This past year, Kazakhstan entered into the Marrakesh Treaty, becoming the 100th country to ratify the treaty.
Nations that enter into the Marrakesh Treaty agree to allow the import and export materials in accessible formats so that visually impaired people all over the world have increased access to books. The Marrakesh treaty has enabled the United States’ National Library Service to offer Talking Books in more than 50 different languages.
Perfect time for reading Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan by Joanna Lillis.
While it’s quite a salacious title, it reads more like a post-Soviet history of the nation. Lillis aptly names the largest section of her work “identity crisis,” because in several ways, Kazakhstan is at odds with itself.
Kazakhstan officially gained statehood in the carving of the soviet union, according to Russia. Kazakhs, however, trace their lineage much further back–to the origination of the Kazakh Khanate in 1465. There has been a modern national effort to “reclaim” this history that many Kazakhs feel has been distorted. Lillis shows clearly the ways that Kazakhs work to uphold their culture in the aftermath of Russification.
Some in Kazakhstan disagree with any distancing from Russia. One reason is that Kazakhs only make up about 40% of the nation and its nationalist push has marginalized other ethnic groups. Another is that some view Russia as a necessary protector from other threats like China. Some do not want to poke the bear after the invasion of Ukraine.
The leader of Kazakhstan from its post-soviet foray until 2019, Nursultan Nazarbayev, made a frequent talking point of Kazakhstan’s goal of democratizing. That position, according to Lillis, got his party access to UN committees and invitations to summits and conferences. Nazarbayev never got less than 90% of the vote. All the while, protests were being violently shut down, protesters and political opponents arrested, disappeared or killed, critical newspapers banned, journalists threatened and beat up. Running throughout, there’s a strong questioning of Kazakhstan’s political identity.
Lillis interviewed a huge range of people and her writing is well-organized and engaging. She reported in Russia and Uzbekistan before moving her work to Kazakhstan. I’d recommend this to anyone interested in international politics or to anyone who is still quoting Borat.
Lillis, Joanna. Dark Shadows: Inside the Secret World of Kazakhstan. I.B. Tauris, 2018.
