01840nas a2200277   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002653001500043653001300058653001900071653001700090653002200107653002300129653001200152653001100164653002000175653001600195653001600211100002100227245010300248856015400351300001200505490000700517520101800524022002001542                                       d10aKazakhstan10aXinjiang10aXinjiang Uygur10aAuthenticity10acultural heritage10acultural tradition10aCulture10agender10agender identity10aNationalism10aPerformance1 aGuldana Salimjan00aDebating gender and Kazakhness: memory and voice in poetic duel aytis between China and Kazakhstan  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85013469741&doi=10.1080%2f02634937.2017.1281219&partnerID=40&md5=56997f47207fac2abf8710bd675b0d35  a263-2800 v363 aAytis is a central component of Kazakh oral literature. It is a duelling performance of improvised oral poetry between two aqins (poets, or bards) accompanying themselves on the dombra, a two-stringed plucked instrument. This article analyses contending issues in a transnational aytis between Chinese and Kazakhstani aqins, and explores how gender plays into the complex interplay of transnational identity politics, nationalism, performer positionality, and the preservation of intangible cultural heritage. This article argues that, though minority actors are subject to state-patronized national projects and the gender paradigms those projects entail, they can also obtain empowerment from performing tradition as a way to legitimize their status as culture producers and flexible citizens. Situated as the guardians of a constructed gender balance in society, women performers of oral tradition occasionally find themselves with opportunities to transgress the boundaries of their national and gender norms.  a02634937 (ISSN)