Abstract:

This paper focuses the study of the Dungans in Kazakhstan. The Dungans, who arrived in Central Asia in the second half of the 19th century due to persecutions and harassment by the Qing Empire, became part of the ethnic mosaic of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, preserving their uniqueness and ethnic unity. According to the 2021 Population Census, their number in Kazakhstan is 78 817 people, predominantly concentrated in the Zhambyl region (58 063) and Almaty city (14 545). This paper provides a retrospective of the study of the Dungan people in the Russian Empire and the USSR, as well as analyzes the degree of research, problems, and approaches to the study of the Dungan community by Kazakhstani researchers after 1991. Highlighting the insufficient level of research into the current state of the Dungan community in Kazakhstan, I sought to find out the reason for the low interest in this topic among Kazakhstani researchers. This paper is based on published materials, papers and fieldwork data.