Abstract
This chapter highlights the life story of Zina Karaeva, a senior professor of English Philology in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Zina has been active in developing university academic programs in Kyrgyzstan, including Translation Studies and American Studies. Her commitment to the translation of Kyrgyz epics is the result of a lifetime of navigating cultures and languages within and beyond her small mountainous country in Central Asia and is a passion she hopes to pass on to her students.
TopGrowing Up
I was born in 1950 in the village Toktogul. At that time, it was a small village. Then it became a large region, then a city, and then it moved to another place. The village where I was born, is under the lake now. My mother was the head of the collective farm, bolush, and she was the head of the community and a respected person. Bolush is like akim nowadays. My father was also a community worker, but later he became a religious person because there was nobody in the village who could pray for the dead bodies. That was interesting – my mother was in the Communist Party and my father was a mullah who could read Arabic fluently and interpret the Quran very well for the people. He was a very democratic person. I remember when he got his pension, he bought wine for my mother. He was a purely Islamic person but respected my mommy very much and did what she loved. He knew his wife's favorite drink was red wine, and he bought it for her. I laughed, “Daddy, you are mullah and you bring wine for your wife.” “She loves that wine and that's why I buy it for her,” he said.
That was the time after the war, and the people were very kind and generous to each other. For example, if you had no flour in the house, you could come to your neighbor and take a whole bucket of flour to make bread. It was customary. The next time when you had more flour, your neighbor could take some from you or they could take other things that they need. They never counted that you came and took something or that you gave something and they should give it back. There was no such problem at that time. As my mother was the head of the community, she had some money. When she came to my school and saw me playing with other girls, she would give me eight rubles and each of the other girls eight rubles too. My friends always told me, “Zina, tell me when your mother will come again, and we will be right near you.” You see, korjik, like a big biscuit, was only three kopeks at the time. You can’t buy anything for three kopeks now.
Key Terms in this Chapter
Manas: Hero of the Epic of Manas, which focuses on 9th century historical events between the Kyrgyz, Turkic, and Chinese people.
Central Asia: Subregion of Asia that includes the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan.
Fulbright Program: US cultural exchange program that aims to improve intercultural relations between people of the US and other countries and includes a number of grants supporting students, scholars, teachers, and professionals.
Kyrgyz: Official language of Kyrgyzstan along with Russian.
Epic: Narrative poem recounting heroic deeds.
Osh: Second largest city in Kyrgyzstan, located in the south.
Soviet Union: Russian-dominated communist state that included Central Asia and that dissolved in 1991.
Toktogul: City in western Kyrgyzstan.
English Philology: Area of study that focuses on English language and literature and often trains teachers, interpreters/translators, and literary critics.
Bishkek: Capital city of Kyrgyzstan.