Stalinist era Women’s Narratives: Kazakhstani Activist-Women’ Memoirs

Abstract

Based on the analysis of the concept of «Soviet subjectivity» of the Stalinist period, was mainly elaborated by the younger generation of American historians under the influence of the French Philoso- pher Michel Foucault to analyze the Stalinist self, the original promise was chosen that in the process of constructing the individual language plays a decisive role and statement that using the language (and its value) people form their perceptions of the world. This article examines the source-study aspects of Stalin era narratives in Kazakhstan, emanating from activists women. Methodological approaches to the article are determined on the basis of younger generation of US revisionist’s ideas so called the school of Soviet subjectivity. Since women activists played a significant role in spreading the ideas of the Bolsheviks into society, in involving women in a socialist way of life, studying their subjectivity has of considerable interest. And for implementation this aim it is important to have the appropriate texts. The author argue, that despite the official language used on them, and the style of the party report, these sources have a heuristic value. This is determined by the fact that in general, in Kazakhstan there is a limited number of narratives of the early Soviet era, written by women. On the other hand, if, in accordance with postmod- ern approaches, scholars would focus on metaphorical and existential levels of texts and treat women not as individuals, but as heroes of autobiographical narrative acting within the text, one can see how these women learned the new rules of the regime, how they underwent a transformation themselves and helped to transform others.