The article analyzes the causes and nature of the 1916 uprising in Kyrgyzstan.

The article describes the politics of memory of the Soviet Union in post-soviet Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan (1991–2016). The analysis is based on the following documents: Presidents N. Nazarbaev and I. Karimov statements, their publications, the politics of commemoration and historical education in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan after 1991. Author tries to compare two national historical narrations over the Soviet regime and argues that Uzbeks and Kazakhs were used two different approach of criticism of soviet colonialism, related to their foreign policy towards Russia

Paradise Lost – The Fate of the Moriscos in Grenada Trilogy by Raḍwa ‘Āšūr. Postcolonial Contexts

The paper focuses on a historical novel, a genre that enjoys great popularity in Arabic literature. Based on historical material incorporated in literary fiction, the contemporary Arab writers try to deal with the most important subjects of ongoing intellectual discourse, such as colonialism, neocolonialism, and postcolonial identity. The analysed material is the novel The Granada Trilogy by Egyptian writer Raḍwà ‘Āšūr (Radwa Ashour), which in 1994, won the Best Book of the Year Award granted by the General Egyptian Book Organisation and the first prize at the first Arab Women’s Book Fair in 1995. It has been translated into many languages, including English and Spanish. The three-volume chronicle covers the period from 1491 to 1609, i.e., from the fall of Granada to the total expulsion of Muslims from Andalusia. The article aims to show that the author of The Granada Trilogy illustrates the gradual and deliberate elimination of Arab-Muslim culture in Spain as another act of the West-East confrontation, putting it in the colonial and neocolonial context of contemporary conflicts in the Arab World.

Commonwealth Realms as a Relic of the Past. Change of the Political System in Barbados

After 70 years of Queen Elizabeth II’s Commonwealth Realms reign, only 15 countries remain, counting the United Kingdom. Barbados gained complete autonomy, becoming a republic after 55 years of independence. The purpose of this paper is to provide an outline of the process that took place in Barbados, from the time the British decided to settle on the Island, until it became a republic. The main research method used by the author, is source analysis and the point of reference is the Barbados Constitution Amendment Act of 28.09.2021, whereby from 30.11.2021, Barbados becomes a republic and all duties previously exercised by the Governor-General are exercised by the President.

The Mali Federation may be perceived as one of the first African attempts at regional integration. After the Loi-cadre was enacted in 1959, the French colonies started their path toward independence, and they sought for cooperation. However, both views on the future relationship with the Fifth Republic and internal disputes over power distribution came as their most significant threats. The author analyses the idea and the creation of the Mali Federation, taking into consideration the political and historical factors. The aim of this paper is to present a general overview of one of the first and most important independence movements in West Africa. The federation was to consist initially of 4 states, but eventually, only 2 of them, i.e., French Sudan and Senegal, decided to adopt its constitution. Those two countries shared many similarities with each other; however, the lack of agreement between the parties prevented the effective functioning of the federation as a sovereign state. Although it existed only for two months, the Mali Federation marked the possibilities and the difficulties for the African cooperation and integration processes for the next decades.

«Killing of the mother» as a sign of national mental mutation under colonial and totalitarian pressure (illustrated on the twentieth-century ukrainian lyrics (the 1920–1930th)

The article deals with the specific art representation of moral, ethic, psychical shifts of the national masculine character in Ukrainian lyrics of the first third of XXth century. They are conveyed in particular through the masculine intention to destroy the maternal figure of Motherland. Sometimes aggressiveness and hostility expressed in the poetic texts are equal to symbolical “killing of the Mother”, if taking into consideration a convergence of the images of Mother and Motherland in poetic consciousness. The article employs analytical and structural as well as historical and typological literary techniques. The theoretical base of the investigation is postcolonial theory integrated with psychoanalysis as well as gender studies to deal effectively with such concepts as maternal figure of the Motherland, national colonial masculinity, masculine art consciousness, the notions of trauma, aggression and others as well. This theoretical direction can provide help with outlining of the “killing of the Mother” symptom as Ukrainian poets’ destructive gesture toward their Motherland represented in the 1920th proletarian poetry (Vasyl Ellan-Blakytnyi, Volodymyr Sosiura, Heo Shkurupii) and also in a number of works of emigrant poets between two World Wars (Yevhen Malaniuk, Ostap Tarnavskii and others). Diverse lyric tendencies to express the urge to kill the Mother extrapolated on the image of Ukraine are highlighted. Ethic transformation of Ukrainians poets’ patriotic feelings is predicated upon different reasons, but the common one is that they had equally suffered colonial and totalitarian pressure of Soviet Russia. The moods of depiction of Ukraine’s “death” are, on the contrary, differentiate; in the 1920th, proletarian Ukrainian poets defused the tension between Bolshevistic and nationalistic ideologies through splitting the image of Ukraine into the negative “bourgeois” one and the positive “proletarian” one. In some works of emigrant poets devaluated image of Ukraine acquires demonic “deathly” features and is dishonored as “a betrayer”.

French colonial policy in West Africa

This article is an attempt to analyze French colonialism in West Africa. The author focuses on the characteristics of the colonial thought of Paris, and outlines the most important concepts (tools) necessary for the study of this issue. She also marks the influence of history on the current territorial division of the French Republic and spheres of influence in West Africa. The history of the former French colonies, both after gaining independence and at current time, is also presented, and the features of the contemporary politics of the former metropolis are outlined.