Problems of national self-identification in the works of Abai (Ibrahim) Kunanbayev

Abstract

In the formation and development of Kazakh democratic journalism, it is difficult to overestimate the work of the great poet of the Kazakh people Abai Kunanbayev.

Abai like his predecessors Shokan Ualikhanov and Ibrai Altynsarin, was a highly educated man of his time, he knew his national culture well. All his literary and social activities served the consolidation of the Kazakh people, their prosperity and development. He was as a connoisseur of Arabic, Persian, Russian languages, sought to comprehend the life of his people through the lives of the rest of the world.

 Abai created the complexities and contradictions of the time determined the socio-philosophical quest and thoughts of the poet. He called on the Kazakhs to find the right path for civilized development addressing the social and moral problems of his people. Abai Kunanbayev opposed intergeneric strife, called for mastery of knowledge, persistence in achieving the goal. He mercilessly criticized national complacency and ridicule of other nations, because he was well aware that this was due to ignorance, narrow-mindedness, which came from the patriarchal way of life of the Kazakhs.