Abstract:

The paper delves into studying the inequality regime in Kazakh nomadic society several decades before the assertion of Soviet power. The scholarly literature has produced a considerable amount of works on the history of tsarist colonization in Central Asia, political inequality of rights in the context of the inter-ethnical dimension between Slavic settlers and indigenous people, and the nation awakening/building process. This article will attempt to contribute to this scholarly discussion by bringing the topic of economic inequality in the study of this period, inspired by the recent intellectual works on the global history of inequality by such scholars as Thomas Piketty and Branko Milanovic. The research question is: how did the inequality regime during the late tsarist colonial period evolve? That is, how do political forces determine and ideologically justify the wealth/income inequality of local society, particularly within Kazakh nomadic society? The main argument is that Kazakh nomadic society was inegalitarian, shaped mainly by political changes at that time. The study relies on primary sources from the collection of documents (Sobranie sochinenii/ Şyğarmalar zhinağy) written by Kazakh intellectuals in both Russian and Kazakh language. Their interpretation will be a means to analyze the nature of the inequality regime.