This is the first volume of field work, based on western ethnological standard, about the Kazakhs of Kazakhstan since Alfred E. Hudson's work published in 1938. Based on fieldwork conducted throughout the region, the various articles reflect the contemporary life of rural and urban Kazakhs. A common theme is the socio-cultural aspects of how their way of life has changed since independence.

This ethnography of Muslim life among the Kazaks of Central Asia describes the sacralisation of land and ethnic identity, local understanding of Islamic purity, the Kazak ancestor cult and domestic spirituality, and pilgrimage to the tombs of Sufi saints.

This study concentrates upon the socio-political and nationalist views of three influential representatives of the early twentieth-century Kazak intelligentsia: Alikhan Bokeilhanov, Akhmet Baitursynov, and Mukhamedzhan Seralin. The resulting discourse on literature, education, and politics shaped the Kazak nationalist movement before 1920. This study draws on the published works of the Kazak intelligentsia, the periodicals Ai qap (1911-1915) and Kazak (1913-1918), and archival records from the Central State Archives of the Republic of Kazakstan.

In Knowledge and the Ends of Empire, Ian W. Campbell investigates the connections between knowledge production and policy formation on the Kazak steppes of the Russian Empire. Hoping to better govern the region, tsarist officials were desperate to obtain reliable information about an unfamiliar environment and population. This thirst for knowledge created opportunities for Kazak intermediaries to represent themselves and their landscape to the tsarist state. Because tsarist officials were uncertain of what the steppe was, and disagreed on what could be made of it, Kazaks were able to be part of these debates, at times influencing the policies that were pursued.Drawing on archival materials from Russia and Kazakhstan and a wide range of nineteenth-century periodicals in Russian and Kazak, Campbell tells a story that highlights the contingencies of and opportunities for cooperation with imperial rule. Kazak intermediaries were at first able to put forward their own idiosyncratic views on whether the steppe was to be Muslim or secular, whether it should be a center of stock-raising or of agriculture, and the extent to which local institutions needed to give way to imperial institutions. It was when the tsarist state was most confident in its knowledge of the steppe that it committed its gravest errors by alienating Kazak intermediaries and placing unbearable stresses on pastoral nomads. From the 1890s on, when the dominant visions in St. Petersburg were of large-scale peasant colonization of the steppe and its transformation into a hearth of sedentary agriculture, the same local knowledge that Kazaks had used to negotiate tsarist rule was transformed into a language of resistance.

In this volume you will find stories about One-eyed, Seven Horned Monsters that double as mothers-in-law, as well as Tricksters, Illusionists, Shape-shifters, Ogres and even the Origin of the Meaning of Fate itself. The Uyghur people have origins that are as ancient as the Han Chinese, if not older. Originating in central China, they were slowly pushed further west until they settled in the Tarim Basin. But the Uyghurs are not just limited to East Turkestan and can also be found inhabiting the Central Asian countries of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Uzbekistan. Smaller communities can also be found in Mongolia, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Russia. Because they have travelled so far and have encountered so many different cultures, it is therefore not surprising that Uyghur Folk-Lore is extensive, which when woven together in such a volume, results in a rich tapestry that can only be pleasing for the reader. We invite you to curl up with this volume and indulge yourself in the fifty-nine tales and stories that stretch back in time, almost to the great flood itself. The Uyghurs are an ethnic minority, who like the Tibetans, have been fighting for their independence for generations. A percentage of the sales from this book will be donated to charities, schools and special causes.

I had a dream one night. In my dream an old man in skins and leather was drinking tea and sitting beside a fire. He told me this story. His name was Kazak and this is part of what he told me. He was a simple man who had a great love in his life. He touched many people in his journey through life and learned many things. Oh, and he lived over 32,000 years ago. This is a Love story set in the beginning of man's rise to domination. Kazak is a special man with a love that makes his life worthwhile. A group of people started stealing the lives and stores of whole villages. Taking everything and leaving only fear, Kazak must protect his people and his woman. He does this with new friends and by watching others and Learning from what he sees. Will he be able to bring different people together and defeat the Raiders of lives and the slaves? Will he be able to save the love of his life and the people who follow him? How does he endear himself to others as a friend?

Of all the states of the former Soviet Union, it is in Latvia and in Kazakstan that the titular nation represents the lowest share of the total population: as of 1997, approximately 57 per cent in Latvia and 50 per cent in Kazakstan. In such a situation it is difficult to see how the titular (Latvian, Kazak) culture can serve as a consolidating ele

Central Asia in Focus - Political & Economic Issues