National Values as an Object of Colonial and Postcolonial Criticism in Literature: A Case Study of Mashhur Jusup

Kazakh literature has undergone significant transformations under colonial and postcolonial influences, with authors negotiating the tensions between oral heritage and written literary forms. This study investigates how Mashhur Jusup Kopeev integrates oral traditions—such as genealogies, proverbs, heroic tales, and oral verse—into his written works, and how these strategies articulate national values, cultural identity, and subaltern voices. The research employs a discourse oriented and literary-linguistic analysis of selected poems, short stories, and narrative fragments, drawing on concepts from postcolonial theory, hybridity, and textual semiotics, with comparative insights from global authors like Tagore and Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o. Findings indicate that Kopeev's textualization of oral forms creates a hybrid literary style that foregrounds spiritual poetics, narrative memory, and cultural resilience, simultaneously negotiating local traditions and broader literary frameworks. His works demonstrate the strategic preservation and recontextualization of Kazakh oral knowledge, reflecting both cultural reverence and innovative literary transformation. The discussion emphasizes how Kopeev's poetics functions as a medium of resistance, identity formation, and postcolonial articulation, situating Kazakh literature within global discourses of hybridity and memory. The study concludes that Kopeev's approach offers a model for integrating oral and written modalities while reinforcing national and cultural continuity. Limitations include the selective textual focus, suggesting the need for further research encompassing a broader corpus and reception studies to fully capture the range of his literary strategies.