Nauryz Festival Emphasized, Abai's Enduring Influence and Cultural Renewal Highlighted by Tokayev
New and Improved:
Kazakh President's Message at the National Kurultai:
ASTANA - In his address at the National Kurultai in Burabai on March 14, Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev emphasized the importance of preserving and promoting Kazakh culture, particularly during the ten-day Nauryz celebration.
Tokayev highlighted the expanding Nauryz festivities, starting with the Amal holiday on March 14, and celebrated as a ten-day observance. Each day of the celebration focuses on a distinct theme, with the Day of National Clothing capturing public attention and fostering a renewed interest in traditional attire. Schools, workplaces, and businesses have seen an increase in the wearings of Kazakh national clothes, leading to the establishment of sewing workshops and the emergence of new fashion brands and stores. In his words, "It's better to wear clothes in a national style. Our national clothes clearly emphasize our ethnic identity, so we need to popularize it in every possible way."
A Tribute to Abai:
During his speech, President Tokayev also paid homage to the great philosopher, Abai, on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of his birth. In 2017, Tokayev proposed the establishment of the Abai Institute in a meeting with scholars in Semei, a goal that is now becoming a reality. This year, a digital platform will be created to help Kazakh diasporas and foreigners learn the Kazakh language. The President is optimistic that this initiative will expand into a network of cultural and educational institutions, replicating the successful models of the Confucius, Goethe, and Cervantes Institutes, and promoting Kazakh culture worldwide.
The Power of Adaptation:
Tokayev acknowledged the challenges posed by the modern era and the need to adapt Kazakhstan's cultural heritage to contemporary times. He stressed the importance of integrating tradition with innovation, especially in the context of artificial intelligence (AI). While AI is transforming culture and ideology, it cannot fully replace human insight, as AI-generated content often falls short of capturing the true essence of Kazakhstan's history, culture, and traditions. This is largely due to a lack of accessible, comprehensive information about Kazakhstan online, particularly in languages like English.
In an effort to rectify this, the government has embarked on a mission to digitize vast amounts of Kazakhstan's cultural and historical data. This includes archives, scientific research, photographs, music, and artworks, aiming to create a national digital archive accessible to domestic and international AI developers. This archive will help bridge the gap in AI's understanding of Kazakhstan's identity.
The Next Meeting's Destination:
Tokayev proposed that the next National Kurultai meeting be held in Kyzylorda, in honor of the city's 100th anniversary since the decision to move the capital there. He also referred to an interview with author Tolen Abdik, stressing the importance of humility and equality among nations and globally, emphasizing that no nation should imagine itself as superior to others.
He concluded by calling for a broad, civilizational perspective on history, advocating for a more unified and comprehensive understanding of Kazakhstan's past, present, and future to foster the nation's development.
Insights:
Kazakhstan's cultural heritage preservation efforts extend to the digital realm, leveraging AI and technology to safeguard, promote, and revitalize traditions. Central Asian Archaeological Landscapes (CAAL) program uses GIS, 3D modeling, and AI to manage over 60,000 archaeological sites across Central Asia. A digital platform is being developed to teach the Kazakh language to Kazakh diasporas and foreigners, with plans to expand into a network of cultural and educational institutions. The government is also undertaking several AI projects such as SoyleApp for speech recognition and multilingual translation and Mangitas 01 Inference Server for secure and efficient AI model deployment.
- The increasing popularity of traditional Kazakh attire has led to the establishment of sewing workshops and the emergence of new fashion brands and stores, demonstrating an integration of tradition with modern fashion-and-beauty trends.
- President Tokayev's vision for the Abai Institute includes a digital platform to help Kazakh diasporas and foreigners learn the Kazakh language, indicating a merging of technology with education-and-self-development objectives.
- As Kazakhstan works to digitize its cultural and historical data, the focus on AI projects such as SoyleApp and Mangitas 01 Inference Server highlights technology's role in the preservation and propagation of general-news and sports narratives about the nation, thus bridging the gap in global understanding.
