The Ykhlas Museum of Folk Musical Instruments can be found in downtown Almaty, right next to Panfilov park. It’s a small museum, entirely contained within an old and beautiful pre-soviet wooden building…
The Railroad on the Steppe: Review of The Gift to Stalin
The Kazakh steppe is a vast, neverending sea of rippling grasses and rolling hills stretching for miles out into the horizon. The narrator in the 2008 film The Gift to Stalin identifies…
Ethnocenter “NOMAD”: Immersion in Kazakh Culture
What do you know about the historic lifestyle of Kazakh nomads? Do you know anything about Kazakh cavalry armor? Or about Kazakh cooking? Perhaps you are Kazakhstani and have learned more from…
Dancing in the Moonlight: A Review of “Giselle”
Upon arrival at the Astana Opera House, guests are immediately greeted with a breathtaking experience, even before taking their seats. Visitors can admire the intricately decorated classical entrance hall while checking their…
Stalinism on the Steppe: A Film Review of “A Gift to Stalin”
There’s something powerful about film as a story-telling medium. Even though we’ve read books and articles about Kazakhstan under Stalinism, spoken to our host families, and even visited the site of an…
Ethnocenter “Nomad”: A cultural experience
Have you ever wanted to live like a Nomad? Live in a yurt? Travel around the steppe on your horse? Engage in combat with other nomads? Eat delicious foods? Maybe you’re on…
Art, Audience, and Axe Murderers: A Review of the ARTиШОК Crime and Punishment Production
What is the best way to honor a crucial text of the Russian canon? Maybe write an opera based on the novel like Eugene Onegin, or direct an eight hour movie like…
Qazaq Trains: Two Drunk Men, Cramped Hallways, and a Poem
For our third weekend in the country, we went from Almaty to Astana by rail, the most popular way to get between the two cities. The two largest cities in Qazaqstan are…
A rainy day at the ALZHIR Remembrance Museum
Our trip to Astana was full of eye opening contrasts. We saw the somewhat forgotten Soviet right bank of the Ishim River and the futuristic left bank. We saw the way that…
What Do You Get When You Combine an American Film, a British Play, a Russian Classic, and a French Novel?
Towards the end of our first week in Almaty, our professor spammed us with texts about different events and exhibits, saying she would buy the tickets for us if we were interested….
