PROBLEMS OF ECOCRITICISM IN THE KAZAKH LITERATURE: BASED ON THE STORIES OF BEKEN IBRAIM “URANIUM MINE” AND “SOS SIGN”
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.47526/3107-3085.348Keywords:
ecocriticism, Kazakh literature, Beken Ibrahim, uranium mining, environmental justice, slow violence, humans and nature.Abstract
This article analyzes Beken Ibrahim's short stories "Uranium Mine" and "SOS Sign" from an ecocritical perspective. The study examines the relationship between humans and nature, environmental disasters, and literary depictions of resource extraction in these works, using theories by leading global ecocritics such as Buell, Garrard, and Nixon. The study aims to define the object of study and the research questions in ecocriticism, analyze Kazakhstan's environmental problems from an ecocritical perspective, and compare them with global environmental issues. The article uses the concept of "slow violence" and environmental justice theory as its primary analytical tools. Within the framework of comparative ecocriticism, Beken Ibrahim's stories are compared with the prose of Nigerian writer Ken Saro-Wiwa, which arose in opposition to Shell oil production, and with the environmental issues raised in Rob Nixon's work "Slow Violence and the Impact of the Poor on the Environment". The results of the study demonstrate that Beken Ibrahim's stories are in harmony with global environmental prose while maintaining a distinct connection to Kazakh national identity and the steppe environment. This article aims to make a theoretical contribution to the development of ecocritical research in Kazakh literature. It proposes examining future environmental themes from the perspective of Schneider-Meyerson's concept of empirical ecocriticism, that is, from the perspective of reader response and the influence of empirical ecocriticism on the formation of environmental consciousness.
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