NEDOSLAVYANKA: The Role of Music Video Clips in Decolonization of the Caucasus and Central Asia

• In Event: Reclaiming Voices in Soviet and Post-Soviet Culture

Abstract

My research examines how women artists in authoritarian and conservative post-Soviet societies use music videos as tools of decolonization, challenging colonial legacies, nationalism, and gender oppression. While postcolonial discourse often centers on Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia remain overlooked, despite the region’s enduring struggles with cultural erasure and political repression.

Focusing on artists such as Manizha Sanghin, Zere Asylbek, Dihaj, Gulyaz & Gulyanag, and Lola Yuldosheva, I explore how their music videos disrupt hegemonic narratives, reclaim identity, and create spaces for resistance. This study engages with decolonial aesthetics and examines music videos as a form of artivism in contexts where traditional activism is suppressed.

A key question of my research is how visual media serve as a political tool in shaping decolonial discourse. In post-Soviet societies where dissent is often silenced, music videos become sites of contestation, offering new ways to reimagine history, challenge power, and reclaim agency.

Author

• Orkhan Aghayev, U of Warsaw (Poland)