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HTTP://DOI.ORG/10.33234/SSR.19.4
Abstract
The importance of a comprehensive study of the epic heritage of ethnic groups lies in the fact that the preservation of ethnic identity and distinctive socio-cultural space is more than ever questioned in the process of globalisation, which is accompanied by standardisation and unification of all aspects of society. The purpose of this study is to analyse the works of leading folklorists, philosophers, literary critics, and historians, and critically examine some methodological approaches to the study of heroic epics. Among the methods used during the research, historical and cultural, structural and functional analysis also should be noted. The paper analyses the works of prominent folklorists, philosophers, literary scholars, and historians who have studied folk art. The results suggest that certain steps have been taken in the study of the epic heritage of the Kyrgyz people. However, despite these achievements, the epic “Manas” is not considered a comprehensive phenomenon by researchers. For a holistic vision of the epic phenomenon, a comprehensive approach is needed, which includes a systematic, hermeneutic, structural-semiotic, ethnomethodology, etc. Each of the considered methods is deterministic, and only through the combined application of methods it is possible to comprehend the content and essential basis of the epic, reconstruct the social environment, lifestyle, nature and essence of human existence, the variety of artefacts, the worldview of the Kyrgyz nomad, recreate and reproduce the historical events of the ethnos. The results indicate that the value of epics is especially great in those conditions when there are no other sources and “evidences” of distant times. Understanding the spiritual and material life of the Kyrgyz people, whose written culture did not exist until the 20th century, is only possible through the discovery and reconstruction of various forms of traditional culture. The practical value of this paper is that it helps comprehend the approaches and methods that can be employed to study Kyrgyz epics and expand knowledge of Kyrgyz culture and literature.
Keywords:
Traditional culture, hermeneutics, semiotics, archetype, collective unconscious, reconstruction.