The year 2025 began turbulently for everyone — and the Esimde team was no exception. Yet every challenge became a lesson. We grew more united, kept our pace steady, and, most importantly, stayed true to our values. To the trials we had already grown familiar with, a new one was added: Ashar, our crowdfunding campaign. Once again, we were reminded of a simple truth: in difficult times, it is new ideas, bold dreams, and the journey toward them that give us strength.
Let’s take a journey through the world of Esimde together and see what 2025 has become.
*This newsletter is optimized for desktop viewing. While we’ve adapted it for phones and tablets, the desktop version provides the best experience. The English translation was generated using Gemini. Rahmat!
Revisiting Independence: From Research to Film
Last year, we embarked on one of our most ambitious research projects yet. Our goal was to uncover whether our country’s independence really “fell from the sky,” as we had been told for so many years.
We brought together some of Kyrgyzstan’s top researchers and began reconstructing memory, piece by piece—collecting personal recollections, photographs, and videos, and delving into memoirs and newspapers from the 1980s and ’90s.
The outcome of this work was a comprehensive report, accompanied by a database of 100 interviews with participants of those often-overlooked events that ultimately paved the way for our independence.
Indeed, independence was not handed to us, nor did it “fall from the sky.” It was preceded by a surge in national and civic consciousness during the 1980s and ’90s. People came together through various movements, founded independent media, organized commemorative events for the Ürkün, and advocated for parliamentary reforms. For the first time, they spoke boldly and collectively about their right to their own culture, language, and land.
It became crucial for our team to share this truth with every Kyrgyz citizen, so that we—and future generations—could recognize our own dignity. To do this, we prepared a comprehensive presentation, during which we also launched Ashar, a fundraising campaign to support the creation of a documentary film.
SPOILER: It wasn’t easy—truly, not easy at all!
The journey stretched to eight months, far beyond our original three-month plan, and we needed to raise 787,500 soms. We opened an account at MBank, created merchandise, hosted paid lectures, tours, and workshops, took part in fairs, and even organized a poetry evening.
Along the way, we experienced incredible support and trust—not just financial, but in many other equally meaningful ways:
- ololoPlanet provided a free space for our lectures.
- Rakyia Jusupova and bugu.press donated books for sale.
- BirQyzyqJer, AchyqBar, Kölökö, and UCA invited us to participate in their fairs.
- BishkekWalks organized a guided tour for us.
- Emil Nasridinov donated his paintings for sale.
- Nagima Abdrakhmanova designed infographics and lecture posters for us.
Every day, many of you shared news about Ashar on your pages, helping us reach a wider audience.
In this way, we raised the full 787,500 soms and demonstrated that historical and cultural initiatives can thrive when supported by the community itself.
We are deeply grateful to everyone who supported this initiative. Thank you for your trust and generous contributions!
Together with director Adilet Karzhoev, we have already begun filming the documentary. Everyone we couldn’t thank here will be fully acknowledged in the film’s credits, just as we promised.
Tracing Memory: 4.5 Days of the Ürkün Memorial Tour
In 2026, we mark 110 years since the tragic events of 1916 (Ürkün). For the fourth consecutive year, we have partnered with Tosor Koomu to embark on a memorial tour. For us, this is one of the most important events of the year. It is not just about remembrance, but also about walking alongside those who carry these memories.
This is a humble act of remembrance, without pomp or ceremony. As we walk, some share the memories of their ancestors, while others recount the events of 1916, and together we read the Quran. This year, more than 45 people joined us, traveling from Bishkek, Osh, Kara-Kulja, and even from Kazakhstan.
Perhaps, more than a thousand words, these photographs capture what the tour was like this year.
This tour left a lasting impression on us, thanks to the mutual support, unity, courage, trust, generosity, and genuine solidarity among the participants.
We are also grateful to the ethno-complex Supara for providing Külazyk, an ancient nourishing Kyrgyz dish, to sustain us on the journey.
During the tour, we witnessed a genuine revival of the people’s gastronomic culture: traditions long forgotten during the Soviet era are coming back to life, and the recipes of our grandmothers and grandfathers are returning to everyday kitchens.
Breaking the Silence: 3 Sessions, 20 Participants, 4 Articles, 2 Publications, 1 Exhibition
The “Breaking the Silence” School is a space for thoughtful, honest conversations about who we are, our past, and the role we play in today’s world.
We provide a space to collectively reflect on important personal and societal questions, discover inner support, and chart paths forward. Participating in the school is an opportunity to free oneself from imposed beliefs that limit confidence and hinder the acceptance of one’s own feelings, experiences, and values.
We explore the boundaries between the personal and the collective, and consider how to maintain dignity and calm in a rapidly changing world. But reflection alone is not enough—action matters. That’s why the school blends contemplation with practical knowledge, skills, and tools that are useful both personally and for the community. Together, we examine approaches to self-determination and solidarity, and learn methods for engaging with personal history and collective memory.
The school does not “teach” in the traditional sense. It is a collaborative exploration through lectures, seminars, dialogues, and the exchange of experiences. Every participant, invited expert, and team member brings knowledge to share. We believe that meaningful ideas are born through communication and collaboration.
In the first month of winter, the second session of the “Breaking the Silence” School took place in the mountains near Bishkek. Participants engaged in discussions on topics such as the colonial legacy in science and culture, globalization and the “language of development,” women’s experiences in research and decolonial feminism, the epic Manas and gender relations, and archaeology as a tool of the colonial gaze. Experienced speakers and researchers—including Zarina Urmanbetova, Syinat Sultanaliyeva, Mukaram Toktogulova, Aiganysh Isaeva, and others—guided and facilitated these discussions.
The session included lectures, workshops, creative activities, and a “world café” where participants presented their own ideas. Attendees left with new knowledge, fresh project ideas, and a renewed sense of support from the community.
The third session of the school was originally planned for Batken. The program was prepared, and meetings with local speakers and the university had been arranged. However, the flight was canceled due to weather.
The team collectively decided to hold the session near Bishkek—and it proved to be a great choice. Participants and team members spontaneously self-organized, creating a unique program on their own. The session became a true exercise in solidarity, creativity, and initiative.
For the first time, the discussions centered on the theme “Embodiment and Context.” We were fortunate to have expert speakers: sociologist Aiganysh Isaeva explored the topic from sociological and demographic perspectives; neurologist Sultan Ömürbek uulu brought a medical perspective; and director Shamil Dyikanbaev examined it through the lenses of representation, cognition, decolonial thought, and documentary filmmaking.
It’s surprising how little we truly know about ourselves and how often we underestimate our own perspectives. The influence of different generations and cultures, the weight of taboos as traditions and rituals, demographics, and context—all of these shape our lives profoundly. Sometimes, it is essential to pause, feel, and reflect. This is precisely what we aimed to do in the third and final session of the “Breaking the Silence” School.”
School Outcomes: The Kutman Tang Almanac
Kutman Tang means “dawn,” or more precisely, a greeting—“Good morning!” We chose this name for the almanac of the Academy of Civic Education back in 2016. The 2025 edition is being released as part of the “Breaking the Silence” School.”
This is not just a collection of articles, but a collective conversation about understanding our past, finding reliable guidance in the present, and defining our place in the future.
The 2025 journal is structured into three chapters, each exploring a vital aspect of decolonial reflection and the preservation of memory.
Read the Kutman Tang Almanac!
The first chapter, “Theories for Understanding,” immerses readers in the theoretical foundations and key concepts that shape deep self-reflection.
Colonial approaches have long influenced how we see ourselves, and this chapter invites us to seek new ways of understanding. The article “Subject and Object as a Personal Choice” examines how to develop one’s own stance; de/postcolonial thought unfolds through critique in “What Is Kyrgyzchylyk?”; and a powerful reading of Kanykey’s story in Manas—“Kanykey Riding Taitoru”—offers a vivid example of the struggle for memory and self-determination.
The second chapter, “My Story, Our Memory,” is devoted to the power of personal narratives and remembrance.
It examines how our society recalls traumatic events of the past and how these stories are retold, transforming individual experiences into collective knowledge.
In this section, you will find articles that affirm our “right to memory”—family histories and the lives of people who lived through the turbulent events of the 20th century. The chapter also features contributions from two graduates of Esimde’s Breaking the Silence School: Baibol Sagynbek uulu and Avtandil Eshmambet.
The final, third chapter, “Memory Practices: Preservation and Transmission,” highlights Esimde’s work and the initiatives that emerged from the collective reflections of our team and community members.
In this section, you will learn about two powerful practices of memory and solidarity. The first is the Ashar campaign, through which we launched—and, with your support, completed—a fundraising effort to create a documentary film about the 1980s–1990s, the period that paved the way for Kyrgyzstan’s independence. The second is the Ürkün memorial tour, where you will find reflections and insights from participants of the journey organized by Tosor Koomu and Esimde, dedicated to the historical tragedy of 1916.
School Outcomes: A Zine on Embodiment, Memory, and Language
During the third session of the school, two of our participants — Aiganysh Isaeva and Sultan Ömürbek uulu — defined their focus: Embodiment. Their exploration began with a paid lecture held as part of our fundraising campaign for the documentary film. Around 50 people attended, making it one of our most popular events of the year.
They then decided to continue developing the topic and announced an open call for a collective zine on the body, memory, and language. Contributors responded with reflections on themes such as:
- The body: In what language do you feel pain, pleasure, warmth?
- Female embodiment and new masculinities: How do they feel? How are they transforming?
- Embodied memory and trauma: Where in the body is the unspoken or unprocessed stored?
People of different ages and from different countries submitted their work. The zine is now in the layout stage, and we will certainly share it with you once it’s ready. Stay with us!
School Outcomes: “In My Memory” Exhibition at Vefa Center
This was one of our most memorable collaborations of the year. At the initiative of Vefa Shopping Center, we presented the exhibition “Esimde Bar / In My Memory.”
The exhibition brought together the works of two graduates of the Breaking the Silence program — Said Rakhman and Zarina Nazar — as well as a research project by our colleague Gulzat Alagoz.
“Esimde Bar / In My Memory” reflects on how we remember the past and how we sense its presence in our lives today.
In Özök, Said Rakhman explores the concept of a person’s inner core — the hidden axis on which our sense of self rests, shaping how we move through the world and how we understand our place within it.
In The Fabric That Remembers, Zarina Nazar does not “tell stories” about women. Instead, she creates a space of presence — a place where one does not need to explain oneself, meet expectations, or fit into predefined ideas. What matters here is the possibility of being heard without words and being seen without having to embody an ideal.
In “Archive 1932,” Gülzat Alagöz turns to archival photographs and documents, allowing them to appear in a new artistic form. Through this transformation, she reveals how historical traces can gain new sensibility and new meanings — especially within exhibitions like ours, where the archive becomes not only a source, but also a living interlocutor.
We’re proud to announce the seventh issue of Nemonomyth!
Esimde’s decolonial, interdisciplinary journal Nemonomyth is founded on a guiding principle: not to confine reflection to Kyrgyzstan or Central Asia alone, but to expand it whenever possible—through associations, comparisons, and broader contexts.
This year marks the release of the seventh issue, dedicated to the themes of historical memory and decolonization. The issue approaches these themes through the imagery of railways and train cars—symbols of forced displacement and forgotten tragedies.
Train cars carry memories of repression, deportation, evacuation, and mass movements across the Soviet era. In cramped freight wagons, “enemies of the people,” ethnic minorities, prisoners of war, and many others were transported. Yet these same cars also became part of the rescue of millions who sought safety during wartime.
Railways are arteries of memory—spaces where the destinies of people, ideas, and goods intersected. In the Soviet period, they became an inseparable element of collective trauma. The history of railcars is the history of those who lost their homes and found themselves in unfamiliar places. It is a call to preserve memory, confront the past, and rethink its meaning today.
The Esimde research platform has gathered numerous testimonies connected to the railway—from accounts of deportations from Kyrgyzstan to Ukraine in the 1930s to photographs by the Swiss traveler Ella Maillart, who captured the departure of dispossessed families.
Today, as societies rethink their past, the metaphor of the railway remains powerful. It allows us to speak about migration, forced displacement, and the pursuit of justice.
This issue also includes materials from Esimde’s initiative “Caravan Along the Roads of Memory. 2024,” in which Central Asian researchers visited sites of memory and discussed forgotten histories, mobility, and repression.
Authors featured in this issue:
- Gülzat Alagöz
- Elmira Abylbek
- Joldosh Turdubaev
- Nestor Pilyavskiy
- Baktygul Midinova
- Otabek Nigmatov
- Bolot Isabekov
- Maksud Askarov
- Saule Suleimenova
- Aijarkyn Kozhobekova
- Emil Nasridinov
- Vera Andrianova
- Asel Rashidova
- Madeleine Reeves
The journal will be published on our website in December 2025 — so be sure to subscribe to our newsletter!
The collection Women’s Lives has now been published in Kyrgyz!
For Esimde, the role of women in preserving memory is especially significant, as family histories are often carried through their voices and experiences.
In Germany, collective repentance became possible thanks to the candid testimonies of women who endured violence and suffering during the Nazi regime.
The fourth volume of the Destinies series is dedicated to the women of Kyrgyzstan, whose stories were silenced for many years.
The bestseller Destinies is now available in English.
This year, our bestselling collection—the first volume of the Destinies series— was also published in English.
It brings together eight personal stories of people who lived through the repressions of the 20th century — that very “century of the wolfhound,” as Osip Mandelstam wrote, and as one of the most powerful poetic voices of that era, he knew its brutality firsthand.
It was a century marked by repression, deportation, and forced displacement — histories still little known and scarcely remembered.
And for understandable reasons: people pass away and take their memories with them; a society that lived for decades in fear and silence is also fading; and archives remain closed — at least in Kyrgyzstan.
We presented an entire panel at the conference in Washington!
At the 57th Annual ASEEES Conference in Washington in 2025, Esimde — together with Central Asian researchers—presented the panel “From Housing Protests to Political Mobilization: Grassroots Activism in Late Soviet Central Asia.”
The panel featured presentations by:
- Mukaram Toktogulova (AUCA) — on the years 1985–1991 in Kyrgyzstan;
- Baytur Toktosunov — “Housing Inequality and the Lack of Mobility: The Kyrgyz Experience in Soviet Frunze,” a study developed within Esimde’s Breaking the Silence School;
- Madeleine Reeves (University of Oxford) — “On a Knife’s Edge: Housing, Protest, and Socialist Justice in Late Soviet Kyrgyzstan”;
- Kamila Smagulova (Leiden University) — “The Anti-Nuclear Movement ‘Nevada–Semey’: The Soviet Union in the Context of Global Colonialism.”
The panel was moderated by Elmira Abylbek, Director of Esimde.
Esimde in Germany!
In Germany, Esimde — represented by its director, Elmira Abylbek — delivered a talk on civic activism in Central Asia, including memory activism, at the conference “Blick nach Zentralasien – und zurück,” dedicated to questions of representation and self-determination in the region.
Esimde in Kazakhstan!
With the same research on civic and democratic movements in Kyrgyzstan (1985–1991), Esimde researcher Gulzat Alagoz presented at the international conference “Toward New Transnational / Transimperial Histories of Central Asia,” held at Nazarbayev University.
Our Film Was Screened in Prague!
At the 9th Annual Memory Studies Association (MSA) Conference in Prague, we screened our documentary film Kyrgyz of Chalbasy.
Directed by Talant Akynbekov, the film is based on research by Elmira Abylbek and Gulzat Alagoz on the fate of Kyrgyz families who were dispossessed and exiled to Ukraine in the 1930s.
The screening gathered memory scholars from around the world, and Esimde’s director, Elmira Abylbek, spoke about the film and the historical context behind it.
Esimde Workshop: Revealing History Through the Lives of Every Kyrgyzstani
For nine years, Esimde has been studying and rethinking the “blank pages” of Kyrgyzstan’s history.
This experience became the foundation of a workshop led by Gülzat Alagöz, created to help participants begin researching their own family histories.
The workshop was first held in Bishkek and later in Osh, in collaboration with the Osh Regional Museum of Fine Arts.
Esimde on TV!
This year, thanks to our media partners, we had the opportunity to share the results of our latest research and publications with a wide audience.
Collaborations: Esimde × Memorial
Esimde researcher Gülzat Alagöz was also selected as the Central Asia curator for the program “The Person in History: The (Post-)Soviet Experience.” Together with colleagues from other countries, she helped participants aged 16–19 conduct their own historical research.
As a result of the program, two participants from Kyrgyzstan were invited to the Memorial Summer School, where they transformed their research into art projects — including film, shadow theater, and animation.
Among the winners was an Esimde School graduate and volunteer, Baibol Sagynbek uulu, who completed his own mini-project.
Collaborations: Esimde x Kuduk
Our colleague was also selected to participate in a course on managing art initiatives for cultural practitioners from Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan, organized by the Kuduk Cultural Center.
As part of this three-session program, Gülzat Alagöz is implementing the project “Archives as Art,” the first outcome of which was her installation featured in the exhibition Esimde Bar / In My Memory.
Esimde Is Coming to YouTube!
12 podcasts, more than 320,000 views, and nearly 2,700 new subscribers — this year truly became the year of podcasts for us.
We welcomed guests from across many fields: anthropologists, political scientists, philosophers, historians, entrepreneurs, filmmakers, environmentalists, and others. Together, we discussed memory and native language, ecology and history, shared impressions from the Ürkün memorial tour, and explored the topic of Ürkün in depth.
And this is only the beginning. We already have two more episodes planned for December. Subscribe to our channel so you don’t miss the most exciting updates.
Many people know us from the TV program Esimde, which for several years was hosted by Esimdechi and journalist Mirzhan Balybaev. And although the show has now concluded, its more than 150 unique and meaningful episodes live on through our YouTube channel. Here are the three most popular ones:
Esimde Media is growing at full speed!
Our Instagram is growing at lightning speed — every month, our posts reach more than 1 million views!
In just 11 months, thanks to consistent and dedicated content work, the Esimde Media team grew its audience from 16.7K to 27.6K followers. Let’s take a look at the materials we released this year.
The video series for Ürkün Memory Week drew significantly greater audience attention thanks to the participation of well-known public figures, celebrities, and influencers.
We carry out large-scale research and then share it in a clear and accessible format. Here are some of our carousels:
For example, more than half a million people learned about our research on the 1980s–90s in Kyrgyzstan through our short videos.
We are also trying out new formats to share our research.
For example, these digital illustrations by our designer, Nagima Abdrakhmanova, portray the destinies of women in Kyrgyzstan featured in the book of the same name.
Of course, it’s impossible to showcase all our media products from this year — there are simply too many. But we can share the overall statistics from our other social platforms.
At the same time, our Facebook page receives around 800,000 views each month, and over 11 months our number of followers has grown from 12,000 to 15,500.
Among the Esimdechi Community
This year, we felt the support and solidarity of the Esimde volunteer community more than ever. Each time, they showed up, stood beside us, encouraged us, and offered their help. It means more than words can express. We grow and move forward together, learning and creating side by side. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to everyone who supports us — including those who have been coming and helping for years…
Hot Off the Press: What’s Coming Next?
We’re launching a new cohort of the “Breaking the Silence” School — applications are open until December 10!
Esimde Announces Its
5th International Conference!
In the historiography of the post-communist space, it is widely assumed that the Central Asian (CA) republics of the 1990s were “sleeping republics.” This view implies that, unlike the active protests and dramatic socio-political transformations taking place in Eastern Europe and parts of the post-Soviet region, Independence in Central Asia “fell from the sky” – emerging more as a consequence of the USSR’s collapse rather than as the result of internal movements or deliberate struggles.
But was Independence in Central Asia truly a passive gift? Or have the events of this region simply been insufficiently documented and analyzed by Central Asian scholars themselves, leading to an oversimplification of a complex historical process?
Our task is to reflect on the true driving forces, hidden processes, and local dynamics that shaped the formation of independence in Central Asia and other parts of the post-communist space.
We invite researchers to present new evidence and narratives that engage with the thesis that “independence fell from the sky.”
Conference Dates:
8–9–10 October 2026
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
See you in 2026!
