MONUMENTS TO TWENTIETH-CENTURY WOMEN IN KAZAKHSTAN: HISTORICAL MEMORY AND MEMORIAL SPACE

Abstract

The study examines monuments dedicated to twentieth-century women in Kazakhstan as historical sources linking memory, public space, and gendered representation. The problem is important because women are visible in Kazakhstan’s post-Soviet commemorative landscape, yet their memorial representation has rarely been studied as a separate historical question. It asks how monuments to women shape, anchor, and interpret historical memory in public space. The main cases are memorial objects associated with Aliya Moldagulova, Manshuk Mametova, and Khiuaz Dospanova; monuments to Kulyash Baiseitova, Dina Nurpeisova, and Roza Baglanova serve as a comparative cultural corpus. The evidence comes from state registers of monuments, museum and municipal materials, press reports on unveiling ceremonies, photographic sources, and scholarship on memory studies, gender history, visual methodology, and post-Soviet commemoration. The method combines comparative-historical analysis, source criticism, visual-semiotic reading, discourse analysis, and the study of memorial space. The results suggest that monuments to women preserve individual biography and make national heroism, regional pride, cultural heritage, and public respect visible in shared space. The study also offers a five-level working model based on biographical memory, monumental form, memorial location, ritual practice, and public representation.