic (complex) method considers the object as a system, a holistic set of interrelated elements; analytic method is used to analyze literary and journalistic genres in the writer's works; comparative method is used to compare common literary phenomena with creative output of some other contemporary authors. Thus, the purpose of this paper is a detailed and complex study of aspects of ethnic identity as reflected in works of Chingiz Aytmatov, where this aspect finds vivid actualization.