EVENTS

Abstract

The ancient Kyrgyz home, the böz yu, known in the west as a yurt or a felt tent, was not a simple dwelling - it was a symbolic universe, both inside and outside. Every ornament had a deep philosophical and psychological meaning. Despite the Soviet sedentarisation campaign in the 1930s and the Chinese in the late 1950s, the yurt kept its economic and social lore. It remained the emotional heart of the Kyrgyz community, a symbol of the nomadic identity, thriving in the space between heaven and earth. The Kyrgyz ‘moral geography’ as anthropologist de la Croix concluded, was not altered by the two Revolutions. While the yurt’s status and importance today are boasted at official celebrations and festivals in Kyrgyzstan, the house has been neglected and dismissed as irrelevant to Kyrgyz identity, a recent phenomenon imposed from top-down that has still not taken roots. But the house nevertheless became important part of Kyrgyzness. And as a space it became just as symbolic and intimate as the yurt.

In the second part of this presentation, the speaker shall examine how the first houses in mountainous Kyrgyzstan came to be. These were most often dark, cold and claustrophobic, reminiscent of the only other structure made of bare earth at the time - the grave. But with time they became larger, more comfortable and appreciated. As a conclusion, He discusses how the mountainous Kyrgyz imagine their housing, how they fit and make sense of their surroundings. The speaker looks at notions of belonging: the metamorphosis and nostalgia for Kyrgyz space today. The presentation will be accompanied by some of the speaker’s photos from his travels among the Kyrgyz of China, Tajikistan, Turkey and Kyrgyzstan. 

About the Speaker

Yuri Boyanin is a final year Bulgarian PhD student of Kyrgyz History at La Trobe University, Australia. Yuri, aged 27, has visited 104 countries on all continents. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society since 2009, recipient of the RGS ‘Frederick Soddy Award’ in 2013, and a Fellow of the Explorers Club, New York.