Defense of the dissertation of Dosmurzinov Rustem for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in the specialty «8D02208 - Archeology and ethnology»

L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University, a dissertation defense for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) by Dosmurzinov Rustem on the topic «‘Relics of Pre-Islamic worldview traditions among the Kazakhs (late XIXth – early XXIst centuries)’» to the educational program «8D02208 – Archeology and ethnology».

The dissertation was carried out at the «Archaeology and Ethnology education department» of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University.

The language of defense is russian

Official reviewers:

Temporary members of the Dissertation Committee:

Scientific advisors:

Razdykov Saken Zeynullovich – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Archaeology and Ethnology, L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University (Astana, Kazakhstan).

Naumova Olga Borisovna – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Asian and Pacific Studies of N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow, Russian Federation).

The defense will take place on December 26, 2025, at 10:00 AM in the Dissertation Council for the training direction «8D022 – Humanities» in the specialty «8D02208 – Archeology and ethnology» of L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University. The defense meeting is planned to be held online.

Link: : https://us06web.zoom.us/j/86052038480?pwd=ihOrfmmawvITHeD2aEF8a5FLgsw86a.1 Идентификатор конференции: 860 5203 8480 Код доступа: 913423

Address: г. Астана, ул. А. Пушкина, 11, 324 аудитория.

Abstract (English): Relevance of the study. It is clear that over the years of independence, religion as a social institution has significantly strengthened its position in our country. Along with the growing influence of Islam, many so-called pre-Islamic beliefs, which are still evident in the customs and traditions of the Kazakh people, are strengthening their role. Complex historical events, including the struggle against religion and the promotion of atheism in the relatively recent past, have had a strong influence on the worldview of the Kazakh people. However, not all religious views and traditions have become a thing of the past. Observance of Muslim precepts, as well as the observance of childhood customs, wedding and funeral rituals, the tradition of ‘as beru’ and the cult of sacred places characterise the diversity of contemporary everyday spiritual life among Kazakhs. Most religious beliefs are related to family and everyday life and, to a certain extent, still regulate it. It is no coincidence that an old Kazakh proverb says: ‘Kazakhs are a superstitious people’. The study of pre-Islamic religious beliefs is a relevant and significant area of research because these religious views continue to remain stable in everyday life. The aim of this work is to identify specific types of historically established interrelationships between the relict manifestations of pre-Muslim worldview traditions and the beliefs of the Islamic religion among the modern Kazakh people. To achieve this goal, the following tasks were identified: 1. To apply modern scientific theories and concepts to the study of Kazakh religious traditions. 2. To show the features of the diachronic development of relics of ancient beliefs and superstitions among the Kazakhs (cosmogonic ideas, views on sacred and mythological beings, zoolatry and plant worship, veneration of talismans, sacralisation of food, as well as the tradition and concept of ‘zheti ata’). 3. Reveal changes in ancient Kazakh rituals and practices – customs related to economic and life cycles, healing and mantic rites, sacrifices, and the rite of veneration of holy places. 4. Identify the role and significance of relics of pre-Islamic worldview traditions among the Kazakhs in the modern period. The source base for this study consists of various types of sources, which we have divided into three groups. The first group of sources consists of works by ethnographers, travellers, and officials published in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The second group of sources includes archival sources from the collection of ethnographer F.A. Fielstrup (1889 – 1933), which is stored in the scientific archive of the N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The third group of sources contains field research materials (results of ethnographic observation and interviews). The field materials are based on the texts of 70 interviews with informants from various regions of the country. The chronological scope of the study covers the period from the end of the 19th century to the beginning of the 21st century. Within this chronological framework, three phases can be identified in the religious history of the region: 1) the strengthening of Islam as an important part of the Kazakh people’s identity (late 19th – early 20th centuries); 2) the influence of secularisation policies and communist ideology (1920s – late 20th century); 3) the ‘revival of Islam’, or the period of growing influence of Islam (since the 1990s). The territorial scope of the study covers the entire territory of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The object of study. The object of the study is the worldview traditions of the Kazakh people. A significant part of these traditions are religious traditions that formed in the pre-Islamic era (Arabic: Jahiliyyah), continued to develop at various stages of the history of the people's religiosity, and still exist in the structure of the ethnic group's religious worldview. Subject of the study. The subject of the study is the relics of pre-Islamic worldview traditions among the Kazakh people. Research hypothesis includes: 1. The traditional and modern worldview of Kazakhs is a complex and multi-structural phenomenon. Under the growing influence of Islam and secular worldviews, pre-Islamic beliefs are not disappearing, but are entering into various types of interaction with the views of the dominant religion. 2. Specific types of interaction between pre-Islamic and Islamic worldview traditions are manifested in customs and traditions, in spiritual culture. In one or another Kazakh ritual, the basis is either pre-Islamic or Muslim. Nevertheless, none of the rituals has become purely canonical Islamic, having absorbed pre-Islamic relics to one degree or another. Theoretical and methodological foundations of the study. The theoretical basis of this work is formed by the concepts of interpretive (symbolic) anthropology and ‘lived religion,’ which reveal the peculiarities of the phenomenon of religiosity and are intensively developing in modern ethnology (ethnography). According to the interpretive concept, religious phenomena act as a system of symbols that contribute to the emergence of strong, comprehensive and stable moods and motivations in people, giving these ideas an aura of reality in such a way that these moods and motivations seem to be the only real ones. This explanation of religious processes is consistent with the main tenets of the concept of ‘lived religion’ which is, to a certain extent, synonymous with and a euphemism for the concepts of ‘everyday forms of religion’ and ‘folk religion’ The study of everyday religion is partly related to the history and sociology of everyday life, which are concerned with identifying the factors that shape religious consciousness. Among the main principles used in the work is the principle of holism, which allows us to consider any phenomena in the culture and religious life of a people, at least in theoretical terms, in their entirety and as a single phenomenon. The principle of cultural relativism has opened up opportunities for a deeper analysis of religious phenomena, as it has shown religious beliefs to be unique phenomena inherent only to ethnic culture and which can be explained primarily from the point of view of its carriers – ethnophores. This work uses an alternative theoretical approach to understanding magic. In the context of this work, magic is primarily a set of sacred and mystical practices. Magic is not an early form of religion, but a set of practical actions based on the principles of superstitious thinking. Furthermore, it can be assumed that so-called pre-Islamic beliefs, as part of cultural heritage, demonstrated resistance to external influences and became the basis for the established poly-structural worldview. Both emic and ethical approaches were used to study this in the present work. Methods of description, analysis and synthesis were used in this work. Among the special scientific research methods, it is necessary to highlight the methods of non-participatory observation and oral questioning (semi-structured interview method). When compiling the interview questions, the ethnological practice programme developed at the History Department of L.N. Gumiyov Eurasian National University was used. Since the population of the settlements we studied, which acted as the subject of the research, is multi-ethnic, the snowball sampling method was used in this study. When creating the sample, a method was used whereby informants from different regions of the country who were well informed about the rituals of the Kazakh people were initially selected. The total number of informants was 70, including 31 women and 39 men (Appendix A). Four informants were born between 1920 and 1940, 55 informants between 1950 and 1980, and 11 informants in the 1990s. The research materials also included interviews with three former journalists and two respondents (Tselinograd District, Akmola Region; Astana, 2022) who had performed the hajj. The scientific novelty of the study lies in the fact that, for the first time in Russian humanities, the following types of historical interaction between ancient beliefs and Islamic doctrine have been substantiated: substitution (replacement), synthesis (combination), symbiosis (coexistence), and divergence (competitive coexistence). The study presents the author's typology of Kazakh talismans and amulets (tumars) and substantiates a new type of Kazakh sacrifice – bloodless. A number of new ethnographic materials on the religious beliefs and traditions of the Kazakh people are introduced into scientific circulation for the first time – consecration (‘aq quyu’, ‘aq shashu’, ‘mailau’), sacrifices to the spirits of ancestors at sacred sites, and other rituals. The main conclusions drawn from the study are as follows: 1. A review of the scientific literature shows that the degree of research on the topic is quite high. However, certain issues, especially of a theoretical nature, remain unresolved in domestic science. These include the relationship and forms of interconnection between pre-Islamic and Islamic worldview traditions, the ‘construction’ of new rituals in contemporary culture, and the significance of pre-Islamic views in them. In addition, even at the present stage, scientific research on traditional religious beliefs is predominantly descriptive in nature, and works using theoretical analysis are still rare. 2. At the micro level, the concept of lived religion, emphasising the diversity of forms of religious consciousness, helps to reflect a person's personal experience of life and faith within the framework of scientific concepts. It can be concluded that analysing the interaction between pre-Islamic and Islamic beliefs through their qualitative characteristics, while identifying common and distinctive features, allows us to create a certain typological scheme for them. In general, at the macro level, establishing the relationships that prevail in each ritual, cycle, or even sphere of folk culture is important because these facts concretise our ideas about the degree and depth of Islamisation of the folk worldview. 3. Astrological and cosmogonic ideas occupied an important place in the structure of the Kazakh worldview until the beginning of the 20th century. Relict manifestations of ancient beliefs are beliefs about the moon, stars, ‘lucky’ days, sacred (‘kie’) and hostile (‘kesir’) forces. These ideas existed in parallel with Muslim beliefs, which is a manifestation of symbiosis. Thus, the Kazakhs had and still have rituals associated with relict manifestations of moon worship. Certain beliefs, for example, about the structure of the earth and the sky, merged with Muslim views, and this interconnection gave rise to a synthesis. We put forward the thesis that cosmogonic beliefs were the core and fundamental basis of traditional religious views. 4. In the worldview traditions of the Kazakhs, as in the past, beliefs and views about the environment, sacred animals, plants, etc. continue to occupy an important place. The influence of Islam has manifested itself in dietary restrictions, but otherwise, ancient beliefs and Islamic religious precepts have existed and continue to exist in parallel in the minds of the people. In this area of worldview, religious relations are characterised by a symbiosis of ancient beliefs and Islamic beliefs. 5. Fire and water still occupy an important place in Kazakh rituals. ‘Aruakh’ (ancestral spirits), whose names are pronounced in prayers, are among the most common sacred images. Jinn and shaitans are more widespread and better known in the modern period than pre-Islamic mythological creatures. The sacralisation of animals and plants has been influenced by the Islamic religion, as ‘revered’ animals and plants have appeared that are, to one degree or another, close to the Muslim tradition. 6. Wearing amulets and talismans is still associated with beliefs about their protective functions. Talismans continue to play an important role, despite condemnation from clergy (talismans can only be worn for style – ‘as a fashion’). The custom of using amulets and talismans, which is a vernacular tradition, can be attributed to a model of divergence from the dogmas of the dominant religion. The wearing of ‘tumars’ is ‘sanctioned’ in the popular consciousness by the use of elements and symbols of Muslim doctrine – prayer texts from the Koran, the crescent moon and the star. 7. With the development of Islam, the sacred and mythical creatures inherent in ancient religions did not disappear completely. On the contrary, their images underwent changes and ended up in the category of lower mythology. The sacred and mythological images of the Kazakhs include both Muslim and pre-Muslim images. Some Muslim images (Kydyr-ata, Daut-ata, etc.) merged in the consciousness with pre-Muslim ones, resulting in a synthesis. Relic manifestations of the cult of fire continue to exist in life cycle rituals, such as the Alastau ceremony. In the modern environment, the wearing of talismans and amulets, also associated with vernacular tradition, continues to exist. The tradition and concept of ‘zheti ata’, which is not a Muslim precept, continues to be of great importance to Kazakhs. 8. Most of the relict manifestations of pre-Muslim beliefs have been preserved in childbirth and wedding rituals, despite the fact that these cycles of rituals have undergone significant changes. Rituals, in general, acting as forms of expression of ideas, have incorporated many elements associated with religious beliefs. It should be noted that, to date, wedding rituals, as the most ‘flexible’ type of ritual, have incorporated many different innovations, while funeral and memorial rituals, as the most ‘conservative’ type of ritual, largely correspond to Islamic prescriptions. In general, children's rituals reflect a synthesis of pre-Islamic and Islamic beliefs, since initiation rituals contain a synthesis of various beliefs. Many life cycle rituals (‘tusaung kesu’, ‘it koylek kigizu’, ‘otka mai kuyar’, ‘as beru’, and many others) contain vestigial manifestations of ancient beliefs. Nevertheless, such Muslim rituals as naming (‘at koyu’), circumcision (Kazakh ‘sundet toy’; ‘babatoy’ among the Nogai people) are performed much more frequently and are more stable because they are based on the canons of religious doctrine. In general, in this area of folk culture, one can distinguish a kind of relationship that is a synthesis of pre-Muslim and Muslim ideas. 9. Within the traditional worldview, the world was understood through rituals, which played an important integrative function. Every action within the ritual was considered sacred. Unfortunately, in the modern period, life cycle rituals have ceased to have sacred significance, and in many ways their performance is now based on rational grounds. 10. Divination and fortune-telling practices are, to one degree or another, linked to various vestiges of ancient beliefs. These worldview traditions were associated with the belief that a person's fate can be predicted and foreseen. Condemned by Islamic doctrine, divination continues to exist in modern times, having been influenced by Muslim views. In this area of folk worldview, a divergent type of relationship is evident (i.e., the competitive coexistence of Islamic precepts and pre-Islamic beliefs). 11. Sacrifices play an important communicative role. In response to their prayers and sacrifices, the living seek to obtain what they desire, so the ritual of sacrifice plays not only an appeasing role, but also a reciprocal one. The essence of sacrifice lies not only in the presentation of offerings and gifts, but also in communication with higher powers aimed at preserving or restoring harmony in society. The spirits of deceased ancestors and their living relatives are important aspects of this communicative process. Such views have survived in modern times as relic forms. This sphere of folk worldview is characterised by a symbiotic type of relationship between religious views. Results and conclusions presented for defence. The following results are presented for defence: 1. Pre-Islamic beliefs were and continue to be an integral part of the religious views of the Kazakh people to this day. In modern reality, this layer of spiritual culture is inseparable from Islamic views, because these beliefs are not opposed to Islam in the popular consciousness. This phenomenon partly allows them to remain stable phenomena in the integrity of the worldview. 2. The structure of the Kazakh people's worldview is dominated by synthetic and symbiotic types of relationships between Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs. Synthesis (the combination of religious views) clearly prevails in children's rituals. The symbiosis (coexistence of different religious views) of Islamic and pre-Islamic beliefs is primarily manifested in beliefs about sacred beings and in rituals related to the economic cycle. Substitution (replacement of other religious views by Islam) has encompassed the most general areas of worldview – beliefs about a single god and spiritual practices of worshiping him. The divergent relationship between pre-Islamic and Islamic views (opposing and competing religious views) is evident in beliefs about talismans, divination, and omens. 3. The symbiosis of religious traditions occurs mainly in those areas of worldview and folk culture that are not strictly regulated by Islamic doctrine. In quantitative terms, ‘pre-Islamic’ rituals predominate in Kazakh culture, but in qualitative terms, Islamic rites (sundet, reading of the janaza, neke qiyar, etc.), which also cover various aspects of life, are more stable and consistent because they are based on the authority of Muslim traditions, including Islamic sacred texts. Approval of the work. The results of the study were published in major domestic and foreign scientific journals, in the collections of international practical conferences. The structure of scientific research is determined by the purpose and objectives set in the qualification work.

Dissertation

List of Scientific Works

Consultant's Review

Foreign Consultant's Review

Conclusion of the Research Ethics Committee

Official Reviewer's Review

Official Reviewer's Review