Log in to star items.
- Format:
- Panel
- Theme:
- History
Accepted papers
Abstract
The article provides a comprehensive analysis of the transformation of Kazakh nomadic society at the turn of the 20th century amidst a systemic crisis of the traditional way of life. The relevance of the study stems from the need to verify the scale of the ethnic group's socio-economic adaptation to colonial modernization and market integration. The primary source base comprises the "Materials on Kyrgyz Land Use...", which encompass a dataset covering 25 uyezds (districts) across six regions of Kazakhstan.
The present article is an expanded and supplemented version of the paper "The nomadic Kazakh population of Kazakhstan..." (2022), broadening its geographical and analytical scope. The scientific novelty of the research lies in the introduction into scholarly discourse of previously unpublished calculated data regarding the Akmolinsk and Chimkent uyezds. Furthermore, a comprehensive revision of statistical indicators was conducted for several administrative units to eliminate identified methodological discrepancies.
The research methodology is based on statistical-economic analysis and a comparative approach. A key stage of the work involved converting various livestock species into a single equivalent (the conventional unit of a sheep) and calculating provision indicators per individual and per household.
During the study, statistical indicators were compared with normative criteria for household viability established in historiography (N.E. Masanov, Yu.N. Kanyashin, S.E. Tolybekov, B.S. Suleimenov). It was established that the critical self-sufficiency threshold (100–150 sheep per household) served as a defining factor in social differentiation. The results of the analysis revealed profound regional heterogeneity: 64% of the investigated uyezds were in a zone of economic risk, barely reaching the level of physiological survival.
A direct correlation was identified between a region's geographical location and the level of livestock concentration. The highest indicators (over 200 head) were recorded in the northern uyezds (Kustanay, Atbasar, Pavlodar, Omsk), which is attributed to favorable ecological conditions for extensive animal husbandry. Conversely, in regions with low livestock provision (southern and eastern uyezds), forced economic diversification was observed, manifesting in a transition to agriculture and various trades. The author concludes that the deficit of livestock resources acted as a catalyst for the formation of a multi-structural economic model in the studied uyezds.
Abstract
This study examines the forced displacement of the Taranchi population of Semirechye during the period of political interregnum between 1918 and 1920 through the analytical lens of settler colonialism. It argues that the migration of peasant settlers from Russia functioned as a key structural driver of repeated forced mobility, pushing Taranchi communities into exile in neighboring China. Drawing on previously unpublished archival materials, the study demonstrates that violence, confiscation of homes and land, and selective protection of settler property were not merely consequences of civil war chaos but integral elements of a longer colonial project aimed at securing settler dominance over land and resources. The collapse of imperial administration and the unstable establishment of Soviet power created a critical “window of opportunity” in which practices of dispossession intensified. Although an amnesty later enabled the return of refugees, their lands and households were not restored, reinforcing cycles of displacement. The research situates Taranchi flight as a case of recurrent forced migration embedded in settler-colonial transformation of Semirechye.
Abstract
The mass agrarian migrations of the second half of the 19th century, which reached their peak during the Stolypin reforms, were characterized by increased contacts between different groups of Russian settlers. The economic and sociocultural relations between Late Settlers and Old-Time Russian Siberians have been well-documented in the academic literature. However, beyond this dichotomy, processes within the settler community itself, in which non-Slavic ethnic groups (Chuvash, Mordvins, and representatives of other peoples of the European part of the country) played a significant role, deserve close attention. Based on materials from peasant handwritten memoirs, the author’s interviews with rural residents on issues of ethnic (self)identification, as well as local periodicals and archival documents from the State Archives of the Novosibirsk Region on the national policy of the Soviet state in 1920s and 1930s, this paper analyzes ethnocultural interactions within the community of late (Slavic and non-Slavic) settlers in Siberia. The theoretical framework for the study is the concept of «state-directed development» by F. Hirsch (2005), which explains the contradictory nature of numerous national projects of those years. The paper reveals the history of a typical resettler village, the ways of representing ethnicity in such areas of village life as shared leisure, joint education, and collective labor. Particular attention is paid to the specifics of the settlement’s first collective farms, which, as documents indicate, were formed along ethnic lines. It is shown that the subsequent exclusion of ethnicity from the rural communicative space led to transformations in the villagers’ ethnic identity and certain distortions of local historical memory.