Paradoxes of Hegemonic Discourse in Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan: History Textbooks’ and History Teachers’ Attitudes toward the Soviet Past

Abstract

This article analyzes the creation of hegemonic discourse in a post-transformation society by examining representations of Soviet socialism in post-Soviet history textbooks and in the discursive practices of history teachers in Kyrgyzstan. While the textbooks attempt to fix a new hegemonic discourse about Soviet socialism, they also contain contradictory discourses. History teachers, in turn, have appropriated the discourse of the Kyrgyz nation-state and its modernization, adapting it to their own experiences. Post-Soviet Kyrgyzstan has become a new type of state, where hegemonic discourse on both the official level and in the discursive practices of its citizens is ambivalent and outright contradictory.