When Dr. Azamat Junisbai grew up in Qazaqstan, he looked down on those who spoke Russian with an accent. Although he was an ethnic Qazaq born in Qazaqstan, he had absorbed the colonial mindset that Russian language and culture were superior to the Qazaq language and culture. With Russia's attack on Ukraine, many in Qazaqstan are coming to a reckoning with Russian imperialism and its legacy in Eurasia. As a Qazaq sociologist, Dr. Junisbai shares his unique insights into this ideology and the hold it still has on many Russians.
00:00 Introducing Dr. Azamat Junisbai
00:24 Russia's image of its empire
02:16 Growing up in the Kazakh Soviet Socialist Republic
04:22 The end of the Soviet Union
07:55 The diminished status of the Qazaq language
09:30 "How broken and colonized was my mind and language?"
11:00 The Asharshylyk (genocide by hunger)
12:50 Why the Qazaq Genocide is not more widely acknowledged
16:50 Russia as the colonial master
17:50 The endurance of the Empire/Soviet Union in the minds of Russians
19:20 How Russia's attack on Ukraine has accelerated decolonization
23:50 Why Russian imperialists see a weakened Russia as "the end of Russia"
26:50 This is Russia's war, not just Putin's war
29:00 The Leader and the People in Russian Imperialism
32:30 The loss of the Empire
34:12 How the Empire is taught and how it may be unlearned
37:00 The coming reckoning with Russia's imperialism and colonial history
38:30 How the colonial people are dehumanized
40:15 Human life has little value in Russian imperialism
42:30 It is the natural state of an empire to be at war
43:00 "Borders must be drawn with blood"
45:00 Controlling land is seen as the greatest value
46:25 How Putin uses "the Empire" to stay in power
47:34 The contest between the TV and the refrigerator
48:12 Trapped behind the Iron Curtain and within the grasp of the Kremlin
50:24 Russian defeat could mean another Berlin Wall coming down
51:00 Growing post-colonial solidarity between Ukraine and Qazaqstan
52:10 The future of Qazaqstan