The evolution of the kazakh nobility in 19th century

Abstract

Regional features played a critical role in determining the nature of the transformation of
peripheries under imperial rule and the particularities of their integration into that larger polity. Essential
to this process was the manner in which distinct societies adapted to the empire’s socio-political system–
that is, their individual way of embedding themselves within a uniform imperial model. As with many
other cases, Kazakh nomadic society had an individual way of adapting and entering into the imperial
system. Yet if regional political transformations of the Kazakh steppe in the 19th century have been the
object of historical investigation, then problem of social change in this region at the time remains largely
unstudied. This essay represents an attempt to fill this designated lack. It explores social transformations
in the second half of the 19th century, when certain members Kazakh nomadic society embraced the
social system of the empire. The essay seeks to show how the historically closed Kazakh elite began to
acquire the characteristics of an imperial estate and furthermore opened to ordinary Kazakhs. It argues
that the integration of ordinary Kazakhs into the empire’s privileged estates –principally the nobility and
so-called honored citizens–is the proof of evolution of the Kazakh nobility. The research work based on
methodology as new imperial history, social history.