THE SOVIET HISTORIOGRAPHY AND THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY

THE QUESTION OF KAZAKHSTAN’S HISTORY 95
ERMUKHAN BEKMAKHANOV AND
THE KENESARY KASYMULY REVOLT
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Steven Sabol *
For American and European students of Kazakh history, there are
certain individuals that emerge in the scholarly literature that receive
the majority of attention, whose works must be consulted, read, and
studied, in order to examine the Kazakh national, cultural, political,
economic, and social development. Often these are historic figures;
individuals who shaped our understanding of the Kazakh nation, either
through great or infamous deeds, perhaps with a legacy that alter our
view of the Kazakh nation and its evolution. Among this illustrious
list are khans and batyrs, such as Zhanibek and Kerai, Abulkhair, Ablai
Khan, and others. Just as often, men of science and the arts capture
our attention, most notably Chokan Valikhanov, Ibrahim Altynsarin,
or Abai. For students of Kazakh history, these are serious individuals,
but the historiography is as important as the scholars and writers
who told their stories, men such as Alikhan Bokeikhanov, Mukhtar
Auezov, Saken Seifullin, and others.
Yet, we are also dependent upon the scholars and travelers to the
Kazakh Zhuz, such as Aleksei Levshin, Radlov and Bartold, or Valikhanov
who examined and interpreted Kazakh culture and society for
scholars, and Shakarim Kudaiberuli who explained Kazakh genealogy,
or the later historians such a S. Asfendiarov and S. Amanzholov, or
Apollova, Kozybaev, and Viatkin. This is but a small number of the
travelers and scholars that students embrace in their search for the
Kazakh past. Few scholars, however, achieved both the notoriety
and fame of Ermukhan Bekmakhanov. Even almost fifty years after
his untimely and premature death, only a handful of scholars remain
as critical to the study of Kazakh history and society. The reason is
simple enough, he was a talented historian, but it was his subject that
continues to feature so importantly for students of Kazakh history.
His most important contribution remains Kazakhstan v 20-40 gody
XIX veka, a thorough examination of the Kenesary Kasymov Revolt
and Kazakh society on the eve of the final Russian conquest and
colonization of the vast Kazakh steppe.
For most American and European scholars, Solomon Schwarz first
introduced Bekmakhanov’s story to the historical community with his
1952 article, “Revising the History of Russian Colonization,” which
appeared in Foreign Affairs. 146 This brief introduction to the “Bekmak-
*
University of North Carolina at Charlotte