LOCAL HISTORY STUDIES AS A FACTOR IN THE FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY: HISTORIOGRAPHICAL ANALYSIS OF POST-SOVIET NARRATIVES

Abstract

In the conditions of growing interest in local history and rethinking the mechanisms of collective memory formation, local history studies acquires a new meaning in both scientific and public spheres. In post-Soviet countries, including Kazakhstan, local history studies becomes an instrument of actualization of historical experience within the framework of memory policy. The article discusses Kazakhstan's key state programs for the preservation and study of cultural heritage, which have contributed to the formation of national identity, the development of historical consciousness, and the strengthening of patriotism through the study and popularization of historical and cultural values. Local history turns out to be a link between academic science, civic initiatives and state memory, reflecting the complex processes of nation-building and identification policy of the country. This article aims to analyze similarities and differences in the historiographical traditions of local history and local history studies in Russia, Poland, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, as well as to determine the relationship with political and cultural contexts. Contemporary research in the field of local history studies goes beyond the descriptive approach and requires thinking through the prism of interdisciplinary theories: cultural memory, microhistory, decolonial approach and spatial analysis.