Postcolonial Theory and Its Applications in Kazakhstan and Beyond

“Decolonization” as a term and as a process has gone well beyond academia—to the world of art, museum and community activism. As a process, it seems to be unavoidable and ineluctable. Sometimes, It can be weaponized by various actors in narrow group interests. What does it mean for area studies? It means decanonization of both imperial and national narratives, and emergence of many voices and perspectives that have not been heard or taken seriously previously. For academia too, it becomes important to speak in many languages, to be sensitive to various public and popular discourses, to make sure that all social and humanities disciplines have passed postcolonial, interpretative and reflexive “turns”.