Between Transition and Memory: Social Change in Kazakh Society across Borders from the Early 20th Century to the Present

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

This panel explores the social transformation within Kazakh communities across the Soviet and Chinese borderlands from the early 20th century to the present. Tensions emerged between state power of socialism and the traditional Kazakh community, reflected in gender issues, environmental history, and literary works. This panel primarily aims to explore Kazakh communities' responses and narratives in the face of state-driven "transformation," and how they rationalize and adapt to these changes.
This panel seeks to integrate "memory" into historical narratives. Aigerim’s research adopts an oral history approach to examine the Alash movement's impact on women and how this influence transcended borders, reaching Northern Xinjiang. Shalima conducted two years of fieldwork in Northern Xinjiang and, through interviews, reconstructs challenges the community faced during collectivization in the 1960s and privatization in the 1980s, presenting history through the voices of its residents. Aiduosi’s paper focuses on the works of Omarǵazy Aıtanuly, a writer who depicted upheavals Kazakh communities experienced from the 1960s to the 1980s. Having endured ten years of imprisonment, Aıtanuly’s works capture unique perspectives and voices that differ from state narratives.

Transnational perspectives are another key focus of this panel. Aigerim’s study directly examines gender equality in Kazakhstan and the transnational transmission of these ideas to Northern Xinjiang in the 1920s–1930s. Meanwhile, Aıtanuly, who grew up in Choshek (Tarbagatay), a border town heavily influenced by Russian culture, provides insights into the impact of Russian and, through Russia, European cultural elements on Kazakh communities in his works.

Sub Unit

• History: 1945-1990

Chair

• Shoshana Keller, Hamilton College

Papers

• Collectivization and Privatization of Kazakhs in Xinjiang (1950s-1980s) in Literary Memory: A Study of Omarǵazy Aıtanuly’s Works - Aiduosi Amantai, Binghamton U

• The Impact of the Alash Movement on Women and Its Transnational Influence on Northern Xinjiang - Aigerim Seken, UC Santa Barbara

• Social Changes in Northern Xinjiang’s Kazakh Communities at the Village Scale (1940s–2017) - Shalima Talinbayi, Binghamton U

• Vtoraya Tselina (Second Virgin Lands): A Political Economy of Sheep Herding in the Kazakh Steppe, 1960s-80s - Abylay Stambayev, UC Santa Barbara

Discussant

• Ian Wylie Campbell, UC Davis