Mirlan Bektursunov

Education:

2022 Ph.D., History and Area Studies, Hokkaido University
2017 M.A., History and Area Studies, Hokkaido University
2013 B.A., Oriental Studies, Bishkek State University

Field of Study:

I am a historian specializing in Central Asia during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Using Soviet Kyrgyzstan as a case study, my MA and Ph.D. research focused on the role of national elites in shaping the early Soviet nation-building process in the region. Contrary to the dominant narrative of a strictly Moscow-driven system, my work revealed that local actors often played an initiatory role in key decisions. At the same time, this elite-centered, top-down perspective tends to overlook broader segments of society—particularly non-Russian-speaking nomadic populations—who engaged with Soviet policies on their own terms, often in ways that defied official expectations.

To better understand this, I turned to how Kyrgyz nomads adapted to socialism. I found that lineage remained the key social organizing principle, often more influential than official state structures. While the Soviet state sought to suppress such networks, people relied on them to survive coercive policies like collectivization and sedentarization.

My recent study examines how Kyrgyz lineages interpreted Sovietization during the 1920s–30s using archival documents, genealogies, and oral histories. By bringing together state and local perspectives, it challenges monolithic views of the Soviet project and offers insights into the complex relationship between modern states and nomadic societies.

Recent Publications (Selected):

Journal Articles:

The Rise of the “Lineage Proletariat”: The Soviet State’s Class Policy and Kyrgyz Lineage Society in the 1920s. Ab Imperio 2024 (1), 97–125.
“‘Two Parts – One Whole?’ The Kazakh-Kyrgyz Relations in the Making of Soviet Kyrgyzstan,” Central Asian Survey 42 (1) 2023, pp. 109–126.
“Февральская революция и кыргызская политическая элита: известные и неизвестные страницы истории.” Vestnik KRSU 22 (6) 2022, pp. 3–11

Academia:

https://nihu.academia.edu/MirlanBektursunov

Courses Taught: