II International Scientific Seminar «Abai Readings»
at Polish university

On December 9-10, 2020, Abai Center of Kazakh Culture and Science at Pomor Academy in Slupsk (Poland) and the Department of Russian Language and Literature of the Institute of Philology and Multilingual Education held a two-day II International Scientific Seminar Abai Readings: «Abai: philosophy, poetics, reception» dedicated to the 175th anniversary of the Kazakh poet, philosopher and composer Abai Kunanbayev.

The seminar was held under the honorary patronage of the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Poland. Its participants were greeted by Alim Kirabaev, extraordinary and plenipotentiary ambassador of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the Republic of Poland. Other representatives of the diplomatic corps of Kazakhstan in Poland also spoke at the opening of the seminar.

Two universities were represented at the International Seminar by their vice-rectors - Professor Aktolkyn Kulsarieva, Vice-Rector for Strategic Development and Internationalization of Abai KazNPU, and Professor Danuta Gerchinska, Vice-Rector for Students of the Pomor Academy in Slupsk.

The initiators of the long-term cooperation of the two universities, the founders of the Abai Center for Kazakh Culture and Science in Slupsk, - Professor Galina Nefagina, Head of the Department of Russian Philology of the Department of Neophilology of the Pomor Academy, and Professor Saule Abisheva, Head of the Department of Russian Language and Literature of Abai KazNPU. Maxim Ponomarenko, a graduate of Abai KazNPU, and now - a doctoral student of the Pomor Academy, coordinator of the Abai Center, conducted the seminar.

The program of the first day of the International Seminar included reports by Polish scientists dedicated to the study of the poetics of Abai`s work and his connections with Polish culture. On the second day of the seminar, the participants got acquainted with the linguistic and worldview aspects of the work of the great Kazakh poet and educator in the reports of scientists, undergraduates and students from Abai KazNPU and other universities of Kazakhstan and Poland.

All participants of the International Seminar came to a unanimous opinion: such meetings not only develop scientific cooperation, but also contribute to the rapprochement of the cultures and peoples of Kazakhstan and Poland.