A Call for a Digital Shift in Kazakh Proverb Research In the U.S., proverbs are not a big part of life. When the preeminent proverb scholar in the West wrote about our most recent oratorically-skilled president, Barack Obama, he had to admit that candidate Obama used proverbial phrases and not even true proverbs1. The main purveyor of proverbs in the U.S. are advertising companies. When someone asks me about proverb use in the U.S., I will often give the example of Nike’s slogan “Just do it” and how this sentence functions as a proverb. How did I get interested in Kazakh proverbs? I noticed how important they were to Kazakhs. I was intrigued because I could encounter a proverb, look up the unfamiliar words, analyze the syntax, and still be without a clue as to its meaning. I realized that I would not be the most astounding Kazakh-speaking foreigner. My ear wasn’t good enough and I had learned the language much later in life than would have been most advantageous. Studying Kazakh proverbs offered the promise of gaining a deep knowledge of Kazakh culture and thought. I half-jokingly will say that when I lived just outside of Almaty, I could roll out of bed, step out my door, and enter into a world of possibilities for researching Kazakh proverbs. In the 1990’s and 2000’s a revival of the Kazakh language was underway. Kazakh proverbs could be found in conversations in the neighborhood, in schools, in the newspaper, and even on a primetime game show! 1 Mieder, Wolfgang. 2009. "Yes We Can": Barack Obama's Proverbial Rhetoric. New York: Peter Lang. Kazakhs view their proverbs as an entrustment and a resource for the future.2 When the government considered how to reestablish character in post-Soviet Kazakhstan, they decided to encourage instruction in Kazakh proverbs from pre-kindergarten through secondary school.3 I was struck first by the language revival and later by how Kazakhs were using their traditional proverbs to solve their everyday issues both big and small. I would suggest four different stages in the revival of Kazakh in Kazakhstan. Since I did not travel around the country to observe these changes, I will have to report based on what I observed in Almaty from 1995 until 2005. Stage 1: I arrived in Almaty in the fall of 1995. As I was learning Kazakh and trying to speak it, I was surprised as Kazakhs apologized to me in Russian for not knowing their own language. Stage 2: I returned to Kazakhstan in 2000 and noticed that considerably more Kazakhs were speaking Kazakh. Soon after my return, I met with a director of a private English-speaking school who explained how in the last five years she had learned English on the job. In the next breath, she shared that she could not learn Kazakh. Among the Kazakhs, there were traditional Kazakh speakers, new Kazakh speakers, and those who refused to learn Kazakh. Stage 3: Around the year 2005, I was informed about the expectation that long-term foreign residents should learn Kazakh. My source: a chat with a traffic officer. I was stopped and had to show my documents. I introduced myself in Kazakh and was asked if my wife were Kazakh. I replied that she was an American as well but spoke even better Kazakh than I did. Asked about my children, I replied that they spoke Russian because their international school had made the 2 Tabıldıyev, Ädibay. 2001. Qazaq Etnopedagogıykacı [Kazakh ethnopedagogy] (Sanat: Almaty). Kazakhstan, Ministry of Culture and Information. 2004. '“Mädeni Mura” Memlekettik Baġdarlaması [“cultural heritage” societal goals]', Accessed April 16, 2017. http://www.madenimura.kz. 3 questionable choice of no longer offering Kazakh language courses. The officers commented that long-term residents should learn Kazakh just like they had. Stage 4: Proverbial content abounds online. I did not realize the reality of this phase until after we returned to the U.S. Let me go back to how I got hooked on Kazakh proverbs. I began my research of Kazakh proverbs by interacting with proverb scholars and teachers for whom the use of proverbs was expected. One teacher commented that they were required to use proverbs for any situation that might arise. Scholars and teachers were great resources, but I was concerned that they would present to me their skillfully crafted self-representation of the Kazakh people through their proverb collections. Thus, I transitioned to researching how students in a technical university found these same proverbs useful. They had not been enculturated in the formal philological ways. This became the topic of my dissertation.4 Considerable work had been done since the early 20th century to gather and publish Kazakh proverbs, but no one else was exploring how proverbs were being utilized and what this meant in terms of societal change. I can’t take all the credit for this novel approach; I was simply operating based on my training. As a folklorist, I was familiar with the performative turn that happened with Bauman’s 1974 publication5. In order to publish a dissertation that would be received in the U.S. by fellow folklorists, I needed to avoid text-only approaches and instead find the most effective ways to look at proverbs in performance. 4 https://www.academia.edu/2008564/Dissertation_The_narrativization_of_Kazakh_proverbs_ College_students_language_ideologies_concerning_community_ 5 Bauman, Richard, and Barbara A Babcock. 1984. Verbal Art As Performance. Prospect Heights, Ill.: Waveland Press. I returned with my wife and four kids to the U.S. and settled in Pasadena in 2011. We were excited to be back in the U.S. where we could enjoy time with family and get to know new friends. Still, we missed our Kazakh friends and wished we could stay in touch with Kazakh culture. After we moved back to the U.S., my research shifted once again. I would find out that the most promising avenue for exploring Kazakh proverb use was the internet. I presented on my research about the Central Asian trickster named Aldar Köse at the Silk Road House6 in Berkeley, California near San Francisco. Shortly before the presentation, a young Kazakh man who used the English name “Kevin” approached me and introduced himself. He was doing business in San Francisco and enjoyed coming to the Silk Road house for their various cultural events. I commented that I was interested in getting together with Kazakhs in Southern California but had little success with finding them up to that point. He recommended that I request to join his Facebook group for Kazakhs in San Francisco and the Bay Area. Once I was approved for his group, I could apply to join other Kazakh groups in California. Within just a few days of following his advice, I was part of five Kazakh groups on Facebook. Through these groups, I have been able to attend Kazakh cultural events, get together a group of Kazakhs studying at the University of Southern California as part of a research project7, and even arrange for Kevin and two of his Kazakh friends to drop by our house for a spontaneous Kazakh feast. I was beginning to realize the power of online media to open numerous avenues for interaction. Thirty-five years ago, John Naisbitt wrote that high tech could only be embraced when there was an outside, counterbalancing, high touch response. For example, advances to 6 https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/03/22/a-door-to-central-asia-in-berkeley 7 https://www.academia.edu/24476498/Hospitality_is_Not_Sociality_Focus_Group_Follow_up_on_FaceBook extend life using technology were complemented by a hospice movement.8 The movement served as affirmation of human agency and worth. Fast forward to 2015, we have groundbreaking cultural research showing that social media effectively integrates high tech and high touch. Across the globe in a wide range of cultures, people are using social media in a way that fits their cultural distinctives and supports their personal as well as interpersonal needs.9 We are seeing the interface of high tech and high touch in contemporary society. Rather than being lost in the shuffle of new technologies being introduced on a seemingly daily basis, people are showing that they can craft their online experiences. Miller emphasizes how individuals have the ability to determine the level of privacy and the size of group in which they participate. He calls this scalable sociality. A fellow anthropologist researched how Brazilians use social media to develop community while they were living in Belgium.10 I followed her lead and wrote my first piece about digital anthropology reflecting on Facebook group that I set up to advance my research with Kazakhs at the University of Southern California11. Facebook and online chat rooms is just one part of the content being posted in Kazakh. Especially when it comes to proverbs, there is significant content across a wide range of platforms and media12. Rather than talking about each of the types of media, let me discuss specific ways in which proverbs are used. 8 Naisbitt, John, and Patricia Aburdene. 1990. Megatrends 2000 : Ten New Directions for the 1990's. 1st ed. New York: Morrow (change) 9 Miller, Daniel. “What’s our conclusion? Introducing ‘scalable sociality’” https://blogs.ucl.ac.uk/global-social-media/2015/06/16/conclusion-introducing-scalablesociality/. Accessed May 1, 2019. 10 Schrooten, Mieke. 2012. "Moving Ethnography Online: Researching Brazillian Migrants' Online Togetherness." Ethnic and Racial Studies no. 35 (10):1794-1809. 11 https://www.academia.edu/24476498/Hospitality_is_Not_Sociality_Focus_Group_Follow_up_on_FaceBook 12 https://www.academia.edu/37111691/Contrasting_Two_Kazakh_Proverbial_Calls_to_Action_Using_Discourse_Ec ologies_to_Understand_Proverb_Meaning-Making First, proverbs and oral tradition is an important resource for self-presentation, whether by individuals or organizations what Herzfeld has called cultural intimacy13. Kazibek Bi’s long statement about the Kazakh’s being a sheep herding people is used by schools to present their commitment to training up youth to be contributors to society. Others will take an aphorism from Abai to sum up their values or approach to life. Second, I would suggest indexicality or iconization14. The would apply to both proverbs and oral tradition as a whole. Use of proverbs is seen as an index that one is gentle, honorable, and of good character. The particular proverbs are not the focus but rather the association with proverbs and all they symbolize15. I wrote an article in which I explored how an Islamic media company developed a video incorporating Kazakh proverbial content. While some might assume that I was being critical of the organization, I think my review amounted to kudos for their effectively using Kazakh proverbs to present Islam as closely accordingly with Kazakh tradition and traditional values of being gentle. Third, proverbs are used to give advice, challenge, and encourage. Here the proverb that guides the interaction is “Akıldasıp pishken ton kelte bolmas” [a fur coat cut with counsel won’t come up short]. This is most similar to use in everyday conversations and is now happening online, accessible to us as researchers via internet searches. Finally, proverbs provide a resource for making declarations and establishing a position. Shared as the deciding word, they can be central to or used as the closing for editorials. Where you might see a school using Kazabek Bi’s declaration as their motto under the first type of 13 Herzfeld, Michael. 2016. Cultural Intimacy : Social Poetics and the Real Life of States, Societies, and Institutions(version Third edition.). Third. Routledge Classic Texts in Anthropology. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. 14 Irvine, Judith T., and Susan Gal. 2000. “Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation.” In Regimes of Language, edited by Paul V. Kroskrity, Chapter 2, pp. 35–83. Santa Fe, NM: School of American Research Press 15 https://www.academia.edu/24574385/Peaceful_Lifestyle_or_Innocuous_Image_Islamic_Branding_Using_Kazakh_ Proverbs_on_Youtube proverb use, you could also find examples of the same declaration being questioned in terms of its relevancy to the current situation16. What are the options for researching proverbs online? The plethora of proverbs being used online present the opportunity for considerable research. Our contemporary scene where high tech comes together with high touch means that the internet is an ideal context for effective and varied use of Kazakh proverbs. Your challenge is to figure this out. There are examples from other countries but the implementation of proverbs in Kazakhstan is rather unique. What are the advantages to doing online research of Kazakh proverbs? The fact that this content is accessible online means that researchers can gather considerable data when exploring a wide range of topics. Rather than being limited to one example or a handful of cases, we can explore a wealth of data that will allow us to categorize what is happening in society in general. What are the limitations? The challenge is that we need to find new ways to effectively combine methods to work with the variety of platforms and types of content. The most effective approaches will combine high tech and high touch in a similar way to the internet. Part of the high touch in this case includes working to operate ethically in carrying out our digital research. I can suggest a few options based on my own work. Our grant-funded project will combine ethnographic interview methods in person with approaches from digital anthropology 16 Qayratulı, Beken. 2011. 'Qazibek Bidiŋ Sözi nemese Qazaq Qanday Halıq edi [kazibek bi's words or what kind of people are the kazakhs]', Accessed February 9. http://www.namys.kz/?p=4384. as well as corpus linguistics in working with online content17. We are using a concept called discourse ecologies to develop a unified approach to our analysis. In this process, we can look to colleagues who are delving into the use of corpus methods coupled with other methods to examine societal process and values. Each of you is in an excellent position to do this type of research as well. With the varied use of Kazakh proverbs, it is likely that equally robust options for researching digitally will emerge. Just as I learned so much from Kazakhs about their proverbs, I am likely to have many of you providing me with new insights and options for online research down the road. It is a season of opportunity and collaboration as we seek to go digital with Kazakh proverb research. The digital explosion of Kazakh proverb content online as part of the language revival gives me hope for the ongoing vitality of proverbs among Kazakhs. By entering into digital research of Kazakh proverbs, we also enter into a hope for future research. 17 https://www.academia.edu/38214378/Nazarbayev_University_Small_Grant_19_Overview_Discourse_Ecologies_a nd_Kazakh_Proverbs.pdf