Mankurt
만쿠르트
A concept originating from Chinghiz Aitmatov's novel The Day Lasts More Than a Hundred Years (1980), referring to a slave whose memory has been destroyed by having raw camel hide bound around the head. A mankurt remembers nothing of their name, family, or homeland and is absolutely obedient to their master. After the novel's publication, the word became a common noun for a person who has lost connection to their historical and ethnic roots, entering Soviet intellectual discourse as a byword for historical amnesia and the obliteration of identity.
Related people
Sources
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: definition, etymology, usage as metaphor for loss of historical/national roots, neologisms mankurtizm/mankurtizatsiya/demankurtizatsiya
- Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia: origin of the term in Aitmatov's novel, figurative usage as a metaphor for Soviet citizens affected by historical distortions
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia article on the novel: detailed plot summary including the mankurt legend of Naiman-Ana, the process of creating mankurts, and Aitmatov's characterization of memory destruction as 'the gravest of all conceivable and inconceivable crimes'